damaged ears?

[sandor]

my pup is 15 weeks and a couple days now, which i know is still quite young for his ears to stand, but i'm worried that the cartilage could possibly be broken. our neighbors have his brother (from the same litter) and his have been up for quite awhile. also, we have another young pup at home (5 month old beagle/pitbull) who i sometimes catch nibbling on his ears. i stop him from doing this every time i catch it, but sometimes my little guy runs up to me with soggy ears where i didn't even see it.

previous to the past couple of days, one of his ears would occasionally stand, and both would semi-stand, flop over, etc. but now they just sort of flop to the sides. should i be worried? here's a pic of him from yesterday...








edit:
here's from oct 15th (10 weeks old)

[Jax08]

Is he teething? Do you give him anything to chew on? Have you tried taping them?

[KZoppa]

looks like a goofy ear stage to me. his ears also look rather large too so the weight could be having an effect. 15 weeks is just under 4 months old so teething with also have an affect on his ears. They'll be wonky until teething is done. Other members will have suggestions for you as well regarding what you can give him to help. I know cottage cheese is something you can give that may help.

[sandor]

yes, i believe he is still teething...his vet appointment tomorrow will confirm that though. he has hundreds of dollars worth of toys of all different sorts so he's content in that area. i haven't tried taping yet because the breeder advised me against it, since she has never had a pup with soft ears.

and thank you zoppa, i've never heard of the cottage cheese thing, i'll have to try that

[Jax08]

I'm not talking about toys. I'm talking about something hard to chew on, like a bone, to work the muscles in his jaw and help lift his ears.

I've heard of giving cottage cheese also. Be careful not to give to much calcium though.

Look in teh puppy section and search for ears. Lots of threads on taping and age to do it.

[sandor]

he doesn't have actual rawhide bones, but he does have a couple nylabones a kong, and a couple other hard rubber toys.

[Jax08]

Not a rawhide. Those get gluey and can cause obstructions.

Hard bones...like a marrow bone or a knuckle bone. If you have a butcher in your area, call him and ask for beef knuckle bones. If not, go to your grocery store and look for marrow bones.

Just clean the marrow out of it. It gives some dogs diarrhea. I've never had that problem but I've seen a few posts about it.

[GSDAlphaMom]

You are still ok at 15 weeks, it' still early. Get some Solid Gold Seameal to add to his food. I don't start to worry until 5 months. If they aren't up by then I use forms.

Here's a thread I did on some of the stages:

Ear Stages - a pictorial

[sandor]

thanks alphamom, i saw your thread earlier, it was helpful. i'm only so worried because of the other dog constantly chewing on his ears, and the fact that his brother's have been up for awhile...although i know each dog would be different, it still doesn't calm my worries any! hah

[GSDAlphaMom]

I totally understand but littermates ears can go up at different times. I would, however, restrict the chewing on the ears though!