.com Forum · Toy Breeds

My papillon is a female and she's 7 and 3/4 months old now. Her ears have always been up since the day I got her and they didn't even go down at 4 or 5 months during teething.

Somehow in the last 3 weeks or so, her right ear became increasingly softer and 2 days ago the tip started to droop. Does anyone know a reason for this and will it be permanent?

I was wondering if it could be still related to teething/calcium level problems.

It's not related to her coming into heat or being pregnant because she's spayed.

Also, both her parents and 3 of her 4 grandparents are Can CH conformation dogs without any ear problems and there was never any problems in any of the dogs in her pedigree so I don't think it's a weak eared line of dogs?

Is there anything I should do to help it stand up? It's not completely down, just soft and droopy.

I was thinking of a Papolion once, (sorry if i miss-spelt.) and it never said anthing about ears getting droopy. I suggest you buy a book about them, Or watch dogs 101 on animal planet, to see if they say anything about that. I'm now stuck with a farting, biting, honking, eating anything he can get his mouth around, cockapoo. So i think you are pretty lucky to have him/her.

Maybe she has a Phalene (drop eared) gene in her? Just because the dogs in her pedigree were Champions doesn't mean they weren't drop eared. I recently saw the #1 Phalene in the US, very pretty dog! But I prefer the erect eared ones.


History of Pap ears from the AKC website:
"A Look Back
Papillons, which used to only have large, drooping ears....Over time, an erect-eared type, fringed as to resemble the ears of a butterfly, developed (Papillon means "butterfly" in French). In the United States, Papillons (erect-eared) and Phalenes (drop-eared) can be born in the same litter and are shown together as one breed."
www.akc.org/breeds/papillon/index.cfm

I too have a papillon. She is four years old now, but when she was around 10 months old the same thing happened, except with her it happened with both ears. I don't know if it happened because she was in the middle of a growth spurt or what, but about four months later her ears were standing erect again. I honestly have no idea, our vet didn't either! So I would just wait and see what happens. Hope this helped!

-Brooke

i have a yorkie, not a papillon, but my yorkie dropped her ears at around 10 months old. I shaved all the hair on that area so the ears would not be so heavy and they stood up again, in about 3 days.

Also, when she was a young puppy, I taped her ears to make them stand.

I dont know if that helps you, I hope so.,

good luck..

Ur papillion might have an ear infection or hot spots.

I was doing some research, and I found out that sometimes a pap puppy will go through this during teething, as their calcium level may be down. Braylor's Papillons suggests putting yogurt or cottage cheese (or another healthy calcium source) into their food and see if that helps.

They do not, however, reccomend shaving their ear fringe, as this will most likely not help.



Brooke

This is not unheard of in the breed or for her age! I know some people who have had to put supports on the ears but thats usually only done if they planned on showing. I would suggest getting ahold of a reputable breeder and asking.