BarbV
Forums Celebrity
There are two problems you are trying to correct:
1) The tip of the ear, and
2) The overall set of the ear
For some dogs, the set is fine, it just needs tipping. That would be Indy. He's ears do tip, but not all the time. He has quite thick leather. When he is alert, they prick up.
For other dogs, as in Bacca's case, his ears are tipped (and then some), but the set is all wrong. He has very fine leather, and his ears break too low and too far apart....hence his hound ears.
Bacca would have benefited by more bracing between the ears, and less worry about the tip itself.
That's part of the reason for taking out the glue every few weeks and leave it out for a few days so you can see how the ears are shaping and make adjustments accordingly.
But ultimately, do what you are comfortable with. If you find working the ears too much, and you're not planning on show, it's perfectly ok to give it up.
One interesting side note: Of all the breeds out there, Sheltie's seem to have the biggest issue when it comes to ears. Most other breeds, the ears generally seem to be fairly consistent, from my layman's point of view. Sheltie ears are all over the map. All shapes, thickness, size, set.
One of these days, I'm going to build a portfolio of all the Sheltie ear "variations" just to see how diverse they are. Now wouldn't that be a great coffee table book!
1) The tip of the ear, and
2) The overall set of the ear
For some dogs, the set is fine, it just needs tipping. That would be Indy. He's ears do tip, but not all the time. He has quite thick leather. When he is alert, they prick up.
For other dogs, as in Bacca's case, his ears are tipped (and then some), but the set is all wrong. He has very fine leather, and his ears break too low and too far apart....hence his hound ears.
Bacca would have benefited by more bracing between the ears, and less worry about the tip itself.
That's part of the reason for taking out the glue every few weeks and leave it out for a few days so you can see how the ears are shaping and make adjustments accordingly.
But ultimately, do what you are comfortable with. If you find working the ears too much, and you're not planning on show, it's perfectly ok to give it up.
One interesting side note: Of all the breeds out there, Sheltie's seem to have the biggest issue when it comes to ears. Most other breeds, the ears generally seem to be fairly consistent, from my layman's point of view. Sheltie ears are all over the map. All shapes, thickness, size, set.
One of these days, I'm going to build a portfolio of all the Sheltie ear "variations" just to see how diverse they are. Now wouldn't that be a great coffee table book!
