Question about Papillons Ears

[Anonymous Rex]

After falling in love with my sisters Papillon, my mother recently adopted one from a breeder in BC. Now that out last dog has passed on(she lived to be 17 years old!), she's found a great little female Papillon and named her Mya.

She had a question about the ears of a Papillon. Previous to purchasing Mya, she had never heard of the Phalene style of Papillon with the drooping ears. She had simply assumed all Paps had the erect, perky ears. Mya though has drooping ears, although she is only 9 weeks old. Her question is whether all Paps start out with drooping ears, and then they perk up over time, or whether Paps with perky ears are born that way? If they are meant to perk up over time, at about what age would we start to see the ears rising up?

Either way, she's a great little dog and very affectionate. A little timid right now, but if she turns out like my sisters Pap, she'll be a bundle of crazy energy in no time!

 

[Laurelin]

There's two varieties of papillons- one drop eared and one erect eared. The drop eared version is called a phalene. It's perfectly normal, just not as common. I'd guess if the pup's ears aren't erect yet, they'll stay drop eared. Some paps have weak ears as well- semi erect or one up, one down. Those aren't preferred for showing but other than that are also possible.

 

[FoxyWench]

all pups ears are born folded large eared toy breeds (paps and chis for example) can have "folded" ears up to 5-6 months of age, the ears of paps can have a tendency to "not make up their mind" untill after teething at which point a typical pap pups ears will become erect and stay that way, or will stay drooped in the phalene "style"
then youll get paps with weaker ears that will stand but be "tipped" the tip of the ear seems to heavy and falls forward.

chihuahuas do somehting much the same, alot of chihuahuas ears will be stood perfect at 6 weeks then flop again upon going to their new home (stress seems to impact) then theyll usually stand again only to flop during teething for a couple of months, or the puppy will have flopped ears all the way up to teething, after that point the ears THEN decide if there gonna stand or if there gonna just floppy down. (though folded is a fault in chis)
its understandable, i mean think how hard it is on their tiny little bodies to keep those huge ears up! lol.

 

[Anonymous Rex]

Thanks for the info. I had no idea so many factors could impact the formation of a dogs ears.

The breeder certainly seemed to think that her ears will perk up over time, so I'm sure they will. Stress may play a factor though, as she is certainly a bit more timid than other puppies we've had in the past. She goes from being totally adventurous to "I need to bury my head in a pillow because the world is too big for me!" at the drop of a hat. And her favourite "safe" place is wrapped around my moms neck! If anything scares her, she's right up there as fast as can be. And to top it off, she's much more bold outside, loves to explore our yard and roll around and chase things. Inside though, she seems far more reserved and less apt to explore the house.

I guess it's the quirks of being a puppy. I'm sure she'll grow out of it though, as she gets lots of socialization with other people and dogs. And when she gets a bit older, she'll be making regular visits to my moms workplace at the local hospital to provide comfort for elderly patients.