help!

Question
hello
i just found out about this site today and as i was reading through the archives i felt that i should consult you about our german sheperd.  she is now 2 years old and has been with us for a year and 8 months. she is still very playful and we really love her.  

my first concern is that her right ear still hasn't stood up fully yet.  at first we thought it was normal so we just waited until she was about a year old. but when we saw that it still doesnt stay up, we tried taping it for 2 months. she stayed inside the house for more than a year so we thought that she still feels like our baby thats why her right ear stays down, although she stays outside now with our other dogs. up until now both her ears are up only whenever she is alone outside but once she hears our voices her  right ear folds and there are also times when both her ears are down when we play with her.  i know this is not normal. what can we do to correct it? she comes from a good breed and her parents and all her siblings didnt have this problem.

another thing is that we are planning to breed.  will this problem about her ear affect her would be pups? and what day of the heat is best to have her bred? the owner of the stud told us that he does his on the 10th day after the first bleeding. but then i read in one of the archives that they are advising to do it on the 14-16th day after the first bleeding. im really confused.

i hope to hear from you soon
thank you very much

Answer
Hi Kyla,  Unfortunately if the ears aren't completely up by a year, they won't be.  Normally you have to start taping by the 6th month.  Ears going up are controlled by calcium.  The first 6 months the ears are supposed to go up and down due to the calcium going to the teeth.  Once the adult teeth are in, then the calcium is concentrated on getting the ears to stay up.  Some of the lineage of shepherds have very wide ear bases which require that they have their ears taped to help build up the cartlidge in the ears.  It sounds like your shepherd has lineage like that.  You don't just want to look at the parents when looking at what your dog will produce or the type of genetics it has.  A dog will pass traits from 3 generations back, so you want to check at least 3 generations to see what qualities your dog and the stud will pass on.  Your female should be bred 3 times during her heat cycle to guarantee that the breeding takes.  

A dog's heat cycle breaks done into 3 segments basically.  The 1st 7-10 days, they tend to bleed heavier and will not accept a male, the 2nd 7-10 day segment their vulva will swell and they will be willing to accept a male.  The last segment also will last approx. 7-10 days and they will be going out of heat and not accept a male.  If she has never been bred before but shows a lot of interest in the male, you may have to hold her up to get them bred as a lot of new females won't accept the weight of the male on them the first time.  By no means should you force them to breed.  If she really freaks about you holding her up, and the male being on her, just let her go.  You can go to the vet and get a smear done on the female to see how far along she is in the heat cycle so you can better estimate when the male should be with her.  I normally have them breed three times, basically once a day every other day.  Again, the smear will tell you exactly when you should breed.  It takes approx. 63 days for them to have puppies.  Mark your calendar from the first day you breed, and the last day you breed.  Anytime inbetween there she could have the pups.  2wks before she is due you need to setup a whelping box for her to have the puppies in.  You want her to start sleeping in it and setting up a nest in it.  When she starts labor, she will circle a lot, lick herself and strain to have the puppies.  If it looks like she is having a lot of difficulty or there is a lot of time between puppies being born, then you do want to get her into a vet right away.  You can get an x-ray right before she is due  to try and count how many puppies are in her so you get an idea of how many she should be having.  Puppies will nurse up until about 6 weeks old.  You can start introducing puppy food soaked with warm water 3 times a day to the puppies when they reach about 3-4 weeks old.  Still let mom nurse them, but start taking her away for longer periods of time (especially when you feed them) so that she can start to dry up a bit and also force them to wean.  You should worm the puppies for roundworms around 5 weeks and start their vaccination series around 6 weeks.  You will need to worm them again at 7 weeks to kill the larvae left behind that would have hatched after the last worming.  Vaccinations should be given 3 weeks apart and rabies given at 4 months.  Hope this helps,

Dawn