Your puppies ears are made out of cartilage. The cartilage becomes stronger when your dog is consuming enough calcium. At the age of 4-6 months, your puppy is needing large amounts of calcium. Not only for their ears but also for the permanent teeth they are growing under the surface of their gums. It is very important that the pup receives enough calcium to grow both teeth and ears. If not, the ears will take the hit!
Your puppies are starting into their teething stage. They will loose their baby teeth as the permanent teeth grow. This can be quite a painful time for your puppy. Often times the pain of teething will cause the puppies ears to droop. I suggest you give your puppies raw, frozen, knuckle bones to chew. This helps in 3 ways. 1. It adds extra calcium to their diet, 2. It strengthens the muscles that support the ears, and 3. It provides a cool sensation on their sore teeth.
If your puppies ears have been up and are now down, this is caused by teething. The ears that have been up already will come back up again once they are feeling better. If, however, your puppy's
ear(s) have not been up, you need to sit up and take notice. You do not need to do anything at this point but if at 5 months there are no signs the ear(s) are coming up, you need to call me. There are several reasons why a dog's ears will not stand. Not enough calcium, people rubbing them frequently which causes the cartilage to soften (think leather), and playing with other dogs who grab at the puppy's ears.
So keep an eye on those ears everyone! Oh ya! And either no tug of war while their teething or at the least, very GENTLE tug of war!
Bye for now!
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