Hi All,

I was wondering what your opinion is on taping up ears. My mal is sixteen weeks old and although one ear has managed to stand up, the other is usually held all floppy. I have been taping his ears for a few weeks, but anyone wth mals will tell you that they won't keep it in if they don't want to :D

Do you think it is helping at all, even though it's only successful for a couple of hours a day or should I just wait? Will the ear eventually stand on its own Am I panicking about nothing

Joan

Joan, have a word with the breeder but I would have thought that it is probably that the dog is teething. In my breed the ears often flop whilst the teeth are changed and return to the proper carrage after, if the ears are not fully up before teething starts then they remain floppy until after. Am guessing that your breed being a spitz too may have ears of a simular temprement. Ja:)kie

Thanks Jackie, I am in contact with the breeders on a regular basis and see them often either at their home or a husky rallies :) It was them that showed me how to tape the ears.
But, with 11 in the litter, he's the only one with this problem and I'm starting to get a bit over-sensitive :D He does seem to be much slower in maturing than our first mal was. I think I'll just have to wait and hope.

Joan

I would think that your breeder should know, so perhaps you should do as they suggest. But in my breed ears do flop while teething, so I would have thought your pups will be OK in the end. Do you wish to show or breed.

Have heard of taping 'rose' ears but not prick ears, but as your breeder said tape then you had better tape. Ja:)kie

I bred a Dobe whose ears went totally erect at 14 weeks but came down at 17 weeks - her owners sent me some wonderful photos of her - perhaps yours will do the opposite

Christine

My collie pup has taken her time, throughout teething, to decide what her ears are going to do. Her mum has dropped ears and her dad has prick ears(well, one up, one down, by all accounts!) so we couldn't be sure what to expect. We've had both up, one up/one down (both sides) and she's finally settled on tipped! I hope they sort themselves out for you.:)
LynnT

The thing about taping ears is, if they go up, then you think the taping has worked, but they may have gone up anyway. As a breeder I would rather wait for them to go up naturally, and know it wasn't a fault that would creep in, with ears not coming up at all, I would want to know that they would go up unaided!!!

Our imported puppy has lovely small ears, but he was rather late teething, and they did flop, but as soon as the majority of the teeth were through up they popped almost overnight. I had never had one with ears not up by 12 weeks before that. I put a lot of it down in his case to the fact that we were afraid to give him any chew toys in Quarantine, as obviously he couldn't be supervised, but eventually we did give him sawn off Marrow shanks, and the teeth came out and changed quickly then, and ears settled.

Hi, apparently taping the ears is extremely common in the States - even with young puppies. I'm just rather cynical about the benefits. Neither ear has flopped, they had never stood up, although his right ear is now correct. The left ear does stand up (usually when he's facing into the wind :D ) I will persevere and hope it stands up eventually.

I do hope to show him as his brother has been quite successful :) but he's a different dog - same breeder, different mating - and we'll have to wait and see how he turns out. I have no plans to breed, I'm happy owning them and loving them :D

Joan

You need to speak to Jane Brook,I forget her user name on here.She gave me ear advice when Taiko was 13weeks and it did the trick, no tape or glue involved.
Julie :)

Jane has a myatuk dog,so Jacquie N will probably offer the same advice.:)

No ..not Jacquie N ...just Jacquie (I think Jacquie N is a different person but not sure ...Myatuk Jacquie is simply called Jacquie on here) ;)

Hudsons ears were taped for a while ..but we took it out after a while ..his ears were fairly floppy but we massaged them every day ..seemed to do some good as they are lovely now :)

Melody

With Floyd I followed Jannats advice (as per her book) and used the inside of a kitchen towel cut to size and some glue. Floyd was 41/2 months and one of his ears was making no attempt at all to come up. After I glued this into place, I kept it there for a week, then cut it out (short ear hair for a while) and the ear stayed up and has done since. There are mals out there who's ears have never come up, apparantly one was at one of the club shows several years ago (not in the ring). I was there but too mithered to see it. Jacquie reminded me of it.

This is the way I was told, but using tape instead. Unfortunately, he has learnt that he can bash his ear on the wall a few times and it will come off! I don't think it's doing any harm to his brain - I'm not sure he has one :D
What sort of glue would you use - I've a feeling that Superglue's a bit drastic :D
I've nevr seen an adult with droopy ears and this was why I was getting cynical, thinking that they must comw up eventually. That theory's blown now :)

We used PVA glue ...the white stuff that smells fishy ..cant remember the name of it offhand ....Beware though ..when we took them out it pulled a lot of the fur from inside his ears out :D Has grown back beautifully though ;)

Melody

copydex :D

Dats der bunny :D

Hi Joan,
We had this Problem with Storm's ear, Up and Down like a yo yo, I really wanted to show him, so when Jacquie ran out of Idea's, I was on the phone to Jannat Al Haddad too, Same as Jayne Hood.
And as anyone can tell you, You would never have guessed there was ever anything wrong, with the ear. :D

Jane :)

When I got Kassie at 8 weeks one ear was up the other down- then the floppy one went up- she started teething and the one that was up in the first place went down:rolleyes: Then they finally both went up- and they are perfect- not *soft* or anything:) I'd leave it a while longer yet:)

Stacey x x x

It's more common than you think in Mals Stacey, as Jannat told me, especially in Male Mals, never bitches though.

Jane :)

It's just hard to understand that you've ever had problems with Storm- he looks so strong etc:)

Stacey x x x

I cross posted with your last post

Thanks for everyone's replies :) I'm almost embarrassed to say it, but I came down this morning and was faced with two ears standing straight up - although the weak one has flopped back down :( At least it proves he can do it :) I noticed last night last he's lost his first tooth, so maybe the teething has alot to do with it. Thanks to everyone again.

Joan