Unless one is a two year old or teenage human, in which case the ears are closed for the season, most human ear canals are a straight route from the outside to the eardrum. Dog ears, however, take a sharp, 45-degree turn inside the ear canal, a design that helps trap earth, weeds, and garden debris before they can reach the eardrum. The fact that ear issues were the primary reason for dogs visiting a vet last year simply underscores the fact that too often, nasties can get trapped inside our dogs’ ears, too.

This post, however, is about the outside of the ear, namely, one of the shapes we see in some of our dog breeds.

Pekingese and Portuguese Water Dog both have ears that are heart-shaped, but you would be hard pressed to know this without feeling the dog’s ear leather, and that means getting past coat. An easier way to see this is to visit a litter of either breed (what a great excuse to smell puppy breath). Conscientious breeders will have spent time touching a puppy’s ears (also toes, mouth and nether regions) so that by the time you come along –  yawn –  it’s one more person wanting to feel the heart shape of their ears.  Once those dogs grow up, however, you’ll have to to work a bit harder to feel the shape of the ears.  Portuguese Water Dogs, for example, have hair that continues to grow throughout their life.

To earn your chops as a certified “dog geek,” you’ll want to be able to identify dog ear shapes by touch, if not by feel, and you have your work cut out for you because depending upon the source, and especially the vernacular, there anywhere from eleven to twenty-one ear shapes in dogs.

Everyone is a comedian, and our sharing an image of a PWD nose with a post about ears makes us the comedians today- but seriously, we weren’t able to find a great picture of a heart-shaped ear in either the Peke or the PWD, so if you have one, we’d be beholding to you to share it!

“Paper Shredder” by Robin-Lee Vieira is available as wall art, home decor and personal items here.