If his ears don't go up I'll probably breed him to a female with thinner ears (like Kumi) once and see if it corrects the issue. Out of all the reasons to cull a dog, I'd say thin ear leather is low on my list, especially when we are talking about an import for a preservation effort (and not a strictly show kennel).
Honestly, (and even though I would love a reason for you to send him my way, lol) he's such a good looking pup, it would be a awful not to have him in the program.
(And I love the new site too - colors, pics, graphics, layout...all of it's really nice!)
Wonder if Ritsu's ears are more ear-size related than ear-thickness related?
I've heard thicker ear leather takes longer to lift than thinner ear leather. But people still get stressed at waiting. :-)
I've seen some rather unusual aids to hold the ears up until the cartilage sets in Jindos, and even the "DogMan" Akita book mentioned using rice glue back in those days.
I think the advice I heard from Marian is supplement with unflavored gelatin.
I'm so torn on what breed I want as my next dogs I checked your website out and your kai kens have me charmed I'm in love with Kai kens, shikoku, and hokkaido..
@ayk - We've tried a few things on past dogs to get their ears to stand up with vry little success or results.
If I'm to be honest, I feel like I've spent too much of my time in dogdom worrying about dog's ears. Whether it's cropping them, or keeping them natural and hoping the hang right, or worry about the pricked eared breeds lifting. I just kinda don't care to worry about it anymore.
For breeding, we'll do our best to choose the right dogs to pair together, and one very small aspect of that choice will be ear size/leather.
I like the Ritsu x Kumi paring a lot, for many many reasons, and one of them is her smaller ears. I wish Mochi was still around and intact, she had great ears for a dog like Ritsu. :oT
So, we will probably not work too hard to get his ears to stand.
@brada1878 - I've tried taping ears before, but I won't do it again. I'm almost in the vein that it's better not to mess with things so you can see, unaltered, what you have or are producing. (I still hold to diet/supplementing at this moment, mostly because it's non-invasive.) I've also seen people tape tails to try to straighten them, which is really going too far IMO.
I agree that ears lifting/not lifting shouldn't be a big priority unless maybe if it's a sign of some other problem. I know of a rescue dog that had upright ears up until he got hematomas in both ears and it broke the cartilage. I've always thought it strange to see it in both if it was strictly environmental. (He didn't have a water dunking incident that would explain it.) Maybe an allergy which could then be loosely immune-related.
@ayk - Yea, I totally agree that the concern is with the reason they are floppy and not so much the the ears themselves. It makes me wonder with him, but he was also a very fleshy awkward pup so I'm not jumping to any conclusions until we do some health tests on him.
With Hilo, I think it was a health reason for sure, Kahuna too. Kona I think he just has big soft ears, his stand but they took to 8 months to lift. Kaiju's left ear is a bit soft too, turns in very slightly, so I'm wondering if that will correct with time.
Ritsu's ears I think came from his mom, which were a little thin and large (for a female)...
I met her when Ritsu was 4 weeks (I met him too then). She was less than thrilled with us being around her pups, so I didn't get to feel her ears much.
His father has nice thick ears (from what I can tell)...
So, maybe he got the size from his mom and thickness from his dad and that is causing it to take longer for them to lift. Also, he still has a lot of growing to do - his head is tiny right now.
He is such a gorgeous boy! Don't give up on those ears yet! Didn't you say yourself, that Kona's didn't go up till he was 8 months? Keep hoping and believing!!
@brada1878 Wow Goro does looks a ton like Ritsu! I tried to show Jeff what Ritsu looked like as a pup, but his picture were taken down from your Facebook. Glad I found some here! How long did Ritsu ears take to stand up. Goro ears show no sign of going up any time soon lol. :P
Comments
I think his ears will go up tho.
Thanks Amber!
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(And I love the new site too - colors, pics, graphics, layout...all of it's really nice!)
I've heard thicker ear leather takes longer to lift than thinner ear leather. But people still get stressed at waiting. :-)
I've seen some rather unusual aids to hold the ears up until the cartilage sets in Jindos, and even the "DogMan" Akita book mentioned using rice glue back in those days.
I think the advice I heard from Marian is supplement with unflavored gelatin.
I'm so torn on what breed I want as my next dogs I checked your website out and your kai kens have me charmed I'm in love with Kai kens, shikoku, and hokkaido..
I just love the kai ken's look and personality.
Can't wait to see more on him as he grows.
If I'm to be honest, I feel like I've spent too much of my time in dogdom worrying about dog's ears. Whether it's cropping them, or keeping them natural and hoping the hang right, or worry about the pricked eared breeds lifting. I just kinda don't care to worry about it anymore.
For breeding, we'll do our best to choose the right dogs to pair together, and one very small aspect of that choice will be ear size/leather.
I like the Ritsu x Kumi paring a lot, for many many reasons, and one of them is her smaller ears. I wish Mochi was still around and intact, she had great ears for a dog like Ritsu. :oT
So, we will probably not work too hard to get his ears to stand.
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I agree that ears lifting/not lifting shouldn't be a big priority unless maybe if it's a sign of some other problem. I know of a rescue dog that had upright ears up until he got hematomas in both ears and it broke the cartilage. I've always thought it strange to see it in both if it was strictly environmental. (He didn't have a water dunking incident that would explain it.) Maybe an allergy which could then be loosely immune-related.
With Hilo, I think it was a health reason for sure, Kahuna too. Kona I think he just has big soft ears, his stand but they took to 8 months to lift. Kaiju's left ear is a bit soft too, turns in very slightly, so I'm wondering if that will correct with time.
Ritsu's ears I think came from his mom, which were a little thin and large (for a female)...
I met her when Ritsu was 4 weeks (I met him too then). She was less than thrilled with us being around her pups, so I didn't get to feel her ears much.
His father has nice thick ears (from what I can tell)...
So, maybe he got the size from his mom and thickness from his dad and that is causing it to take longer for them to lift. Also, he still has a lot of growing to do - his head is tiny right now.
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I'm starting to think they're not gonna lift. :oT
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