AHHHH! These ears!!

[LittlePonzo]

I feel so much less frustrated now! It is so nice to be able to air my questions and frustrations to people who know what I am talking about...Thank you so much.

[Hayashi_eri]

Oh I have heard of Cropped ears, there was a Corgi puppy that couldn't be sold until she was 6mths old becoz her ears wouldn't stay erect. The petshop did say that if it stays this way, they will have to send her to the vet for surgery to make it erect... I hope ponzo's ears go up soon the calcium supplements sounds really helpful good luck!

[Sizzledog]

Ponzo... are you still having trouble with your guy's ears?

I ask because I'm new and may have found this thread too late, but my other breed is a cropped breed - so I've been taping earsto make them stand for years! Luckily, taping any breed uses the same logic.

I can tell you that *nothing* holds better than Kendall Curity tape - it's much more breatable than the masking tape, and sticks much longer than the Zonas tape that everyone seems to just love. You can find the Curity tape at http://www.kvvet.com

Second - are you cleaning his ears thoroughly between each taping? If not, be sure you start. I usually clean ears with something that will strip the oils from the coat and dry at the same time. Rubbing alcohol works beautifully, but test a part of his ear to make sure he doesn't have a reaction to it.

Third - you need smething conical and soft to hold his ears at a slight curve. For example... you can't stand a flat piece of paper on its end, but it'll stand up just fine if you put a crease in it! Also - there should be a little flap of skin on the "forehead edge" of the ear. Make sure you are NOT taping that flat, since it's the "crease" that holds ears up. I apologize if I didn't explain that correctly... dobe people understand it, but I dont' know if "normal" people understand the flap that I'm speaking of!

The brace is the most important part of an ear taping (I believe it weas mentioned in another post) - you don't want it too tight, or you'll end up with "horned ears".

I wish you the best of luck - and I wish I could help more - seeing photos of the ears can help diagnose a "problem" in taping more than written explanations ever can.

[Sizzledog]

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.

[ColColt]

Oh I have heard of Cropped ears, there was a Corgi puppy that couldn't be sold until she was 6mths old becoz her ears wouldn't stay erect. The petshop did say that if it stays this way, they will have to send her to the vet for surgery to make it erect...

Unless someone wants to have a show dog, I don't know why that matters. What would the vet do... embed a Popsicle stick or wire in her ear? That's absurd to make a pet go through that because they have a weak ear. Katie had an ear that wouldn't stand and you never knew what her ears were going to do and it didn't matter to me-I loved her the way she was. Some pet shops should go out of business.

[LittlePonzo]

Wow Sizzledog! You sure know a lot about taping...I don't know what I was doing that never let Ponzo's ears stand up. My breeder showed me how to tape his ears the first time and made sure I understood. However she never used anything to stick in the ear. She just said to pull the ear back, flatten it and make sure there is tape sticking out on either sides for support.
Unfortunately, I all but given up on Ponzo's ears ever standing up. He'll be 1 in two weeks and his ears are so floppy and weak, I just don't ever see it happening although I still have dreams of waking up one morning and his ears are just standing all of the way up. Even when he stands both ears up, the top kinda tips forward!
Also, people had mentioned the ear surgery but nobody told me what it was..just that it wasn't cropping. Thanks for clearing that up too! I would love to chat more about the ears, if you have anything to offer. Although, you'll probably agree with everyone that by now it's useless to try. Thanks though!

[LittlePonzo]

Oh, could you explain a little more about the 'forehead edge' thing? I was looking at POnzo's ears and don't know what you mean. I was looking for something hairless, but I didn't see it.

[Peggy]

Originally Posted by glencorgi

Surgical options - NO, I'm not talking about cropping. I don't have first hand experience mind you, but from what I understand from the underground rumour mill, a splint of some type can be inserted to make the ears stand up.

Ok, my 2 cents worth, years ago, I got a corgi who had gotten an ear broken. The breeder had her vet put an implant in to make the ear stand up again. Well, a couple years later her body rejected the implant and we had to have it remove. So the ear flopped again. For the next 5 years. At the age of 7 it stood up again. I have no idea why and my vets couldn't explain it either.

My advice is to keep working with the ears now. If they don't stand they don't stand. I wouldn't go with surgery or implants.

And use medical adhesive tape. Yes, it's sticky. Leave the ears taped till it comes off on it's own.

Peggy

[Sizzledog]

Re: the forehead edge. There is a little creased flap of skin that folds a bit to keep the ear standing.

Here is the flap on one of my dobes. It's more pronounced in a Doberman, but every breed has it. Do you see how it's folded over, instead of flat? For an ear to be erect, that little flap has to be folded or bent enough to provide support for the leather.

[LittlePonzo]

Great! I can see it now,only problem is when Ponzo stands his ears up (like only Ponzo can) they are flapped back, but when they are down as they usually are it is forward. How do you not tape the flap or do you tape the flap back? Should I try even though he's almost one? His ears do stand up on a daily basis, they just don't stay that way. I am willing to try again if it might work but I don't want to cause him anymore pain if it's not going to. Thanks! I'll get the tape ready, just in case.

[Sizzledog]

His ears do stand up on a daily basis, they just don't stay that way. I am willing to try again if it might work but I don't want to cause him anymore pain if it's not going to. Thanks! I'll get the tape ready, just in case.

Hmmm... it may very well be a "little backwards flap of skin" issue! You can tape that little flap of skin back just by wrapping the tape around the ear from front to back, on the "forehead side" then around. Here, photos are always useful!



I'd say don't give up. If they're standing some of the time, there is a chance they'll stand even better with more taping. I highly recommend getting that Kendall Curity tape from www.kvvet.com <-- it's light and very sticky, so it'll stay on his ears longer and won't weigh them down. Also, try giving him Vitamin C (NOT calcium - you don't want to meddle with calcium in a puppy, it can cause big joint problems later on down the road). My dobes were getting 1500mg daily when they were puppies, and they were 35-45lbs at the time. You could probably get away with 500 or 1000, it's extremely hard to overdose a dog on Vit C.

This photo shows how many people "post" a Dobe puppy's ears. Notice the brace - the dobe puppy is holding his ears up by himself, so the brace is loose on top of his head. His brace was just a tad longer than what he needed, so his ear muscles would naturally develop by his efforts to hold up his ears. Ears in brace must feel funny, because most braced puppies try to hold their ears up by themselves most of the time... this is a GOOD thing - it means they're trying to hold their ears up!



And as far as discomfort... a properly taped ear will feel funny for a few minutes, but the dog show forget about it soon. It's a funny analogy (and works better on women) but here goes. If you're a woman (if you're not... just trust me) the first time you put on a bra, it itches and it pinches and it just doesn't feel right. But, after awhile, you don't even notice it - especially if it's fitted correctly! Most women wander around all day without thinking about bras at all - the body desensitizes itself to the darned things almost instantly. The same applies to properly taped ears - the dog just forgets they're all taped up. I've seen puppies crash into walls, go on hikes and dive into prairiegrass, wrestle with littermates... and they don't give their little e taped ears a second thought.

I'd keep taping. Then again, I'm a dobe person - I don't give up on ears based on age...

[Hayashi_eri]

Hi Sizzledog,

Your Corgi & doberman looks fantastic!

[Shelly]

Love him for who he is, and forget about the ears. Just like with human children, we get what we get, and are thankful no matter what.