Argh...those Pesky Ears.

[Steph M]

Sounds like a nutter. I hope she has a vet who tells her so.

[luvsdogs]

I'm having a good laugh at all the wonky ears - here is my beautiful Lappie with one ear that didn't come up

I looked up ear taping when she was a pup but the human males in my household were horrified at the idea :laugh:

That's what happened in my household. I would tape Tilba's erect ear, not to well I might add as I didn't really know how & she has such thick hair in her ears that it wouldn't stick well. Anyway, the longest the tape lasted was about 3 days & it would be off. Found out months later that my oh & son's would take it off because they thought it was cruel. It does flop over a little bit but mostly she wears it erect.

[LisaCC]

I got some photos of the pesky ears!

I'm fairly certain Novas ears will be rosed, as 90% of the time they are like this from two nights ago (Excuse my awesome glow in the dark PJs)

It's in the standard and I quite like them, they are pretty expressive :)

But today they were back to trying other positions, both were going up at different times like this:

Right is is currently sitting in a nice button, while left is still rosed... What will they do?

At least all are in the standard, but I want both doing the same thing!!

Edited September 22, 2013 by LisaCC

[dancinbcs]

Wow call me uneducated but I had no idea so many different breeds had their ears taped. I knew British Bulldogs did and....that's about it! Tell me, are any pups born with naturally correct ears, and it's clear from day one (or eight weeks, or whenever) that they won't need taping? Or do all pups need taping? I'm intrigued! Sorry DTDO for hijacking.

Most dogs with heavy hanging ears don't need any taping and neither do most breeds with pricked ears, it is the in between ones that can have problems. If the ears are set wrong they can never be corrected so the ear set and the thickness of the ear cartilage can be detected in a baby puppy but apart from that you never really know what ears they are going to have until they finish teething. While teething the ears can change position by the day but if they stay in the wrong position for too long the shape can be ruined forever.

Some Border Collie breeders tape all show puppy's ears. I prefer to wait until they are teething at 4 months to see what the ears are likely to do naturally. A lot can just be left alone if the ears are coming on nicely, some just need massaging if they prick during teething and others need to be taped. Some only need one ear taped to make it match the other one. I had one puppy who's ears used to take it in turns to be taped. She had perfect ears but sometimes one would collapse and I would tape it for a week or two. Take the tape off and I had a perfect ear again. A few weeks later the other one would collapse and the cycle would be repeated. She had a small piece of tape on one ear or the other for many months until the ears strengthened.

The ears continue to lift throughout the dogs life. I have had two males with high rose type ears who ended up with perfect semi-erect ears by the age of 7 years. I never taped either of them, they just lifted very slowly. Aussie Shepherd ears are totally wrong on a BC as are pricked ears. They must have lift at the base and a fold in them to make them very mobile without being pricked. So any height from a rose type ear to slightly tipped and anything in between is correct. My personal preference is half up and half over, tipping slightly to the side.

[piper]

Gah, ears!

My first 2 border collies had perfect semi-erect ears. They just were. I never touched them.

Then along came Piper, and I learnt to love prick ears....

Then Jazz showed me the other end of the spectrum.

And now I have Cinna, who is a bet better than her Mother but I would have been happier with a bit more lift. I can't find a recent 1 of her to share.

Of course my red boy in a pet home has perfect ears, typical! LOL

I have to say though, until recently I had no idea that Rotties needed their ears taped. I thought how hard can it be for rotties and other breeds with heavy ears, then I got told of how they can go wrong too.

You will love Willow either way, but I totally get you on the liking the right ears :)

[luvsdogs]

I always loved April's ears & not knowing much about the standard except for semi-erect ears I just assumed they were semi-erect. I judged all other ears against hers. Something I discussed with Tilba's breeder. Her mother has rose ears & sire almost semi-erect. I didn't realise Borders had such a wide range of ear sets until I started going to shows.

My son had a cross breed dog & she had ears like the Flying Nun's habit. When she was teething they did all the usual strange things, even to the point of being erect, & that was a sight as they were huge ears. I was so glad when they settled down although they always looked quite comical on her.