Schnauzer ears that don't droop?

by Dan Galligan
(Pomona, CA, USA)

About a year ago, my wife's brother bought a Standard pup from a breeder, as a gift for his daughter, but was not aware that she already had two dogs, in a limited space home, and one is a BIG dog.
His daughter, my niece, did not believe she had the room, nor the desire to put in the effort to care for such an active breed, as a standard Schnauzer.
Well, next thing we know, he is at OUR door, with this wonderful puppy, and, of course, my wife and I being the dog lovers we are, could not say no, to such a wonderful present, even if we were playing second fiddle as owners.
Needless to say, we became attached to Scooter, rather rapidly, but my niece still felt some attachment to him, and wanted to take him for occasional weekend "sleep-overs".
On his second visit with her, something happened that changed him, apparently permanently.
First, let me give some description. He had always had the typical "droopy" ears. While I like the look of cropped ears, both my wife (who doesn't like that look) and I, decided it was a great deal of pain, unnecessary, for a family pet, and opted to NOT have his ears cropped.
His droopy ears always looked a bit crooked, one bending a bit higher than the other one. We liked it. It seemed to fit his personality, maybe even adding a bit to it.
Well, when we picked him up from that visit, his ears were standing STRAIGHT up, like those on a German Shepherd. Considering his size, and the largeness of his ears, they look a bit out of place, compared to his natural size.
My niece swears she did nothing to make them stand up, and they have been doing so, for about 8-9 months now. While he can, and does, fold them back when he is in his submissive mood, or just relaxing, they are otherwise always upright, and look quite odd.
Will this ever change, without some intervention? Is there an intervention that will rectify this, without pain or surgery? Or, are we stuck with a Wolf-Eared Schnauzer?
It is kind of cute, but we get some strange looks from other Schnauzer owners, when we take him out.
Any thoughts from anyone on this strange phenomenon?