ear glue rant

M

melbell

Forums Enthusiast
:gaah so, I took Ruutu, who is now 10 weeks old, to the vet for the first time for his 2nd shot and a puppy physical... of course I get there, there was an older woman there and her granddaughter and she immediately asked me what breed he was, told her and she's like I thought it was! and they were all thrilled and petted him. Then this woman comes out with her dog (with NO leash on) and then comes back in and sees him, plays dumb like she didn't notice my dog the 1st time (okay, maybe she didn't) and then goes "oh my!! what happened to his ear!!!" I tried to explain to her that he's a Sheltie so you glue their tip of their ears down so they grow up to have a crease and not stand up.. and told her how this is the standard in confirmation as well. She just stares at me like I'm an idiot and I tell her how Shelties are not the only breed that go through this.. once again.. I get the idiot stare and that I'm crazy.... :eek2:

Then, we go in to the room and the vet technician asks us what he's in for (first off.. shouldn't you know this.. but whatever) then looks at him and his ears and basically cringes and asks us why we would glue his ears... reallly.....

Luckily, the vet who did his puppy physical and shot understood why they were glued and she was about to look in his ears and was like "oh wait they're glued, I almost messed up your ears!" so in the end.. luckily the vet was smart enough to know that this is a common thing in Shelties... :gaah
It's one thing to just not know, it's another thing to look at me like I'm stupid... yes I'm 23 years old so it is a possibility, BUT I've been around Shelties since before I was born!!! (My parents used to breed). :mad:

Ok rant is over :rolleyes2: anyone else experience this?? What do you say to them?
 
I've kinda experienced it. When I had Missy's ears glued, a couple people asked if I cropped them :confused2:, and couple people asked about her ears in general. When I explained everything, they all kinda gave me funny looks, but I threw in there that it doesn't hurt her and I was super careful when changing the tape (I used a combination of glue, japanese tape, and moleskin because she was determined to have prick ears. And she does now!). Luckily nobody made any comments about me abusing or hurting my puppy, because I wouldn't have handled that well. I am very self conscious about my dog already. I'm like one of those moms who gets really hurt any time someone criticizes their parenting or their baby...

Luckily one of the vet techs used to breed shelties, so she was familiar with all the ear stuff. No trouble there!
 
When Sadie and Ginny were pups I experienced people who thought I was putting them through un-due discomfort by gluing their ears when I wasn't going to be showing them, even friends and family. When I was living at home and we got Milo, my parent's sheltie, they flat out refused to let me glue his ears.

You experience it everywhere, some people are at least respectful of your decision even if they don't agree with it, others are not. I've found that the people who can't be respectful usually aren't even worth getting upset at, they're just not worth the effort.

It sucks, but try not to let them bother you. :hugs

Soon enough you'll be done with the gluing and the only issue will be explaining that you own a sheltie, not a collie. :rolleyes2:
 
all of the pet stores around here used to have employees that knew/had shelties. now, I think it's just the one.
I took Jocu there just so that employee could see him and while he was holding the pup, quite a few people came over to see and pet the puppy. I didn't have to do anything- the employee explained all about sheltie ears for me:winkgrin:
 
Because I use tape and yarn (blue for the boys, pink for the girls), I get people saying... "Look how cute! You put a bow in his/her hair!".
Sometimes, I just say yes, I like it that way.:wink2: Other times, I do the long explaination:pop
 
It would be so tempting to taunt the negative folks with "yes, his ears are glued to tip them, but I let him keep his tail... " LOL!
 
I always say that it's like having braces on your kid's teeth... your kid might not want braces, but no one thinks it's child abuse.
 
missjenneygirl said:
Because I use tape and yarn (blue for the boys, pink for the girls), I get people saying... "Look how cute! You put a bow in his/her hair!".
Sometimes, I just say yes, I like it that way.:wink2: Other times, I do the long explaination:pop
Click to expand...

Bailey's breeder had little yarn in her ears too. Everyone also thought it was a bow.
 
2GoodDogs said:
It would be so tempting to taunt the negative folks with "yes, his ears are glued to tip them, but I let him keep his tail... " LOL!
Click to expand...
:lol: That's what my fiance said afterwards to me. He's used to mini schnauzers and he's like at least his ear isn't clipped nor is his tail docked... :lol:
 
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