Why, yes, she does have an enormous mouth. And she likes to stuff it. Here you see Laev with not one but two Dober-sized toys crammed into her maw. I’m not sure why she doesn’t gag herself, but she loves this.
Why, yes, she does have an enormous mouth. And she likes to stuff it. Here you see Laev with not one but two Dober-sized toys crammed into her maw. I’m not sure why she doesn’t gag herself, but she loves this.
I love the floppy dobe ears! Just out of curiosity – do you have to watch for ear infections also? I know you’ve been feeding a high quality kibble, if you haven’t switched back to a raw diet.
Tami & the Scocker Crew
Norbert (corn makes my ears inflamed) & Nessa (I can eat anything, but shouldn’t!)
Hillsboro, OR
http://www.scockercrew.com
I really want to get back on raw, but the freezer door is broken….
But no, I don’t worry about ear infections. In fact, the only study I’ve heard about which compared hanging and cropped ears in breeds which are often cropped found that cropping did *not* prevent ear infections and in fact that cropped dogs had a slightly higher incidence of infection.
Reasons? I would *guess* that since most cropped breeds are smooth-coated, the cropping allows more debris to enter the ear in the first place. Also, correct Doberman ears are lifted slightly and are not heavy like hound ears (Laevatein is not a stellar example of this, but Shakespeare is), which means they aren’t prone to the same kind of problems as some heavy-eared breeds.
Of course, I happened across a summary of this study years ago and have no record of it now, so I’m not going to be dogmatic about this — certainly I’m not going to base a cropping argument on it — but it was interesting to read.
I wish Laev’s ears were a little smaller. But maybe she’ll eventually grow into them, like I hope she’ll grow into her feet!