obsessed with her long ears

Sunshine has always had a thing for her long ears and loves to find the ends and hold them in her mouth. It is very cute and the kids love it when she does this. Lately however she has been chewing her hair off the ends...giving herself a terrible looking haircut! THe behavior is starting to worry me, and now as well she has short puppy ears again. Has anyone encountered this before?
It isn't because she is bored because she will do it with toys around her and when we are playing with her.

Cleo does this too - especialy if her ears have dragged through food! I think she sometimes views her ears as food containers! We've been trying various bowls to find one where this doesn't happen. Not much luck yet though!

It can be a real problem. I recommend using a snood whenever she is fed or given treats to minimise food bits that might get caught in her hair and cause her to chew them. Some show breeders try things like bitter apple spray on the ear hair to try and prevent this. It seems to be an obsessive compulsive disorder in some dogs and they will sometimes not only chew their own ear hair off but also chew the ears of companion dogs! I'd try to always distract her to a chew toy that she likes as well.