Dutch Shepherd Forum

Mobil's ears were up for about ten minutes today and I got a good shot of him. I know I shouldn't freak out over whether his ears are going to stay up or not, especially given that I've read several of you had pups whose ears didn't decide to get with the program until 8ish months. But he just looks like a completely different dog with the right ears on. He looks labby with them down.

are they now almost 6 mos old?
they both look great now.

Mobil looks like the most with-it of the 2 based only on that 2nd pic. he looks bold and probably like he's the ringleader, whereas Turbo's facial muscles show uncertainty. is that true? how do their personalities differ? and how is the household with 2 6 month old DS puppies in it? i bet they have a ball together. hope you do, too

They both look great. And if your ears were that big you wouldnt be able to keep them up much more than 10 minutes at a time either. Lol. I've always heard if they are ever up they will eventually stay up. BUT I was just as worried as you.

johninny wrote:are they now almost 6 mos old?
they both look great now.

Mobil looks like the most with-it of the 2 based only on that 2nd pic. he looks bold and probably like he's the ringleader, whereas Turbo's facial muscles show uncertainty. is that true? how do their personalities differ? and how is the household with 2 6 month old DS puppies in it? i bet they have a ball together. hope you do, too

Turbo is the instigator and the hot head. She is into everything and she acts first and thinks about it later. Mobil is bold, but he sizes up situations before going all out. He's my thinker. He also listens better. And he bosses her around. Like when someone walks past the yard and they tear ass over to bark at them, I'll call them off and say, "quiet!" And Mobil will stop barking and look at me and I'll say, "just watch." And turbo will keep barking, and when I say, "turbo! Shh! I said quiet," Mobil will run over and grab her and throw her down until she shuts up.

They do have a blast together, they are crazy when they get going. Leaping over and sliding under furniture and and so much tumbling, tumbling. I think if I didn't have two, I'd be going insane trying to keep up..

karenz wrote:They both look great. And if your ears were that big you wouldnt be able to keep them up much more than 10 minutes at a time either. Lol. I've always heard if they are ever up they will eventually stay up. BUT I was just as worried as you.

I read your thread. I am almost tempted to get those ear forms that Christie posted, but then I tell myself that more than one person had said how their dogs' ears went up late too. But then I read and hear how it'll be too late by then because you shouldn't wait past six months or their ears will set.

Mobil wrote:I read your thread. I am almost tempted to get those ear forms that Christie posted, but then I tell myself that more than one person had said how their dogs' ears went up late too. But then I read and hear how it'll be too late by then because you shouldn't wait past six months or their ears will set.

I tried to ear forms however I wasn't very good at it and they didn't stay in more than a few days at a time. Xander hated them. I used pipe insulation from the hardware store and ostemy glue.

Finally Xanders stayed up at 9 to 9 1/2 months. He was a late bloomer. I worried the whole time because of reading that if they weren't up by 6 months or after getting adult teeth then they wouldn't come up.

You can try the forms, it won't hurt but more than likely they will stay up sooner or later.

When you used the forms, did you shave inside his ear first?

Mobil wrote:When you used the forms, did you shave inside his ear first?

No. I just glued them in. They sell the glue remover too. I would use that to take them off.

interesting. it is amazing how much you can tell from a good photo. it is exactly as i thought - as when push comes to shove, Mobil will put himself in charge. he sounds as good as he looks in the photo.

Turbo will benefit from extra OB practice; with her type of personality, a solid leave it, sit, and here are godsends.

johninny wrote:interesting. it is amazing how much you can tell from a good photo. it is exactly as i thought - as when push comes to shove, Mobil will put himself in charge. he sounds as good as he looks in the photo.

Turbo will benefit from extra OB practice; with her type of personality, a solid leave it, sit, and here are godsends.

I'm trying to find a group obedience class that fits in with my husband's work schedule. I was excited to see that CherCar has a class coming up on the 14th, but it starts at six thirty and is about fifty minutes away from me, so with my husband working until six, that won't work. I'm trying to see what my daughter's work/school schedule is to see if maybe she can come hang out with the kids until he gets home from work.

Here they are playing.

http://youtu.be/whruFuk_uRE

karenz wrote: I used pipe insulation from the hardware store and ostemy glue.

Please tell me you took a pic of that; I'd love to see how that looked.

Dusty, Karen posted at least one pic of Xander on here [ fairly recently? ] that shows the contraption. tho that was not the intent of the post. so it is probably here in the photo section somewhere. it was a very neat job, Karen. -- very tailored!

I'll see if I can find it.

My daughter just volunteered to babysit on Tuesdays so i can take turbo to classes, so I reserved a spot.
Yay!

I will see if I can find some and post them.

Contributing late to the convo but I was talking with a MWD handler and he said in his experience "stripe-y" dogs mature more slowly. I asked him if he saw a difference between fawn DS and striped DS and be said developmentally wise, a lot. Not sure how true that statement is but it feels fairly accurate if I compare H to a similarly aged Weinameimer I met. Perhaps this has something to do with ears not going up till later? A trade off for physically mature vs mentally mature? H did all his physical maturing early but mentally he's still not as mature. Either way I love H and I simply adore Turbo and Mobile! Let us know how the OB training at Cher Car goes!

Training starts on tuesday, I can't wait to get out of the house without kids!

In response to the title of this thread...took my laptop in for work last week (twice, ugh) and while at the counter with it open, a woman behind me asked if I had a (breed I never heard of) or Belgian mal. Uh...no...Dutch shepherd...(how did she know to ask anything???).

She said all she saw were EARS on my screensaver but not the dog.

(Also said she breeds DDFs or other such initials for a breed--I said "Don't know them." She said, "Chezch." I know GS imports, but never got clear on if that's what she breeds. She said she never heard of Dutch shepherds. Based on our brief conversation, on behalf of DSs, I'm thankful.)

Ahh, so she was a smart one, then.

/sarcasm

I didn't get the ear forms, but I made some out of an empty toilet paper roll and used tear mender leather glue.

I'd be doodling that heart-shaped white spot with my fingers. How special that mark is.

Thor's previous owner sent me pictures of him as a pup and teen. Thor doesn't have any white, but he has a distinctive pattern down his chest that has "faded" over time, but the pictures show a CLEAR distinction: one half had one perfect pattern, the other a completely different one...like two halves from two different brindles where cut in a straight line and then glued together.

Hmmmm, now that I think of it, it's a yin-yang marking, a mark that separates good and bad--Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. Holy crap. So...it's all quite obvious now that it became less distinctive as he learned to embrace the good at least as much as the bad....

And with this logic, your baby has a big heart that no one can break!