Corgi Forums - View Single Post

Sizzledog · 01-26-2007, 10:56 AM

PS - if his ears just refuse to stand, you do not want to crop - cropping involves cutting part of the ear away and thn surgically altering the base of the ear to it holds the ear leather erect. This is far to invasive to do on a puppy older than 7-10 weeks... although I hear Boston terrier people crop at 8-9 months. YUCK.

We have a technique in cropped ear dogs called "stringing". It's used on cropped ears that refuse to stand, on dogs that will not see a show ring (since stringing is not allowed on dogs being shown). The vet inserts a small "string" into the ear and allows scar tissue to form internally for a few months. Then, the string is removed, leaving an erect ear! They can still move the ear normally, but it's got an extra force inside to help it be held erect. This may be an option for you if you're not showing your boy. Stringing is probably the least painful surgical method of gettign floppy ears to stand.

Also, there is a less-used method of tightening the skin on the top of the head to "pull" the ear into an erect position, but this usually leaves a scar and hasn't bee done for decades. It's not a very good method.

	(#19 (permalink))
Sizzledog Member Status: Offline Posts: 38 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: smack-dab int he middle of Iowa	01-26-2007, 10:56 AM PS - if his ears just refuse to stand, you do not want to crop - cropping involves cutting part of the ear away and thn surgically altering the base of the ear to it holds the ear leather erect. This is far to invasive to do on a puppy older than 7-10 weeks... although I hear Boston terrier people crop at 8-9 months. YUCK. We have a technique in cropped ear dogs called "stringing". It's used on cropped ears that refuse to stand, on dogs that will not see a show ring (since stringing is not allowed on dogs being shown). The vet inserts a small "string" into the ear and allows scar tissue to form internally for a few months. Then, the string is removed, leaving an erect ear! They can still move the ear normally, but it's got an extra force inside to help it be held erect. This may be an option for you if you're not showing your boy. Stringing is probably the least painful surgical method of gettign floppy ears to stand. Also, there is a less-used method of tightening the skin on the top of the head to "pull" the ear into an erect position, but this usually leaves a scar and hasn't bee done for decades. It's not a very good method.