Johnny and Jane took a trip

Johnny and Jane were born in WV where I used to live. I just sold the house; the closing was on Thursday. So we were there one last time. They got to hang out at the house and run along the creek down in the bottom. We were comfortable there for a few years, and then they adapted well to Virginia. I had very mixed feelings about selling the house, but it was more than I could manage on my own. We made the trip there and back in one day. I still had stuff to pack up, and I got a car dolly and towed the car home. I was exhausted! Special thank you to my neighbors, Gail and Nancy, for letting Nellie, Winston, Clyde, and See See out to potty while I was gone!

Jane, always attentive, in front of the living room where she was born
Johnny chilling on the front porch of the house where he was born

More success with ears!

Connie’s ears gave us all fits. They were taped and taped again. They got better, she was teething, they came down, we tried the breathe right strips, and then tried it again, and finally that lazy ear came up! She is so pretty with her ears up! Thank you for sending the pics Peggy! Gosh I hope they are up for good!

You can see where the hair was clipped, but it’s already growing back.
Connie at 6 months

Good outcome with ears using strips!

Mustang, aka Chief, the only longhaired male in the litter, had some real trouble with his ears as you remember from previous posts. With the assistance of the breathe right strips they are now standing nicely. You can see in this photo that the hair inside the ear we supported hasn’t grown back yet. Because he is longhaired, we had to use clippers so the strip would stick. Soon his owner will forget about how worried he was about those ears! Thank you, Lou, for your dedication and attention to the process, which turned out to be easier than we thought.

Mustang, aka Chief, at 6 months with perfect ears!

Guess what Clyde told me.…. DANGER, DANGER!

We had a big storm last night, and a tree fell on my fence, leaving a low place where a mischievous puppy might be tempted to explore and get out of the yard. So I went outside with Clyde, See See, and Winston to supervise. The puppies chased Winston around for a bit while Winston carried a stick up high. They started to get down to doing their business, and then Clyde jumped into the air and started barking at something on the ground…. GOOD BOY CLYDE!!!! No people or pets got hurt, thanks to Clyde, and maybe the storm. I wonder if I would have gotten to the dogs in time if i hadn’t been outside with them because of the fence.

This is a good example of why obedience is so important. Even though they weren’t finished outside, they all came when I called immediately, and I was able to get the shovel and kill this copperhead, which was right in the middle of the back yard, where all of my dogs go out to potty several times a day.
Clyde takes after his Uncle Johnny, who has intuitively alerted me many times to life threatening situations, not to mention scaring off people who thought twice about seeing me as a victim. Please comment if your dog has ever saved you or your loved ones!

Quarterhorse, aka Cooper, is doing great and lives with an older female playmate

His owner reports that he has a great laid-back temperament, and loves their 4 year old son. I love to get reports like this!
I heard from Maverick’s (now Ranger) family too, and I’m waiting on pics…. These reports are what make parting with my sweet puppies bearable.

Mustang, aka Chief, and, you guessed it, Ears

This nearly 6 month old Long-haired GSD puppy’s ears have been up and down. His owner tried the breathe right strips, but had to take them out because he had an insect bite that got sore and he kept scratching it and shaking his head. So, that day, his ears looked like this:

The very next day, without anyone doing anything to the ears, they looked like this:

I hope this gives us all hope! Thank you, Lou, for sending these pics of Mustang, I mean, Chief!

Breathe Right strips for GSD puppy ears

Some breeders have had success with using Breathe Right strips in ears to brace them. In my experience, this only works in limited circumstances. In order for this to work, the ear must be almost up anyway, meaning it is occasionally flopping. And the bend can’t be low on the ear, or at the top either. If it’s at the top, the weight of the strip will make it bend lower on the ear. If it’s too low, the strip isn’t strong enough to hold. If you put in multiple strips, the weight of the strips pulls the ear to the side. So I tried it on See See, because her bend was in the middle, and she did hold it up sometimes.

Looks good so far!

In this video you can see it holds up pretty well.

I will definitely post with results. Definite advantages with this method, as there isn’t really any likelihood of infection. Also, it is well tolerated. And if it doesn’t work, it’s pretty obvious if the ear is still flopping, or the ear is pulled to the side.

Clyde and See See playing and ears again

Here are a couple of videos of Clyde and See See playing in the yard. See See’s ears look great, even though I had to take the tape off sooner than I had planned due to an infection on the OUTSIDE of her ear. The heat and humidity really is a perfect environment for really hot and fast developing bacterial and fungal infections when there is limited air circulation. Please people, check those ears at least once a day with the sniff test and get that tape off if there is a bad smell. In these videos, the tape has been off about a week, and if you look carefully, you can see there is some hair missing at the base of the left ear. She is in the pink collar. I keep saying this, but I don’t think I will have to retape her ears.