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Prick or tipped down ears


frantona
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Hi! I have now an adorable 3 months old puppy.

 

I have seen something weird with his ears, at the beginning they were very nice, in the front and they were tipped down.

Pic 1

A week later he had 1 prick ear and the otherone went to the back

Pic 2

A week later now he has the two ears facing the sides.

Pic 3

 

I know some will just comment, let the nature be, and I respect that, but I would like to have his ears as it was in the beginning, to the front and tipped down. I've seen some people that glue them or do other kind of stuff. Does this really works? Has anyone have experience with this?


Thanks!

 

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You may not know where the ears will end up for another few months as sometimes they can change daily. :-)))

 

I am one that will tell you to let nature be and love him for whatever he looks like. Ears are not important (as long as they work). What IS important is what is between the ears. ;-)

 

Personally, when I see a border collie (or sheltie) with those tipped ears, I don't find the dog very attractive.

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My dog has naturally tipped (ish) ears. They've been up, they've been down, they've been sideways, and at 3 they STILL sometimes have one or the other flop over or do something weird.

 

...and you could not pay me to bother gluing or bracing a dog's ears. I vaguely tried once and quickly found out that it's messy, it's a pain, it doesn't always work, and often even when it 'works' it can make the dog look TERRIBLE after.

 

Even that aside you can't really easily do 'tipped' ears on a dog who's ears are trying to go flying nun (sideways) or down. You can glue the tips down on a dog who's ears have pricked up/to keep them going full prick, and you can brace/tape a dog with down or sideways ears to full prick, you can tape prick ears to make them flat - but you cannot really tape or brace flying nun or down ears into tipped ears. Gluing to get tipped ears is to keep them from being completely pricked by adding weight. You can't add weight to ears that aren't fully pricked and get the result of tipped ears. Bracing UP to get pricked is to take weight off weaker ear leather. Trying to do both at once - get them up and tipped - just isn't going to happen.

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Ah yes, the ear game. My 4 m/o has had just about every set imaginable. My very favorite is pricked. And she had those for about 1.5 weeks at about 3 m/o before they "broke". Now they're *almost* back up again after 3-4 weeks. I keep joking that I'm going to use some hairspray to keep them up... Honestly though, sculpting ears is a pain at best and tipped ears are some of the harder ones to do on top of that. And, IMO, prick ears are often the only type that look natural after assistance anyway. So I'd suggest embracing the wonkinesspost-4525-0-57688400-1504214046_thumb.jpgpost-4525-0-75625200-1504214470_thumb.jpgpost-4525-0-70828100-1504214571_thumb.jpgpost-4525-0-32135100-1504214605_thumb.jpgpost-4525-0-08197300-1504214647_thumb.jpgpost-4525-0-43036000-1504214720_thumb.jpg

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I've heard (and have no reliable source, but perhaps someone can verify) that until dogs are finished teething, their ears are likely to change a lot. Something to do with calcium.

 

I've known folks whose dogs were allergic to the glue in whatever they used in ears, and those where it didn't work at all.

I've had full airplane ears, half airplane, prick and flopped. I love them all and would never do anything to change that!

(See, you knew this would come along, right?! Hope you get what you want!)

 

diane

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Embrace the ears, no matter what they do or where they end up.

Before you know it you will love them no matter how they turn out. It might turn out that whatever they become, becomes your favorite ear set.

 

I was genuinely bothered by the fact that the eye on the white side of Jester's face had pink skin around it instead of black. I mean, irrationally bothered. Of course, nothing to be done.

 

What is kinda interesting is that, during the first few weeks I had Jester, two people asked me if there were "something wrong with" that eye.

 

(of course, there was nothing wrong with it)

 

Shortly, I forgot it and it never even occurred to me again and Jester was one of the most beautiful dogs ever. And no one ever asked me about his eye again.

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Ha Ha, I love the pictures of the wonky ears. My current male Border, Logan, has prick ears. I never care what ears do, other than the fact that I would like them to match somewhat. But, his went through a spell that they tipped backwards. I'm sure it was because of the speed at which he traveled!!!!! I decided that I didn't want them to stay that way so I put plastic coated paperclips on the tips to weight them forward. He screamed like a banshee and tore around the house!!!! I had to tackle him and hold him down to get them off. I felt really, really awful. He was fine and the ears ended up being prick. Just let it be and keep taking pictures!!!!!! My female Border has bat ears!!!

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I think this matters more on a smooth coat because the ears are a more prominent feature.

 

My Zag (13.5 y.o.) has thick fine hair around his ears and when he is groomed his ears look big. Zag's ears are mostly folded except when he is excited. His ears are very expressive even though sometimes subtle. Sometimes they are pulled back against his head such that you can hardly see them. I like the alert appearance of prick ears, but I think the folded ears have a greater range of expression.

 

Unless a dog has a valuable career in the show ring, even then, I can't get my head around gluing or messing with puppy ears!

 

Oh, and it is the chewing action that tightens the masseter muscles that change the position of the ears.

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I would just leave the ears alone and let your dog decide what kind of ears to have. In all honesty, I am not a fan of gluing ears. I don't know anyone with working BCs that does it. It seems like a "show ring" thing. There is this misconception that BC ears should be a certain way. One of the beautiful things about tis breed is they are not cookie cutter. Also, like others have said, it doesn't seem to work. I know several folks that have tried it and it did not take. One of the pups ended up with a pretty sever reaction to the glue, which really messed up their ears.

 

Plus, it is a lot of fun to watch the ears change as our puppies grow up. I have four border collies currently and had one other many years ago. My first BC had "Lab ears. They flopped over like a lab's. Pete has prick, Jill, a smooth coat, has "flying nun" ears as they go up and then straight out, Ben has one up and one sideways, he is also a smooth coat, and Devi has tipped ears. I cannot imagine any of them with their ears any other way.

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Hi! I have now an adorable 3 months old puppy.

 

I have seen something weird with his ears, at the beginning they were very nice, in the front and they were tipped down.

Pic 1

A week later he had 1 prick ear and the otherone went to the back

Pic 2

A week later now he has the two ears facing the sides.

Pic 3

 

I know some will just comment, let the nature be, and I respect that, but I would like to have his ears as it was in the beginning, to the front and tipped down. I've seen some people that glue them or do other kind of stuff. Does this really works? Has anyone have experience with this?

 

Thanks!

 

 

I think the best that anyone can say is that sometimes taping or gluing works, and sometimes it does not. I think it depends on what the base of the ears ultimately do - airplane ears are physically incapable of standing up, or if they did the dog would look like an Osprey attack aircraft - and the thickness of the ear leather, as well as what nature may have in mind.

 

So, you could try - and to me those glued and taped ears look very uncomfortable to the dog - but there's no guarantee it would turn out as you planned. And who knows, by 6 months old, your pup may magically return to the ears s/he had that you liked. :)

 

 

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My Peli is at almost 8 months at a rather persistant stage of 1 fully pricked and the other slightly floppy. So that's my current favorite.

He went through several variations starting completely tipped. I regularly see his brother who has completely tipped ears.

I was pleasantly surprised to see my dog ears start to prick up, rather unexpectedly. I have always fancied that look, but up til now my bordercollies never had them. Rooting for the floppy ear to take an example of his neighbour and man up :)

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