ear position

Question
Hi..our male 3-month old boxer pup has his ears set very near each other on the top of his head.  When they are relaxed they are perfectly aligned with his eyes and don't fall towards the side of his head. Sometimes they actually lay on top of each other and it looks like he has a bow on his head.  Would he be a good candidate for cropping?  Or should we just accept that our Rocky just has his own 'look'.  Thanks   Beth

Answer
Hi Beth,

Sorry to be the one to have to tell you the bad news...you just missed the window of the 'ideal' cropping age for a Boxer.  2-3 months.

I'd settle on his own 'look' :)  A dog is a dog...I'm assuming, because you've not had him cropped thus far, he's a pet.  Let him be.  Cropping him now, you run the high risk of the ears looking worse at the end than they do now.  You'd also be looking at the possibility of 10 months of ear taping/setting to get them to stand properly.

His cartilage has already begun to set...this is why crops are done between the ages of 7 and 11 weeks.  The pups are old enough for surgery and young enough to not have had cartilage set.

What Rocky has are called rose ears from what you describe.  If you send me a photo I can tell you for sure.  nicole@boxerdogplanet.com