Meadow's ears

[Piper's mom]

While gluing is easier, I did find taping to last longer. And with gluing, I did have an issue, cuz the boys play so hard, that a few chunks of hair were torn out twice I think. Brodie had a big bald spot on his head for a bit when he was young from the first hair fiasco.

A friend of Ann's actually showed me a way to tape ears that is way simpler than what you see on line. She trims the hair from the interior of the ear, all those tiny hairs and then around the edges and then cuts one base piece shaped to the ear - that was toughest for me and I wasted a ton of tape, next time I would use paper to shape and then trace it on the tape. She then uses a piece of tape folded over to connect tape to tape. I found the dogs played so hard that Kooper could pull that up after a while. I ended up using glue for direct tape to tape.

I hated Dethatchol - dried his ears out so bad said breeder thought I bought some lice or something into her home - I freaked her out so bad! I liked Uni-Solve wipes with the tape. I left them in where the glue would be super old (my tape ears lasted 4 weeks!) and then just slowly wiped along the lifted edge where they were already lose from being on there from some time. I used the wipes, from bottom to top - slowly and the tape would just come off. Very clean, only had irritation once and Ann glued them for me. For glue, I liked human hair extension glue from Amazon and loved that I could get it colored to match Brodies black hair! Dethatchol works better for glue than tape - just made a mess. Next dog I will try some of human hair extension removers to see how they work.

Ears stink! My first dog had pricked ears, Brodies are tipped but one better than the other. Even now, when we snuggle at night I massage his ears on that crease......

I did something similar with the tape except it was a rolled piece of tape that went on the ear (after the base piece of tape). I also used starter fluid on the tape (made it very sticky) and if it started to lift from the ear I'd use fabric glue. To remove any tape residue rubbing alcohol worked great and quick.

Good luck Sharon! Definitely a learning curve with those ears!

 

[Sharon7]

Well, my friend who shows Collies came over and did her ears for me. she used the Japanese tape. I think the trick was to use the adhesive spray to really make it stick. I believe the moleskin strips like I did would have held if I had had the spray. I still wish I could just glue, it's quicker if it will hold. I might buy the Tear Mender glue I think it sets up faster than what I was using. And I can always order the adhesive spray also. SIGH. I think it will be worth the effort in the end.

 

[Sandy in CT]

What adhesive spray did she use with the Japanese tape?

 

[Ann]

Tear Mender is what I use. It holds better than anything else I've tried.

 

[Sharon7]

What adhesive spray did she use with the Japanese tape?

Doc Brannen's grooming adhesive.

 

[KarenCurtis]

Well, my friend who shows Collies came over and did her ears for me. she used the Japanese tape. I think the trick was to use the adhesive spray to really make it stick. I believe the moleskin strips like I did would have held if I had had the spray. I still wish I could just glue, it's quicker if it will hold. I might buy the Tear Mender glue I think it sets up faster than what I was using. And I can always order the adhesive spray also. SIGH. I think it will be worth the effort in the end.

The tear mender works really fast. When I did Minnie's ears I got better and better at it, I would glue the tip on the inside and try to glue it to fur to the ear base on the inner corner of the ear, as close to the ear as I could. Not glueing the ear to the ear, but almost. I just made sure I could fit a pencil through so there was no circulation cut off. That is really important. I hope I'm explaining myself coherently enough!

 

[KarenCurtis]

Tear Mender is what I use. It holds better than anything else I've tried.

Ann has the best explanation for this method! If you do a search you can find the posts from years past.

 

[Caro]

You can also use pure glycerine from the pharmacy. That's what I do at the end of the bracing period just to keep them going the right way. European breeders just do that from the beginning. They don't tape or glue!

I brought some glycerine, which is also something the breeder mentioned for her ears. But now the question is - what do I do with it!

 

[Ann]

I love using glycerin! I learned about it from one of our former Forum members in Spain. But I only use it at the end when I’m done gluing just to reinforce them.

You put a drop on either side of the ear tip every other day or so. It’s just enough to keep some weight on them. I’ve had really good luck with it for finishing them.

 

[Sharon7]

Well the ears came unstuck from the base, so they are loose, but the tape and moleskin is staying stuck to the ear flaps. The weight of this is keeping her ears down for now. I will try and get a photo at some point for feedback. I did buy the Tear Mender and will likely give up on the tape idea - tape plus adhesive spray and it only lasted a few days. I think she was scratching at them.