Help - Sheltie Ear Tipping Question

[Smudge]

My friend uses a combo of Japanese tape and the glue. The tape is used inside the ear, and a small piece of tape is exposed on each ear so you can glue an ear brace from ear to ear.

A glue remover I would NOT use is the one they sell at Cherrybrook (STR adhesive remover). I thought I would try it out, and it is the greasiest thing ever. I bathed Fluffy twice trying to get the greasey out, and I thought her ears were doomed to be shiny and nasty for life.

http://wicketsbymel.com/cart/tape-removers-c-15.html?zenid=12280ce13abc5f07f8a492768a0be57d

I now use the Zoeze from that website. Much better. I do use the Cherryknoll glue from Cherrybrook though.

 

[Belladora]

Ear Leather

I have one girl who I had to glue the ears on until she was 2 years old. That ear leather just did not want to thicken. And every time I'd try to leave them unglued, they'd change. Finally, at two, the leather thickened up, and I was able to leave them alone, but that sure was a pain having to keep her ears done for that long.

Is there any way to explain how to know when the leather has thickend? I know for most of you know through experience. As a novice pet owner I was just wondering if there is a way you could describe for me. For instance, do you feel something particular when you fold the ear in half? Does it actually get thicker? if you fold their ear do you expect a certain response time before it stands back up if they are prick?

Bella has prick ears and not hound ears so I am wondering if that means the leather is thicker by nature of the pricking..LOL.. doea that make sense?

 

[Justicemom]

Is there any way to explain how to know when the leather has thickend? I know for most of you know through experience. As a novice pet owner I was just wondering if there is a way you could describe for me. For instance, do you feel something particular when you fold the ear in half? Does it actually get thicker? if you fold their ear do you expect a certain response time before it stands back up if they are prick?

Bella has prick ears and not hound ears so I am wondering if that means the leather is thicker by nature of the pricking..LOL.. doea that make sense?

Not always. Several shelties I know with prick ears have lighter ear leather. They carry their ears high on the head naturally barely neeed the middle brace at all. No weight to hold the tip down. My friends shelties has thick heavy ears and a naturally wider set and had almost hound ears. They tipped beautifully but the wide placement pulled the ears down. He needed the middle brace more than the ear tip.

I didn't feel any difference in the texture of the ear leather when they set. They just stopped moving around after I removed the glue.

 

[Belladora]

Not always. Several shelties I know with prick ears have lighter ear leather. They carry their ears high on the head naturally barely neeed the middle brace at all. No weight to hold the tip down. My friends shelties has thick heavy ears and a naturally wider set and had almost hound ears. They tipped beautifully but the wide placement pulled the ears down. He needed the middle brace more than the ear tip.

I didn't feel any difference in the texture of the ear leather when they set. They just stopped moving around after I removed the glue.

Ok. so Bella's ears do set high on the head 98% of the time, however i have seen them drift to the side a tiny bit but then back up they go as if she did it on purpose. Also when i glued them with a tiny drop of glue they stay down great, they do not appear to want to fly up, i see no pulling of the hair if that makes sense. I guess what i am getting at is i don't want to put her through it if they have already thickend, but i do love the tipped look and would love for her to have it.

 

[corbinam]

Ok. so Bella's ears do set high on the head 98% of the time, however i have seen them drift to the side a tiny bit but then back up they go as if she did it on purpose. Also when i glued them with a tiny drop of glue they stay down great, they do not appear to want to fly up, i see no pulling of the hair if that makes sense. I guess what i am getting at is i don't want to put her through it if they have already thickend, but i do love the tipped look and would love for her to have it.

The frustrating thing about ears is that they are all different. Some require all kinds of bracing, others require nothing. And, there's really no way to tell as a puppy whether or not your efforts will take. I think the reason most people do it is because there is a high percentage of success with taping/gluing/bracing.

So you just have to ask yourself, are you willing to glue for the next 8 months (Bella is 4 months, right?) knowing that it might not take? It's a huge pain, but if you like the look, it's worth the effort to try (that's my thought anyways!)

 

[Emmasmom]

I finally found what Emma's breeder suggested:

"The easiest way is if you can get ahold of some hair extention glue or fabric glue like Jiffy Sew or Speed sew. Then you just put a tiny bit "on the hair" on the tip of the ear and fold it over and glue the hair of the tip to the hair on the front of the ear. Another method but can cause the ear to tip too much is to put a piece of well chewed chewing gum on the tip and flatten it out and then put some baby powder on the gum to stop it from sticking to everything else.... not a great method but works in a pinch. Or even a hand cream and rub into the crease on the inside of where you want the ear to bend and then fold the ear over and massage the ear where the break is. You can also rub in hand cream on the top and sprinkle with baby powder to add some weight..... might be a bit messy..... "

 

[BarbV]

Personally, I've found that thin ears tend to tip too much, and thick ears tend to prick. I think it has to do with the amount of cartilege in the ears. Too little, and they have no strength...too much and they just fly!

Bacca has very thin ear leather, and he tends towards hound dog....there just is nothing in his ears to hold them up! Indy's ears are much thicker, so he tends to a 3/4 prick. They can have the perfect tip when he's relaxed but as soon as he spies something, they spring up!