Ears have cartiledge not bone, so calcium is not a factor with them. I know there have been some ear threads on the forum, so you might want to check back in the archives for some of those. Vitamin C is recommended my many Breeders, anywhere from 500 to 1,000 mg a day, especially during teething. (Vitamin C helps the body deal with stress and at that age there is a lot of stress going on with a growing puppy - teething, growth spurts, etc.) A good multi-vitamin from the pet supply place doesn't hurt either. Also be sure puppy is parasite free and de-wormed; worms can weaken a puppy's overall health and impact the ears being able to come up.
Here's some advice a respected and good friend of mine (Checker's mom met her at the recent UT Corgi Christmas gathering
) gave recently on the subject of ears. Peggy writes:
"It's not his personality. It's a physical problem. His ears need help
standing. Either the ear
leather (that's what you call the ear itself) is thick and heavy or it's because
he's teething.
A corgi is susposed to have erect ears. And sometimes to get that they need
help. We provide
that by taping.
Erect ears have fewer problems as they have better ear circulation. Helping
him now will be
better for him in the long run."
More from Peggy:
"Giving extra calcium can cause problems with his bone growth. I do not
recommend extra calcium.
Better to add some vitamin c so he can use the calcium better.
Also, ears are made of cartledge not calcium. It is common for ears to be up
one day and down
the next while teething.
However, for a puppy of mine, if the ears aren't up by 10 weeks I tape them. If
they've both been
up and flop, I'll give that ear 24 hours to come back up. If it doesn't I tape
it. My advice is
to tape them. The longer you wait the more chance there is of not having any
success with
keeping the ears up.
I wrap tape around the base of the ear. I do not put anything in the ear.
It'll just come out
anyway, just roll the ear and put tape around the base. (I use the white
adhesive tape. I think
it stays on longer.) Leave it on till it comes off on it's own.
Here's the site on ear taping. It's not the method I use but I understand it
works.
http://www.phi-vestavia.com/EARTAPING.htm "
The Phi-Vestavia site is a method we commonly use with Cardigans, but have also used on Pembrokes.
Debbie