Ear Taping?
- Thread starter Laurelin
- Start date
Auggie's are tipped incorrectly, his ears are VERY very thin and gentle. When he was younger they did stay correctly for a bit - I have photographic evidence, LOL - but then they went all hound ears on me. I don't care, I think it gives him some of his personality, but I do wish they were at least a bit more correct. Unfortunately I just don't think, structurally speaking, they would have done correctly. At least they aren't prick ears, for some reason I think he would look ridiculous like that, LOL.
Pepper's ears aren't my property so I can't say anything about those, LOL.
I'm hoping my next dog will have a better ear set. I'm going to make a much bigger effort to get them to set correctly, that's for sure. And YES people think it's sooooo mean to glue down a puppy's ears. Sigh. The worst part of it for Auggie was he had to stay still while I was gluing them. =P
To me it's part of the overall look of the breed... both of my sister's shelties have prick ears and their heads on the whole look different because of it. The ear shape does change the head shape, at least to me, and I definitely have a visual preference as far as head shape goes, so... yeah. It's all kind of one and the same about the stuff I like about how the breed looks.
Pepper's ears aren't my property so I can't say anything about those, LOL.
I'm hoping my next dog will have a better ear set. I'm going to make a much bigger effort to get them to set correctly, that's for sure. And YES people think it's sooooo mean to glue down a puppy's ears. Sigh. The worst part of it for Auggie was he had to stay still while I was gluing them. =P
To me it's part of the overall look of the breed... both of my sister's shelties have prick ears and their heads on the whole look different because of it. The ear shape does change the head shape, at least to me, and I definitely have a visual preference as far as head shape goes, so... yeah. It's all kind of one and the same about the stuff I like about how the breed looks.
I don't mind people who do it correctly, I've noticed that most dogs with taped ears (cropped or not) barely even notice the taping if done right
Romeo's breeder doesn't tape ears, so romeo never had his taped.
His breeder feeds raw, the dogs are all very healthy... I wouldn't care if she taped or not, but she doesn't.
but I know some chi people do tape ears since standing ears are preferred.
Personally, for chis, I don't give a hoot if ears are up/down.
The only breeds I think if I had one I would care enough to bother with taping ears are GSDs and Dobermans.
Romeo's breeder doesn't tape ears, so romeo never had his taped.
His breeder feeds raw, the dogs are all very healthy... I wouldn't care if she taped or not, but she doesn't.
but I know some chi people do tape ears since standing ears are preferred.
Personally, for chis, I don't give a hoot if ears are up/down.
The only breeds I think if I had one I would care enough to bother with taping ears are GSDs and Dobermans.
I don't have a problem with taping at all. A lot of Tollers go through a wonky ear stage and end up getting their ears taped so that they set naturally. I taped Dance's ears when she was a puppy, and I'm glad I did. I think it totally ruins a dog's look when they end up with wonky ears. I don't know why, but I'm a stickler for pretty ears for some reason. If I'd known about taping when I'd had Tango, I would've taped her ears as a puppy too. That way they both would've had a chance to lay nicely (one was folded weird 98% of the time). From now on I will tape any puppy of mine that ends up with wonky ears if it seems to be more than just a stage during teething. And even then, I'll likely end up taping them anyway during teething if the ears start getting weird just to try and make sure the dog ends up with proper ears. And of course the Dobes get taped too after cropping.
That said, I do not believe in a breeder taping every puppy "just in case". That's how you end up with weak ears. I believe taping should generally only be done if the puppy is already exhibiting weak or wonky ears, or obviously if it's a cropped breed. And if a breeder does tape a potential breeding dog's ears, they should be honest about it when it comes time to breed that dog.
That said, I do not believe in a breeder taping every puppy "just in case". That's how you end up with weak ears. I believe taping should generally only be done if the puppy is already exhibiting weak or wonky ears, or obviously if it's a cropped breed. And if a breeder does tape a potential breeding dog's ears, they should be honest about it when it comes time to breed that dog.
Nope!
When we got Dally at a little under 8 weeks she had one prick ear and one floppy one. Secretly I kind of hoped it would stay floppy but within a couple of weeks it was consistently up. I've only ever seen one or two ACDs online that didn't have good ears - I imagine some breeders do it on occasion, but the ears seem to stand pretty naturally and as a result I haven't seen any breeders mess with them.
I don't really have any first hand experience with taping ears so I can't really give an educated opinion, but I don't have an issue with it so far. I can definitely understand ear preference - although Quinn's ears are nicely dropped in the above picture where she was relaxing and posing, she has one ear that folds strangely and as a result flops at a different angle. Her mom's the same - one nicely dropped ear and one 'special' one. I've seen a lot of ESs with this. Quinn's weird ear drives me nuts and I'm always massaging it to fix the fold and make it lay nice again.
ETA: You can see her weird ear in my siggy - it's the right one.
I know in South Africa ear cropping is illegal, and I am not sure, but I think, that ear taping is not common practise either, in fact I don't think anyone does it but I stand to be corrected.
As a Rottweiler, Bella has rose ears and it is completely unacceptable in the Rottweiler breed, however Bella has a lot of other things wrong with her according to standard like an undershot bite, size etc. so frankly I don't care...
As a Rottweiler, Bella has rose ears and it is completely unacceptable in the Rottweiler breed, however Bella has a lot of other things wrong with her according to standard like an undershot bite, size etc. so frankly I don't care...
B
I don't show or anything so that is entirely different. However unless it affects their health I don't give a sh*t. Ears are ears. I do prefer floppy ears on nearly all breeds but I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about it otherwise. I guess it's different with having a purebred dog, you start caring a little more about the outer appearance? *shrugs*
Sorry to interrupt the OP's thread, I just wanted to ask Kat a question. Is that table the small swivel table? If so, does it fit ok on to of a regular grooming table? I've been wanting to get one for grooming the little breeds. Seems easier on the dog and groomer to be able to turn the table around instead of the dog.
ETA: never mind about whether it fits on grooming table. It shows it on the table in the petedge catalog. *facepalm*
But does the swivel lock up?
ETA: never mind about whether it fits on grooming table. It shows it on the table in the petedge catalog. *facepalm*
But does the swivel lock up?
Doesn't bother me at all. I would never routinely do it tho, and if I had to tape every single puppy then I would be asking questions and trying to find a solution (if I was in a different breed, it would be a different story).
I shave the tips of the ears at 6-8 weeks to get the weight from the hair off, actually more like 8-9 weeks. Couple days later they are standing by themselves.
I shave the tips of the ears at 6-8 weeks to get the weight from the hair off, actually more like 8-9 weeks. Couple days later they are standing by themselves.
I have no problem with it. I taped Gia's ears. I have helped her breeder tape many others, and Rorschach still has one giant ear that wants to do it's own thing, so it gets taped too. It's pretty common in Chinese Cresteds. Drop ears are unacceptable. The standard states very clearly that they must have erect ears. So, in order to achieve that 9 times out of 10 they need to be helped up.
People seem to have a hard time understanding that ear taping doesn't hurt a dog at all. I got a lot of nasty comments when I took Gia out with her ears taped.
People seem to have a hard time understanding that ear taping doesn't hurt a dog at all. I got a lot of nasty comments when I took Gia out with her ears taped.
Yes it's a swivel table. No it doesn't lock up but it does require some effort to move it. I suspect it'd fit on most small to moderate size groom tables. The major weakness of that mini table is the arm isn't tall enough for my tastes. It is a nice table for training small puppies and working on table stacking.
I'm in this boat too, probably just due to my breed choices/preferences.
I still get a lot of people with confo dogs asking me what methods I used to set Finn's ears. Did I use tape? Moleskin?
I get funny looks when I say I did it the natural way. I didn't expect him to go full prick - dad has almost rose ears and mum has asymmetrical. I just let ears do what they want.
I still get a lot of people with confo dogs asking me what methods I used to set Finn's ears. Did I use tape? Moleskin?
I get funny looks when I say I did it the natural way.
I didn't expect him to go full prick - dad has almost rose ears and mum has asymmetrical. I just let ears do what they want.
