Bob's Dog Blog

Okay, sometimes they’re called ‘flying nun’ ears, hence the title of this post. If you don’t get the reference, just move on and everything will be all right.

What I am talking about is the fly away ear, the rosebud ear and the aforementioned ‘flying nun’ ear, particularly on a Rottweiler.

This usually shows up while the pup is teething, but can be later or sometimes earlier, so really the main point is not when it actually shows up, but that it shows up. Now you saw in the last post what the head of a Rottweiler should look like and that includes the ears. They are what is referred to as ‘pendant’ ears and that means that they drop down from a specific point on the head, with a specific fold, sort of like a napkin.

Sometimes one or both of the ears does not set right when the Rottie is a pup. This makes the dog look goofy and is even more annoying (at least to me, as I am totally obsessed with ear sets) when only one of the ears is set and the other one is creased in the wrong spot.

So, when new owner Chris, from the Boston, Mass. area, emailed me about the issue with his pup, even suggesting that I post an article on my blog about it, I got right to it!!  Mostly, I will be using the email text, as follows, since I am lazy:

“OK, bob… I have another post for your blog that would  be most helpful …hahah. King’s (Chris’ dog is named King) left ear does not sit properly…I know it’s because he’s teething but whats ur opinion on taping or massaging? Is it all bull shit that will correct itself w/ maturing?? If not, any tips on which method is better and the proper way to do it?? thx again…

Chris..”

Here is my answer)

“Hey Chris,

There are three ways to do it and it will work, but you have to do it (the massaging) every day, like maybe two or three times a day.  It may or may not correct by itself later, so doing something now is best.

Do the massaging every day, as many times a day as you can. Just massage his ear where the crease ought to be, using your forefinger and thumb, to help break down the cartilage.  Use the thumb on the outside of the ear flap and the forefinger on the inside, like a woman’s curler. Really rub it,like you would roll a cigarette, all over that crease area and let him chew on a toy or eat a treat while you do it, so he doesn’t fuss so much.

Next, you can use a product called ‘Tear Mender’ which you can pick up at a craft store or maybe in the Wal Mart craft section. This is a white fabric glue that is non toxic and will hold the ear flap down while it gets re-trained. You place the glue on the tip of the ear and connect it to the dog’s cheek so that it looks like it’s supposed to. The glue is messy and will get on his head, etc. but won’t hurt him.  Just make sure it doesn’t get in his eye and position the ear so the crease is correct. When the glue gets undone, after a week or a few days, leave it for a couple of days and do the massage, then go back to the glue. Keep this up until the ear sets correctly. You are basically retraining the cartilage .

Did you get the Muriel Freeman book (The Complete Rottweiler)? It has an illustration on how to massage the ears there as well.

Here is a link showing how you massage a boxer’s ears. Just use it to get the position of your fingers,etc.

http://intrends.tripod.com/MASSAGE.html

Here is a page that talks about gluing the dogs ears and shows you what the glue looks like.

http://www.dog-training.com/dogears.htm

My son has one of your pup’s litter mate sisters and she had to have it done. Her ears started folding correctly after about ten minutes of massaging. They are using a combo of glue and massage and they are looking very good.

Bob”

That should do it. Oh, here is the update from Chris:

“..the ear massaging is working great and they are almost always sitting properly now..thx again chris “

Here is the picture of his pup, post ear massage:

Best,

Bob

Well, this subject has come up enough recently for me to start getting paranoid on the subject of people choosing males vs. females. I guess I should explain what I mean.

Okay, for the longest time, owners were preferring males over females, maybe on a two to one ratio. The males always went first and the females hung around an extra week or two. Not a really big deal, as they always went to great homes and the people who really wanted a female got what they wanted. I kind of accepted it as the ratio.

Now, in the past few months, I have seen a near reversal of that trend. Now, maybe it’s just coincidence, but maybe there’s something to this. But three out of four calls or inquiries are about females.

Look, don’t get me wrong, I love female Rottweilers. I don’t think there’s a darn thing wrong with owning a female and as a matter of fact (and quite obvious), that is almost exclusively what I have owned as a breeder and dog handler.

But, that doesn’t mean that males suck, either.

Here’s an excerpt from an email I received from a potential owner a month or so ago:

“I had another breeder advise me that I should get a female rather than a male because of temperament issues. I have a 5 yr old and a 2 yr old and they seemed to think that a female would be better. I grew up with a male and that is what I had in mind. What do you think?”

Here was my answer:

First off, (and I may sound too harsh here, but here we go anyway………) I think that the ‘breeder’ who told you that a male is more prone to temperament issues is actually full of crap and does not remotely understand the Rottweiler breed and dogs in general. Try to avoid both them and their puppies if possible. I guess if you have a breeding program that produces skittish dogs with thin nerves or horrible temperaments to begin with, there might be a concern with males coming out of that kennel. The truth is, all things being equal, dogs of either gender are as reliable as they are properly socialized early in life and given proper obedience training.

Although genetics does play a part in the offspring (and a skittish or unusually aggressive dog of any breed is not a reliable choice, especially for a family with children) the gender of the dog is not the main issue here. It is the individual dog’s temperament, including his nerves. Dogs are individuals, just like people and an outgoing, well bred pup, with solid nerves at eight weeks of age is a blank slate that simply needs to be imprinted (socialized, and trained) by its new owner. If you keep the dog in a closet he will grow up to be an idiot and not be very good socially. Male or female doesn’t really matter. I have sold a good number of males to families with children of all ages, including newborns, and have heard not one word from any one of them regarding any issue stemming from some supposed temperament flaw with their male pup. Now, you said you grew up with a male in your household. Did you have any problems with his temperament? Case closed.

So, I thought this was an isolated situation and didn’t think much else about it until the other day, when another prospective owner called me and said the EXACT SAME THING, almost word for word. Now, again, I am not one to push the conspiracy thing, but I think that the same idiot who has been telling people that there is such a thing as an ‘American’ and a ‘German’ Rottweiler is also telling people that male Rottweilers make bad pets.

I think that you should choose a male or female based on your own preference, what you are comfortable with and what best suits your living arrangements. The particular sex of the dog is not something that a breeder should be spending a lot of time influencing you about. The only thing I would say is, if you aren’t planning on doing obedience training or socializing your dog, then you shouldn’t be getting a Rottweiler at all, male or female! Try a goldfish.

Okay, so what am I getting at? Here is my true or false list. Decide for yourself.

1. Males are more aggressive than females -

This is not really true. I guess these faux breeders have never seen two females get aggressive and start fighting with each other when one is in heat, or something like that. Not a pretty sight. Again, it is more the individual dog’s mental makeup, his nerves and his personality. Aggression has nothing to do with testosterone. It has to do with learned behavior and the situation the dog is involved in. The bottom line on aggression is that the dog has to be taught what is appropriate and what is inappropriate behavior from a young age. If you are not willing to do this, then don’t get a dog.

2. Females bond to their owners better than males do -

I would have to say false to this one as well. What data does anyone have that proves this? Nobody has any data, period. I have sold males to single men with no families and they bond well. I have sold males to families and they bond with everyone right away. Males are just as protective and territorial as females when it comes to the household. The only thing I can think of that comes close to this is that I have seen females sometimes bond better with male humans and male Rotties bond with female humans, but this is not something that I have statistics on and can say, ‘Yes, of course, females make better family pets and companions because blah blah blah.’. Nope I cannot.

3. If you have small children, only get a female -

False. Again, do you think the female is going to baby sit your kids while the male Rottweiler is going to go out drinking with his pals? Nope. Refer to my answer to the nice lady’s email.

4. If you are a dishonest breeder and are having trouble selling your females, tell buyers that females are better than males -

Sure, I think this one is true. Self explanatory.

5. Males mark their territory in the house -

Yes, this is sometimes true but is not always the case. This mostly occurs when you have other males in the house or when you allow other males to visit. Jake, my son’s Rottweiler, doesn’t pee in the house at all and he is intact and five years old. Of course, he is the only male in the house (except for my son!!)

6. Males will take longer to train than females-

False. If the dog is not too bright, then I would say that would be the reason for longer than normal training times. Or, if the handler is not real bright, that could account for the same issue.

That should do it.

Bob

I have been operating a breeding kennel for over ten years, so I have had my share of questions from curious,concerned and otherwise data starved potential owners. Sometimes, I receive a canned list of questions that I know came from some book or article on ‘How To Not Get Ripped Off By A Disreputable Breeder’ published in Dog Fancy or some other similar mag or web site. Queries include

How long have you been breeding Rottweilers?

Are your dogs OFA certified?

How many dogs do you have in your kennel?

Where do your dogs live?

How many litters do you have a year?

Okay, so all of the above questions are legitimate and can give a prospective buyer some kind of profile of the breeder and his ethics. However, I can answer all of those questions with the appropriate answer and still not have the knowledge or understanding of the breed and how to create and maintain a kennel and a breeding program that is going to produce healthy, active pups.

Let’s say I only have two females and a male and they are my pets and I only breed once every two years. My dogs are OFA certified and they live in the house. Okay, so what that means is that this breeder has some nice pets that are bred occasionally. Does this mean that the breeding stock is correct and that the pedigrees are worth the price of the pups? Does this person know what a Rottweiler is supposed to look like? And so on. But the test has been passed and the prospective buyer knows that this breeder is not running a puppy mill. Wow. Big deal. Apparently, if you own more than three dogs you are running a puppy mill.

Okay, so I have some real questions that you can ask one of these breeder-type people. These are questions that, when asked, will either evoke a lot of stuttering and stammering and non-answers or real information as to the knowledge and skill of the breeder. Fasten your seatbelts, cuz you’re in for one hell of a ride!!

1. What is the top side pedigree of this pup? (top side is the father, bottom side is the mother. If you look at a printed pedigree, you will see this very clearly- the top half of the paper is the father’s lineage, the bottom half of the paper is the mother’s.) If the breeder doesn’t start answering you within five seconds, you can be sure they have no clue as to what you are talking about.

2. Ask the breeder to describe or explain the type for each parent. Type here refers to phenotype, or physical type of the dog. Some Rotties have a very correct type, some are a bit extreme in the head, some are compact, etc. Failure to even know what type means is a sign of ignorance of dog breeding in general.
3. Ask for any titled dogs in the last three generations of both parents. If they are reading from the pedigree and give you a title, like ‘Blah Blah, CGC’, ask them what ‘CGC’ means. (CGC means Canine Good Citizen and it isn’t a title. It’s a temperament test. Not a bad thing, but not a title) If the breeder can’t explain to you what the titles mean and what the actual accomplishment was that the dog achieved, then the breeder is too lazy or uncaring to even research his or her own dog’s ancestry.

4. Ask the breeder to tell you about the conformation of the parents. If the breeder doesn’t know what the word ‘conformation’ means, then you are done right there. Conformation describes the physical characteristics of the dog as compared to the written breed standard of that particular breed. If the dog ‘conforms’ to the breed standard, then the animal is correct for the breed. I would just ask this question to see if the breeder knows what the word means! I am a cruel bastard.

5. Ask the breeder to explain in detail what hip dysplasia is. Make sure that you have already looked this up online and know yourself exactly what this condition is. If all you get is ‘It’s a disease of the hips’ then you are pretty much done there.

Okay, I’m sure that I can come up with more subtle ways of entrapping would-be breeders into exposing their ignorance of the breed that they have allegedly pledged to improve through their breeding program, but I will stop there. I will, however, give you a list of things to look out for and avoid at all costs in looking for a pup:

1. Any pedigree that includes a dog with the name ‘Harley’, ‘Harley Davidson’ or ‘Samson’.

2. In looking at a breeding pedigree, you see that the sire and dam have the same parents.

3. The breeder who proudly tells you that his sire is a ‘long hair’ Rottweiler.

4. The breeder who proudly tells you that one or both of the parents are well over 160 pounds.

5. The breeder whose primary selling point is the size of the father’s head.

6. The breeder whose primary selling point is the fact that the pups were born without tails.

7. The breeder who mispronounces the name of the breed. Rockwiler, Rockwilder, Rock, etc.

Okay, that about does it. Hope you have some fun with it and learn something about Rottweilers in the process.

Bob

This is a short list of some of the stuff I have seen in ads for Rottweiler pups. I find most of it amusing, but it speaks to the relative ignorance of the people who pose as breeders. Let the buyer beware!

1. “Where the standard still means tree trunk bone and giant heads.”

Okay, what standard are you referring to? Maybe your own. I will wager anyone on the planet that they cannot find that load of crap in the actual written breed standard for the Rottweiler. Go to the AKC website and look up the Rottweiler breed standard and tell me I’m wrong.

2. “Members of Avid, OFA, AKC.”

Wow. I did not know that microchipping your dog (Avid) and sending in a hip xray (OFA) made you members of their club. There are no such clubs. Now, I will concede that these people probably were members of the AKC. But, so is every other person on the planet with an AKC registered dog! Not so much impressive as neccessary.

3. ‘AKC, OFA, DNA’

See number two above. Additionally, ‘DNA’ just means you have more than three litters a year from the same sire and were required to send in a swab of your male’s DNA to the AKC. That is all it means. Not a distinction. Not a title or achievement, unless you consider having DNA a distinction. Certainly not a reason to put it on your ad, you dufus.

4. ‘All German’ or ‘Of German Descent’

Again, so what. See my blog on American vs German (May 9th 2007) for more detail. I guess this person has no idea ALL ROTTWEILERS CAME FROM GERMANY.

5. “lovely litter of Massweiler pups…”

Okay what the hell is a Massweiler? Oh, read on in the ad to find out it is a cross between an English Mastiff and a Rottweiler. Oh, you mean a mixed breed? Yea, I thought so. Your ‘designer dogs’ are ruining the breed, thank you.

6. “German Lines”

A variation on the ‘All German’ item above. Again, so what – all Rottweilers have German lines if you go far back enough. Which in the case of this particular breeder is about fifteen generations. (sigh)
7. ‘AKC Imported German Bred Male’

So, what the **ck is a ‘German Bred Male’? I’ve read it five times and I still don’t understand what this means. All I am sure of is that the person who wrote this ad copy doesn’t have a clue either.

Bob