showing standards?

Hound ears (ears that naturally break too low, because the ear leather is thin) are impossible to correct. I have tried Breath Right Strips, hair pins, mole skin, etc. As soon as you take out the brace they fall back down. This is a genetic problem. Just like we see puppies that have had their ears braced for the full amount of time, only to have them creep up, becoming prick ears over time. That is a dog with very thick ear leather. Believe me, we take all that into consideration when deciding to do a particular breeding. We have been extremely fortunate that our line coming down from Trade Mark all have petite workable ears.
 
missjenneygirl said:
Tofu Pup's mom here....
We keep the puppies ears in the program for at least the first year. We only use glue until the puppy's ears are big enough to accept Japanese tape, which is at about 7-8 weeks. Glueing does not give enough support to ear, and the goal is to get a bend exactly where you want it for an ideal tip. Also, continual glueing can be hard on the skin if it gets attached, and lastly, you end up with a blob of glue on the hair that either has to be cut out, or worked out with an adhesive remover.
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Thank you for chiming in. I have been gluing Pyper's ears since I got her and they came glued from her breeder. We use mole skin, one piece on the tip and one down inside the ear and glue them together with fabric glue. We had a slight mishap at a critical time around 5 months. Her ears grew so much that they outgrew the tipping we had done. My friend is the expert and she didn't see me for a couple of weeks and I didn't notice. We fix the problem, but now after 8 months of gluing, every time we remove the gluing Pyper's left ear isn't tipped very much and seems like it might want to pop up. We have continue to glue...Do you think there's hope?

BTW....Love, love, love your profile picture!!!
 
The reason I don't care for mole skin, is first, it is heavy (in weight), and secondly, it is not easy to correct a problem if you see something has shifted. With Japanese tape, you can remove it at any time. Mole skin is very harsh to the skin, so removing, say, the next day is painful and near impossible. My recommendation at this time for your pup would be to remove everything, let the ears rest and breath for 2 days. Then put in a back piece of Japanese tape, and a rolled tape. That can stay in for weeks. This process can be done indefinately, and you should get the tip you desire. Remember, anytime you remove Japanese tape, you can only pull from the base of the ear upward. The direction the hair grows.
 
missjenneygirl said:
The reason I don't care for mole skin, is first, it is heavy (in weight), and secondly, it is not easy to correct a problem if you see something has shifted. With Japanese tape, you can remove it at any time. Mole skin is very harsh to the skin, so removing, say, the next day is painful and near impossible. My recommendation at this time for your pup would be to remove everything, let the ears rest and breath for 2 days. Then put in a back piece of Japanese tape, and a rolled tape. That can stay in for weeks. This process can be done indefinately, and you should get the tip you desire. Remember, anytime you remove Japanese tape, you can only pull from the base of the ear upward. The direction the hair grows.
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Great...so you don't think it's hopeless. Thanks for the advice!
 
Breathe Right strips will work in some cases. Gilly and his sister Trinket both had trouble with the ears trying to hound. The strips worked miracles for both. You do have to stay on top of it though. Don't let the ears "breathe" more than a couple of hours. Keep them braced constantly. I wouldn't give up completely until 18 months.
 
missjenneygirl said:
We have been extremely fortunate that our line coming down from Trade Mark all have petite workable ears.
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I find the littler ears to be harder to work with. Marque (the blue dog) has these teeny little ears, and all we managed to do was get them to bend. My avatar picture of him is with TONS of lead to get the ears over.

One of the things I have learned is that regardless of ear size, the base of the ear has to be flat. Grab a piece of paper, and hold it up portrait direction. If you hold the bottom of that paper flat, the top half falls over. If you curve the bottom, the paper stands up. Same principle applies to ears. So I put one piece of moleskin/tape in the base of the ear to help it flatten out, which helps the top come over better. Then tape the top with rolled tape to that piece. If you try to force the tip over without dealing with the base, you won't win the battle.
 
ClantyreSheltie said:
I find the littler ears to be harder to work with. Marque (the blue dog) has these teeny little ears, and all we managed to do was get them to bend. My avatar picture of him is with TONS of lead to get the ears over.

One of the things I have learned is that regardless of ear size, the base of the ear has to be flat. Grab a piece of paper, and hold it up portrait direction. If you hold the bottom of that paper flat, the top half falls over. If you curve the bottom, the paper stands up. Same principle applies to ears. So I put one piece of moleskin/tape in the base of the ear to help it flatten out, which helps the top come over better. Then tape the top with rolled tape to that piece. If you try to force the tip over without dealing with the base, you won't win the battle.
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that is interesting- would have been good to know when Cran was a pup :wink2:
though I will say that I think his ears turned out pretty good:yes:
 
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