hi
can any one help, i have a 10 week old Stafford puppy and well he has a folppy ear and i was hopping that i could help it fold back, the other one folded back about 3 weeks ago and i was hopping that this one will as he is still young.
i am only asking as i was hoping to start ringcraft classes in 4 weeks and if he is any good some shows after that (6 months) and well the stafford has a lot of points on the head (15).
i am not willing to heart him and i know that there is nothing the vet can do (not saying that i would want the vet to do anything the ear is not that important) but it would be noce to have both ears the same.

Bobby

i know in a lot of breeds, if the ear isnt right when it should be, its copydexed into place for a while, was your pups parents shown, perhaps they can suggest something, if you decide to copdex it ,fold it in the same place as the other,---but dont tell anyone--its between me and you

Lift the ear and tape .
This is ok as long as you watch that as pup grows the tape is not getting to tight.
On saying this i personally would give your puppy a while longer yet.

yea thank's i now he is a little young (as he is only 10 weeks)yet but i gess that if i start now it might just help it on its way but if i weight then it might be to late,
will try to tape it in to a fold as i have had a good look at the 2 of them and know where it has to fold but how shall a do it? some have said to use stiky tape but i dont think that will hold, all ideas are welcome as long as there is now pain. (as someone said to use a peg but i have not as i think that it would hurt him)

Bobby

PS. hi dizzy what is Copydex? i have not heard of this.

I use surgical tape.
If you are stood at the front of your dog looking in his face.
lift the ear so both sides are pointing in your direction and the top is
looking upto the sky. Tape ear midway between the base and top.
all will be fine as long as you allow for growth.

its a very mild rubbery glue,,you fill the fold in and glue it in place, its less uncomfortable than a tape as its inside the fold- when its jobs done i think you take it off with nail varnish remover, i used it once years ago and it just peeled off----------heelerkay, you're not thinking of erect ears are you.---if you decide on the tape you can buy a sticky one with air holes from the chemists/ good luck ,ps whichever method you use-dont forget to remove any signs of it before a show, i wouldnt worry too much about training classes, ive seen dogs with tape. cardboard and glued ears at classes,

Dizzy.
i use this method on erect and tipped ears.
As you point out it may be different for staffys, but the tape works well
for me. But quite rightly it is a different breed and i am not quite sure what the desired efect is ,but thought it would be tipped.

they have rose ears. like a bulldog--good job i asked, bet he would of looked eyecatching stood there the only staff with ears pointing skyward :rolleyes:

Good job you did.
I will not be answering anymore ear questions.
They always get me in trouble. WHAT.

Personally I think this kind of intervention is wrong and probably goes against KC regulations. Its hardly surprising that dogs end up with incorrect ear carriage if people use artificial means to correct an incorrect ear. The dog then goes on to be bred from resulting in more incorrect ears. Just let the pup develop naturally. If its wrong then tough thats the way it goes. If it corrects itself naturally then at least you know you arent breeding a problem into a line.

bec--isnt it heavy carting that soapbox with you everywhere you go????

LOL

Woohoo

Handbags at dawn :D

I think thats very rude to Bec she is entitled to an opinion and talks a lot of sense I too think fiddling with nature is wrong.Lets keep civilised please think first before offending people

i must apoligize if it came over a rude--- theres no perfect dog,we have to work with the best we've got, i dont think that helping an ear along is such a big deal-although some of you obviously will, however my problem is that i find bec always on the argumentative side , straight in opposing seemingly harmless discussions, i see no point in throwing the baby out with the bath water, its not like its having its tail broked to correct a set, or ears fixed to change the lie of them ,its only helping the ear along while the pups teething, would you call removing a puppy tooth before it drops out to save the second teeth from becoming misplaced wrong, it could go on forever, major structural changes id say where totally wrong, helping an ear-id not have a problem at all with it.

Ears fly during teething it is not hereditary , puppies do some very strange things when they are teething, tape or mild glue holds them in the correct place untill that phase is past , no it is not to my knowledge against any kennel club rules to do this. it is not cosmetic and there is nothing put in or taken away , so if holding the ears in place while teething is a crime then I and im sure many many others are guilty.

I have just read what bec has said on the matter of tapeing ears.
I really think your going overboard with the reasons not to do this.
And I know within my breed it is common practise.

Of course it is common practise and many books written by experts give you a detailed discription how to do it. if it was against K.C.rules why, when most of those writers show dogs, openly disregard the rules. mari

I agree with people knowing their own breed best and also that opinions differ greatly thats what makes this a good site everyone adding their knowledge to the pot.Just worried slightly that people get insulted a bit and thats a shame some are sensitive and could take a lot to heart,me I couldnt care less what people say to me ,I laughed at My Son the other day he said 'Mum do you think you should wear a name badge at Crufts,you could get a black eye ' LOL

Don't worry Mattie, I'll look after you!

Best wishes, John

Oh well we will definitley get black eyes you have had more run ins than me LOL but thankyou Ill take you up on that

its perhaps cos im not huffy that i dont expect others to be, if you're constantly getting into heated debate then i dont think anyone could be that sensative- , could be wrong---i have been before-- sure i was ,if you wait im sure someone will tell you when

There is nothing in the kc rules about the taping of ears .
I used to show a breed where a pricked ear during teething is common and the dogs never minded having there ears weighted .
As long as it dosnt hurt the dog and is within the rules then whats the problem.

dont know--beats me, some folk have bees in their bonnets about some things and others have them about different ones-myself i cant cope with the thought of someone having many dogs and leaving them all day while theyre at work,then seem to find time to do a thousand other things but spend time with them when they eventually do get home---some of the posts on here seem to start as soon as works finished so cant see what time the dogs have spent on them ,surely they deserve better than that- well each to their own i suppose

as dizzy said they have rose ears like the bulldog, as it has been said i only want to help the ear i dont want to hurt my boy, i was talking to a friend and he said that he new someone that could stich it in to place until he had finished teathing and i said no-way as that will hurt him and it is aganst KC rules. yes i know it could hurt a line if i bread him but as least i know he has it, as there was 5 in his litter and i know his father had a floppy ear as a pup and it is only mine that has a floppy ear.

the tapy sound fine i will give it a go to night and will then change it in about 3 days on that day i will let the ear down to see what happens if it looks better i shall do it again for a few more days until it is right, but if it dont look any better i shall try the glue and leave it on for a week and then see. i shall keep on doing it until his ear looks right (if it works) but if it bugs him or hurts him to much then i shall leave it alone.

(i was the breeder of the litter he is out of, i have his mother and his father and the only big falt on them both was the ears as he had floppy ones as a puppy and she had pointed ones but only as puppies, she did have her ears taped down but his were left, i had her from a puppy but bought him after i used him on my bitch, i was also told that his ear did not go right until he was about 15 months old he is 3 now and well i gessed that if his went right maby my boys will i just want to give it a helping hand and well i dont see anything wrong with that)

Bobby

dont feel bad about it, most folk agreed with the fact that ears often are helped along during the teething stage, if its a fault in the breeding then id imagine all the taping and gluing in the world wont work, i'll keep my fingers crossed for you-im shocked that someone offered to stitch it for you, i think thats awful, definitley not on,

thank you dizzy
i dont think it is in the breading as there is no other dog in his falimy that has a floppy ear if think it might have to do with the fact that he has a lot of wrinkles on his head and he has a lot of room to grow. i also think that it is wrong to have it stiched and the person that could do it is not a vet and has no medical tranin so i kept well away.

will let you know what happens.

Bobby

This has got absolutely nothing to do with the ears debate (interesting though it was). i just wanted to say, Bobby, that I got the cutest image of your pup from your last post. I just love stafford pups with wrinkly heads!!! awwww!!!

ive got pups with wrinkly heads -and wrinkly bodys attatched to them

and nora batty socks on their wee legs... :p

Hi all!
I've never even checked out these showing/grooming pages before, but I will from now on, you guys are exciting! Nothing like a lively chat!

Anyway, I breed shelties and get perfect to goofy ears within each litter. Those that are goofy I attempt to fix by chewing gum and then sticking it on the inside upper tip and fold down, not to tight, because you don't want to cut off blood flow, otherwise the tip could become dead and fall off. This works great.
If by 9 months they still won't correct then in my breed it's pretty much a lost cause. The cartilage in a young pup isn't developed completely yet, so if you can help it and it works great!
If not, I don't like to breed from them, because chances are you will get more fly ears, and in shelties it totally puts off the expression. If you are a reputable breeder you would not breed from anything that isn't as close as you can get to standard, but no dog is the perfect example of their breed, and who draws the line on who to breed?

give you 3 guesses

hi Zoe

with in any luck i should have a few photos of him on a wab site soon so you can seea photo of him.

Bobby

HI all

well i put tape on his ear last night, double sided (on the out side) and folded it back i did not push it hard, when i got up this morning his ear was folded nice, it has been off all day and is still folded so fingers crossed it has worked.
i am keeping hold of the tape just in case it flopes again.
i know it only needed a little push

Bobby

Well done Bobby, We have a prick eared breed that often drop one or both ears when teething. I remember with my first hound, we had only had him a few days and one ear dropped, we were very worried he had had an injury so phoned his breeder for advice, she was very kind but you could hear the laughter in her voice, and has pulled my leg a few times since. Jackie H