Wondering about ears!?

1934 Views 8 Replies 7 Participants Last post by stefania, May 9, 2005

stefania

Discussion Starter · May 8, 2005

Hi to you all :wave: the ears of my soon to be chi's daddy are not errected,yes they are pretty much down ,so i was wondering whats up with that?I always thought that all chis ears are erected, i guess i was wrong!?Also are boys usually bigger than girls? :wave:

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chimom

· #2 · May 8, 2005

Males are not always larger than females, but in the chis I have seen and been around, that is usually the case.

Some chi puppies ears stand up at an early age, some not until later, and some never stand up completely. I had a female chi who lived to be almost 13, and she had one ear that flopped about halfway down. To me, it just made her more loveable and unique.

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princess's momma

· #3 · May 8, 2005

Princess's ears never stayed up after she finished teething. At first I was a little bit worried about it, but now I love it! I think it makes her sooo much cuter. I have seen a couple of other chis who's ears don't stand up but not that many. I think somebody on this board said it can just be hereditary. As to the boys being bigger than the girls I am not too sure how it works with chihuahuas. What size they eventually end up whether they are a boy or a girl seems to have no rhyme or reason to me. :wave:

www.dogster.com/?107037

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jezapach

· #4 · May 8, 2005

Some of us were just discussing ears in a "Chi Chat"- it's on page 4 today of that page. I tried to copy this shortcut - http://chihuahua-people.com/viewtopic.php?t=7614 Hope that helps.

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stefania

Discussion Starter · #5 · May 8, 2005

Thanks for all the info :wave:

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KayC

· #6 · May 8, 2005

I was told that the chis ears actually have a cartlidge in them and if the get messed with to much when they are puppies or latter the cartlidge will break down and the ears won't stand up. I was always very careful with roxys ears to not damage them

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Gadget's Mom

· #7 · May 8, 2005

Gadget's dad is smaller than Gadget's mom.here is the linkto see Gadget's mom and dad. http://chihuahua-people.com/viewtopic.php?t=7718

As far as ears go... the ear has cartlidge instead of bone and yes it will have an effect when the pups are teething. Usually the ears stand up on their own. Some pups have floppier ears than othere... Gadget's dad has an ear that will sometimes flop and other times it is erect.

It is funny because Gadget has erect ears most of the time but he can make them flop(we call them broken ears.) I myself think that the ears are part of his personality... it is like a mood thing... and when he is listening to something really intently he will stand his ears straight up and turn his little head to an angle.. it is really cute...

1 time I was sitting here and he had broken ears and I started talking ot him and asked him if he was going to fix his broken ears and a few minutes later they were standing straight up.. it is cute.. now when I ask him if he is going to fix his ears he will make them stand erect.. I think it is the tone of my voice... because I have to kinda go into a silly voice for him to do it...

If your pups dad's ears are not standing erect that doesn't meant that your pups isn't going to stand erect.

hope this helped...

Nate where are you? You know more about this than I do....

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ilovesadie

· #8 · May 8, 2005

Stef, talked to you about it already in chat, but for anyone else who's wondering!

Dogs, like people, share similar features, but there are always slight variations in how these features are presented. For dogs, there are many things that vary the "floppiness" of the ears, the strength of the cartilage, the thickness, the size of the pinna (ear flap) as a ratio to the strength of the cartilage, calcium intake in the diet, teething (which is related to calcium usage), age, and probably other things that we aren't aware of yet (mood, seratonin levels).

To be honest, the "erect ear" thing is more of a breed standard of AKC and the likes, and not necessarily something that you should be concerned about unless you plan on showing/breeding dogs. With my dogs, I have no control over their ear rigidity. One minute they are flaccid, the next they are erect, Ritz always has floppy ears in the morning, Sadie gets them during afternoon naps.

Whatever Chico's ears look like, I guarantee you will love him either way, and his ears will be a part of his multi-faceted personality!

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