Can you hear me now...?

Hey Wags – NCAA basketball? That really is March Madness. All those squeaky gym shoes on the wood floor…and, in any event, you might as well just watch the last minute of any game which stretches out for ten minutes – something that usually can happen only in science fiction. Better yet, read a Ray Bradbury novel, save your time, and read the results in the newspaper. And, don't forget...no betting!

As for me, March is the time to celebrate the spring equinox. Happy spring to everyone in the northern hemisphere and fall to everyone else! As for those of you hanging around the equators, well, just continue enjoying the great life!!

All this confirms what we already know -- that we each have our own perspectives on everything from how to spend leisure time to where and how to live. And, when it comes to dogs, even the most dedicated dog lover does not love all types of dogs.

Clearly, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, especially when it comes to our own pooches. We each love some special attributes about our dogs and have breeds to which we’re drawn. I sometimes think of it as the difference between pug and lab owners. There's something about the face. What do you find most appealing about your dog?

When it comes to Jake, I’ve learned to love his ears but it didn’t start this way. Until Jake, I have never, ever, preferred pricked eared (or erect eared) dogs (and, yes, it is a good question which term is most likely to attract the most unintended readers to this blog). Jake has changed my life in many ways, including my appreciation of this very distinct ear type.

Pre-Jake, my definition of the best dog was the golden retriever. This was the dog of my childhood. A gorgeous, AKC registered golden, with an impressive name: Rebecca of Bark Point, Huntress of Gold, known to family and friends as Becky. Her mother and father were very fine representatives of their breed, especially in an era—the 60’s--before goldens became so popular and, what appears to me, overbred. Becky’s father, Mr. Toast, was legendary and deep in color. Indeed, he will be remembered throughout time in his eponymous children’s book series by his owner and best buddy, Stuart Brent, including my favorite, The Strange Disappearance of Mr. Toast. (If you have children and a golden, this is a great book to share with your children.)

A golden retriever's ears frames it noble face. Becky’s ears met the golden's AKC standard: “Ears rather short with front edge attached well behind and just above the eye and falling close to the cheek. When pulled forward, tip of ear should just cover the eye.” Her soft, floppy ears, begging to be petted and pulled up and back, suited her kind, loving and intelligent face. Indeed, they helped enhance her beauty and "friend to all" look.

A dog’s ears are so important that they are specified within the dog’s breed standards. They can’t be too big or small – they have to be “just right.” They also affect how people perceive them. As a golden retriever fan, I used to find dogs with erect ears a little threatening. Come to think of it, I still do.

A pricked ear gives the appearance in many, though not all, breeds of a certain alertness associated with guard dogs. Like a German Shepherd. Perhaps this is why boxer's ears have been cropped, to make them look more like a pricked ear guard dog than they would with their natural floppy ears. They are guard dogs, so their owners modify their look to make them look more alert and “professional.” By the way, congratulations to boxer owners who let their dogs go "au naturale." They are really handsome with their real ears.

Dogs with ears in between floppy and pricked – “semi-erect”—can be quite appealing, and are frequently used in TV or movies as these ears look quite funny when they are flopped about in the process of a dog moving its head quizzically from the left to the right. There is a good reason Lassie was such a popular dog. Collies have such ears and the AKC notes that for this breed, “a dog with prick ears…cannot show true expression and is penalized accordingly.” (I'd disagree with this viewpoint as I've learned that even the slightest tilt of Jake's ears express volumes.)

Border collies are one of the few (if not only) dogs that are allowed some real ear options within the breed standard. Border collie ears should be of medium size, but they can be either semi-erect or fully erect. Indeed, border collies can have one or both of the same kind of ears. Still, most of the border collies I see have semi-erect ears. So, when I first laid eyes on Jake, described as a border collie mix with Australian Cattle Dog, and saw his semi-floppy ears, I assumed that both of his cute puppy ears would be like that throughout his life.

I didn’t know much about ACDs dogs but could have anticipated Jake’s future better if my canine education was better. ACD’s ears are of a moderate size, “preferably small rather than large, broad at the base, muscular, pricked, and moderately pointed neither spoon nor bat eared…the inside of the ear fairly well furnished with hair.” By the way, as an adult, Jake can be very proud of his very well furnished in brown tones ears (but it wasn't always that way).

Off I went from the rescue organization with my tri-colored, multi-speckled shelter puppy and his cute, floppy, half-erect ears. Still, upon seeing Jake for the first time, among the first words of reaction from my sibling were “let’s just hope that those ears never pop up straight up one day and stay there.” I couldn’t agree more at the time because Jake's ears, even half-erect, were, well, er, rather, a little too big, a little too funny and dominated his entire head.

We enjoyed another two weeks of semi-floppy ears, but it seemed that the break point on those ears kept getting higher and higher.

Soon, Jakie’s ears stood up, fully pricked, and have remained there since. Lucky for him, his ears waited to stand at full attention until we got home. He might not have gone home with me if I had seen that he was, indeed, a fully pricked eared dog which presaged his life as a very alert and watchful dog.

I hope you enjoy a photo of Jake taken a few days before the transformation that would define how others would see him, and would challenge my previous definition of a dog beauty. Needless to say, I love those ears now, but it took me many more months to accept that they were, indeed, pricked and seemingly growing at a faster rate than the rest of Jake. More on the evolution of Jake’s ears soon.