# Unorthodox Ear Gluing



## dranseth (Dec 31, 2015)

Hey all,

Has anyone had experience or known someone to have experience with the following method of gluing?






We have given it a go by recommendation of our breeder. Just seeing everyone's thoughts on this method. It was actually rather easy, only thing is his ears are still rather floppy. Not sure if they will solidify with time or if I should be using an insert instead for support of some sort? Please advise. His ears appear to want to go into tee pee mode when supported upright.

See picture as well.


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## MineAreWorkingline (May 2, 2015)

Your boy is very handsome. What a cutie!

First of all I think he is too young to be worried about his ears. You may make things worse.

I can't agree with this method at all. That must be very painful having his hair pulled like that for days. When I don't put my own hair in a pony tail right, not only is it painful having the hair pulled, but the entire scalp in that area becomes very sore and painful.

My showline male is huge. I started taping his ears at 5.5 months and they were up within two weeks but they were weak and wobbly until he was around 10 months of age. 

I used to have a massive boned, long coated female with a huge head and heavy ear leather. Her ears did not come up until she was seven months old, on their own.

Personally, I would not use this method at all. I am not sure why your breeder approves of it.


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## dranseth (Dec 31, 2015)

There is definitely conflicting ideologies on this forum about when to begin taping. I have seen 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, and 6 being the latest. I do know there is barely any glue holding his ears up and he is not in discomfort. 

I can remove it if need be. All I did was dab a small amount of glue on his ear and attach it to the fur on his head.


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## Galathiel (Nov 30, 2012)

How old is your puppy? He looks too young to even be overly concerned about it.


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## MineAreWorkingline (May 2, 2015)

dranseth said:


> There is definitely conflicting ideologies on this forum about when to begin taping. I have seen 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, and 6 being the latest. I do know there is barely any glue holding his ears up and he is not in discomfort.
> 
> I can remove it if need be.* All I did was dab a small amount of glue on his ear and attach it to the fur on his head*.


Yes, the bolded, now that little bit of hair is supporting the weight of that wiggling, bouncing ear, constantly pulling. Ouch!

I waited until my show line was 5.5 months to tape and my breeder was livid. She said they would have come up on their own and that by taping them, I risked his ears being crooked.

I have had more than one dog's ears take longer than six months to come up. I am not sure how old your dog is, but I heard you say he weighed forty pounds, so he can't be that old.


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## Dainerra (Nov 14, 2003)

young pup with normal ear growth. he's a long coat, with heavy ears, but the bases are up and firm. They will come up in their own time more than likely


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## dranseth (Dec 31, 2015)

Ok. I removed it. Looks like a small bald spot on his ear now since he is sable and I had to snip away the black tips.

Breeders worried me. I will wait. 6 months? I wish there was an absolute answer on this.


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## maxtmill (Dec 28, 2010)

I had a Great Dane whose ears were taped after bracing when I got him, and I have taped more than one Chinese Crested Dog's ears. This method just looks weird.


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## Casto (Jun 18, 2016)

I would say they will be fine on their own. Jupiter at 4 months, I wasn't worried, but he def had a full floppy ear on the left side. A couple of months and some bloody gums later, both are up all the time. 

His ears know what to do...just give it some time.

Jupiter is a little over 6 months now.


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## Kdre28 (Jun 26, 2016)

My breeder told me to not tape/glue or try to get their ears to stand up and that they will do so on their own. Arrow had a few moments where one flopped over at the top and the next day it was back up....now up for good it seems. I wouldn't personally do anything to make the process go faster for worry that I would mess something up.


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## dranseth (Dec 31, 2015)

Yeah, you guys are all right. I'm not happy with our breeders. Our puppy was the largest of the litter and he has really large ears, however, when I spoke to the breeder last he asked me if his ears were up, I stated no, then he said I should be worried as all of the other litter mates have their ears up. 

I'm leaving his ears alone.


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## dranseth (Dec 31, 2015)

Has anyone ever had experience with their puppy shaking their head vigorously so that their ears drop?


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

If your puppy keeps shaking his head several times a day and putting his ears back, he may have an ear infection, or a foreign body in his ears that is bothering him.

Something for the vet to check into.


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## dranseth (Dec 31, 2015)

This isn't something new. Also he was just at the veterinary doctor. It seems when his ears go up, he shakes his head so that they fall down.


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## Concordium (Mar 31, 2016)

First of all, your pup is too young to be worrying about the ears. My Citra didn't get her ears up until she was like 4 or 5 months old. For now, just focus on taking pictures for the photo album. Take the precautions with the ears like making sure you don't crunch them when you pet her. Don't let other dogs bite on the ears. And other things like that. But don't worry about the ears. They'll be fine.

I glued one of my GSD's ears. I used medical grade skin glue. Her ears were standing up just fine for the most part but one of her ears was constantly lopsided and just wasnt going to stand up properly. So I built special ear supports that I placed on the skin part of her ear. I was careful not to get the glue in her hair at all. She obviously was not thrilled about it for the first few minutes. But I redirected her with a chew and she completely forgot about her ear. She had the support in her ear for a week. That was all it took. I had a solvent designed to dissolve the glue. All I had to do was go nice and slow. Put the solvent on the ear, give it a second while she chewed on a toy, and pull part of it off easily. Apply some more solvent to the next exposed part and then give it a minute. Pulls off easily. Repeat in small steps until the whole thing comes off. Citra never had an issue with it at all. It didn't cause her any discomfort. It never pulled at her hair. It never gave her any problems at all.


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