Ears - to tip or not to tip

[mbfrench]

Hi MBFrench. Grace is nearly 7 months old. I believe the breeder tipped her ears and when we brought her home they were both down low. They stayed like that for a while but then one just popped up and we aren't sure whether we should do anything about it or not. If it is better healthwise I will consider tipping the runaway ear. However, if it's popped up once is it likely to do it again? And as you asked about age, is it too late now?

It's probably to late. But now I look and you are in England,and you may have difficulty finding what you need to glue. I believe that they use some type of grease or somethnig to massage and keep the ear supple. And also something else to tip the ear,but for the life of me I cannot remember what it is called.

I have a freind in England who also owns a double merle,and she told me what it was that she uses.
Either way,she is a cutie patoodie.

 

[Gracesmum]

Thank your for the advice take4roll10

 

[Gracesmum]

I was told ear tipping was for aesthetic purposes. When I got Riley both his ears were floppy but as he got older, there was a time when one was up one was down like Grace. I think its cute! Eventually though, the other ear did stand up so maybe Grace's will too. If you don't have a preference then I say let nature take its course

Thank you ElleKayCee, sorry I missed your post. Do you have a pic of your Riley now both his ears have pricked?

 

[Gracesmum]

I love the picture with grace in bed covered with the blankets, I think the tipped ears are just a matter of preference, so, I guess that depends what the rules are for showing.

Beau has tipped ears and I loved them, I like how they flip up and down when we are walking together

Ontario your broods are cute too.

Thanks dblock.

And thank you everyone...rather than reply to you all separately and clogging up the thread.

Considering it's not going to do her any harm leaving her as she is, and considering it seems that getting the glue over here could be a problem, I'm going to leave them as they are and see if the other ear decides to prick itself again. It seems likely this may happen and then she will be equally balanced again. And if it doesn't, well that'll have to be one of her little quirks.

 

[Gracesmum]

Some pics to show the story of the ears

Grace 4mths

Grace 5mths - halfway up and halfway down

5.5months - one ear now pricked

6months -

 

[ElleKayCee]

Thank you ElleKayCee, sorry I missed your post. Do you have a pic of your Riley now both his ears have pricked?

No problem. Grace is so cute! Judging by the pics between 5.5 and 6 months it looks like Grace's ear has tipped down further so maybe that's the way it's going to stay. But that's just my guess and it could just be the camera angle.

Here's Riley at 4 months with one ear tipped:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e233/Lil_Flamez/Riley/IMG-20120708-00124.jpg
And here's the way they are currently:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e233/Lil_Flamez/Riley/IMG-20121022-00219.jpg

 

[snkoyle15]

when we got gizmo, at 6 months, his ears were glued it was like 2 weeks after we got him, we were at my inlaws and he decided to run and play through the sprinklers and out came the glue. not showing him so didnt think it was a big deal to not mess with it so his ears are pricked.

 

[storme37]

blue tac works

 

[Parrotsandpups]

We have a new sheltie and we are tipping his ears.

Not sure if anyone else has suggested this, but the easiet way to get the ears to tip is just to chew a little bit of chewing gum and then pop a blob on the tip of each ear. The ear will naturally flop forward and it doesn't cause teh dog any bother. Then you don't need to bother with gluing them down or bracing them - which all seems like a lot of work to me!

Our breeder taught us this trick. She shows and has loads of awards, it works great!

 

[seashel]

Looks like she's decided to give you the best of both worlds!! For what it's worth I think it is lovely and very distinctive!

With weighting the ears, many shelties don't really take to having something put on the ear like chewing gum so you have to keep an eye that it doesn't get shaken off. It can also be counterproductive in some circumstances as adding a weight can result in the ear ligament strengthning as it pulls against the weight thus resulting in a more stubbonly pricked ear so the trick is to put on the absolute minimum necessary to get the ear going over - even if not in the final desired position. The ligament needs to be encouraged rather than forced and done in degrees.

BTW she's a beautiful colour and is certainly going to turn some heads if she's not already doing so