Ear fur

Now that Willow's ears are growing out, I'm curious about what is standard for cavalier ear fur. Neither of my girls will win any breed prizes, but their ears are very different.

Willows ear fur is straight. When they finish growing out, I can envision them being quite full, but with straight hair. Cedar's ears, though, have wavy hair. It tangles a lot, and when it is brushed out, it can look quite puffy!

I imagine there's a lot of difference depending on the dog, but what is considered "standard"?

Straight with a slight wave is preferred, I believe- but curl is permissible on the ears if I remember correctly. My two will be the same as yours, I think, and that's obvious from puppyhood. Holly's ears were a puffy cloud of curls- and they're now very wavy (although conditioner helps smooth it at little) and Chloe's are smooth and straight. The breeders say she will have ears like her mother- very long and very straight. Her ear leathers are longer than Holly's were at the same age.

When breeders get them ready for shows they do a lot of blowdrying and straightening and spraying so the pics always show really full straight-ish hair.

I've found blenheims and rubies tend to have fairly straight and slightly wavy hair while B&Ts and tris have curly to kinky hair. Both Leo and Lily have very kinky bits to their ear hair when it isn't brushed out. But I have seen blenheims with curlier ear hair -- tends to be on overweight dogs and some neutered females, and especially, overweight neutered females. :lol:

Ah so it's hairspray? When Holly's all brushed out, she looks like a show dog- for about three minutes. Then she gives herself a good shake and we're back to the kinky puffy fluffy look :yikes