Injury to ear from child grabbing?

[Aldo]

My little guy (16 weeks old tomorrow) has been progressing along the developmental path, and has been a real doll:

April 9



April 22


So far so good. On Saturday (3 days ago) a little girl grabbed his ear pretty hard before I could intervene (very abrupt action), although the puppy didn't yelp or seem to be unhappy (he was enjoying licking her!). Later I noticed that his left ear was being held very flat and back on his head. Much of the normal 'bump' or 'hump' at the base of the ear is gone. If I lean him backwards, his ear straightens out without any real evidence of a crease or problem fold in the middle of the ear (where the flop seems to come in most of the puppies I see in this forum).

Here is a picture of him Monday from behind. He is wet from a jaunt through the woods (and is chewing on a beef rib at the time of the picture):



You can see the dramatic difference between the two sides.

Here are three pictures taken a few minutes ago (to show his ears, not for great pics!):







The last one shows that even when his right ear is floppy, they are very different. This was NEVER seen prior to Saturday.

Okay, with all of that said, does anyone have any ideas about this? I cannot find enough specific info on dog ear anatomy to get a clear understanding of what might have happened, what I need to do for it, and probable outcome. He does not seem to be tender around the ear at all. If this is just something that happened to the muscles or tendons that will get better, no worries...but I AM worried!

[doggiedad]

you have to keep a watchful eye on your
pup at all times. things happen in an instant.

you pup is probably ok. his ears are doing the ear dance,
up down and all around.

you have a nice looking pup.

[milkmoney11]

He's probably fine. I doubt a little tug from a little girl could cause any lasting damage as long as you caught it quickly...which it sounds like you did. If you really stop and think about it, look what the puppies do to their own ears on a daily basis.

They can scratch them pretty hard.
They lay on them with them all bent in weird positions.
They rub them on the grass or carpet.
They press up against stuff and the ear bends completely the opposite way.

They do all this and ears come up normally most of the time. As long as your not messing with it or pulling on them on a somewhat consistent basis, they should be fine in the end.

[Aldo]

Hmm...two of the small pictures dropped out. Here is a picture April 22:



And another from May 11:



The picture below (shows up better in a larger image) shows the characteristic way that the left ear is held pretty much constantly. He does move it around some, but never coming forward.





My concern is that the ears were ALWAYS quite symmetrical until last Saturday. I was concerned with the puppy biting the kids, so I was mostly monitoring and managing his mouth. It was a bit more than just a single grab, so I'm not exactly sure how long it went on (more than one second, less than a minute). I didn't immediately realize what she was doing, and then gently redirected her. We didn't pay any attention, but later saw him holding that ear down (I honestly can't tell you how quickly it was like that as our main focus was managing the landshark). He has been consistently holding it down and to the side for 4 days after never doing this.

Again, I am trying not to be too much of an alarmist, but it has been such a dramatic change, and perhaps I am a bit scared after reading about their vulnerability to ear damage.

Thanks for any input or information that anyone has.

[Aldo]

After an early morning 20 min romp in the woods, he is showing a bit more of a 'hump' at the base of his left ear, and is moving it around more. He still holds it far posteriorly, quite different from his other ear. I guess I am trying to see 'improvement' in this state...but I don't really know what it is that has happened. Worrisome parents...

[milkmoney11]

I still think you're fine. Cash's ears would be straight up one day, then he'd take a nap, wake up, and they'd be flopped over again. Next up...next day down...

They've been up consistently for the last 2 weeks so we will see. They also tend to go up and down during the whole teething process. I'm guessing that it was just a coincidence that they happened to flopping after playing with the little girl.

I guess just keeping on eye on it is all you can do at this point.

[Aldo]

Interesting development: Wed in puppy class he and a couple of others were 'rough-housing' around afterwards, including a bit of biting at ears. He has held BOTH ears down since then. Very strange. He is holding them both symmetrical now, with the 'hump' at the base...but no more 'unicorn' or anything else.

At this stage, do they tend to put ears down in response to rough treatment? Has anyone else encountered this?