Ear Taping???
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SterlingPup
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2010 1:26 pm
Ear Taping???
I have an Australian Shepherd. When I picked him up I was told that eventually I would need to tape his ears down for about a week. Something about when they start to teeth, their ears will start to crinkle up. I was wondering if this is a normal practice? He did not seem to like them being taped at all.
Re: Ear Taping???
Some breeds that have tipped ears (ears that fold forwards/sideways) and have that in their breed standard, will have the ears weighted down as pups, there are a variety of awys of doign this, including gluing the fur (not the skin!) to fur lower down, tape, gluing some sort of weight (in shetland sheepdogs i believe people use wine gum sweets, the idea being they are weighty but should they come off wont dot he pup any harm) to pull the ear forward.
The reason is twofold really - firstly when a pup teeths for some reason teh ears will do all manner of odd things. My deerhound ***** had pricked ears (one at a time though, one up, one down) as she was getting her adult teeth through, though deerhounds ears are naturally down and folded back. German shepherd ears are pricked but when they teeth you will often find one goes floppy, or both, or one then the other...
A lot of breeders worry the ears will stay 'wrong' and so manipulate them with tape, glue, weights, even propping them up with some splints (usually in breeds that have had their ears surgically pricked). Of course they then have no idea if that dogs ears would have gone right anyway, and they breed from that dog... they dont know if they are passing on the 'right' ear genetics or the 'wrong' ones.... and so it goes on and on.
If you arent going to show and you dont care, leave his ears alone. If you are going to show, then its your decision as to whether you do it - I have no problem wtih tape or glue IF teh dog is not bothered by it and you are not risking infection or injury or pain. Some dogs are really upset by it, other dogs couldnt give a rats.
The reason is twofold really - firstly when a pup teeths for some reason teh ears will do all manner of odd things. My deerhound ***** had pricked ears (one at a time though, one up, one down) as she was getting her adult teeth through, though deerhounds ears are naturally down and folded back. German shepherd ears are pricked but when they teeth you will often find one goes floppy, or both, or one then the other...
A lot of breeders worry the ears will stay 'wrong' and so manipulate them with tape, glue, weights, even propping them up with some splints (usually in breeds that have had their ears surgically pricked). Of course they then have no idea if that dogs ears would have gone right anyway, and they breed from that dog... they dont know if they are passing on the 'right' ear genetics or the 'wrong' ones.... and so it goes on and on.
If you arent going to show and you dont care, leave his ears alone. If you are going to show, then its your decision as to whether you do it - I have no problem wtih tape or glue IF teh dog is not bothered by it and you are not risking infection or injury or pain. Some dogs are really upset by it, other dogs couldnt give a rats.
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant
Re: Ear Taping???
We have a Great Dane and their ears are prone to sometimes go wonky during teething, our dog's ear used to stand up then flop down and point in a funny direction. His breeder told us that it would right with time (and she shows her dogs so has to be concerned about looks). A few months later it was totally back to normal with absolutely no difference between the 'wonky' one and the normal one. It might be different for your breed, but if it was my own dog I wouldn't worry too much about taping and just leave it be. 
