What's the point of bracing?

M

Moxie

Forums Novice
My Levi (collie/sheltie) has severe hound ears:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27003803@N08/6943444992/

I live in Mexico and tried to find things to cross brace and tip them. Unfortunately I couldn't find the exact right items, so had to make due. Well, not surprisingly, the brace fell out just an hour after it went in. But the tips stayed glued to his head. And I noticed that the ears stayed high. Because the tips wouldn't allow them to drift back down.

So then, what's the point of the brace? Here's what he looks like now without the brace (a bit uneven, I know. First timer, will try to make them prettier next time):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27003803@N08/6961715566/

Will I need to put the brace back on, or would this do?
 
The brace, in theory, supports low ears and "trains" them to stand. As long as you're gluing hair to hair (never hair to skin), I suppose you can keep doing what you're doing. If you are going to brace his ears, you really need to stick with it until he's a year old.

At the same time... hound/low ears, like his, are the hardest to work with. It's very likely that, even with the perfect materials and technique, he would still end up with hound ears. Ultimately, it's your choice as to how much time and trouble you want to invest in this project.

He's a cutie, by the way!
 
Yeah, I glued the hairy tip of the ear to the hair at the top of his skull. That's correct, right? For the brace I could only use surgical tape to adhere it to the inside of the ear because I couldn't find skin-safe adhesive glue. So he was able to get that out in no time. He looks the same with the brace in or out, so I just don't see the difference.

Do they look close together enough?

I'm not getting my hopes too up on this, but if gluing just the ear tips is all I need to do, it's no work at all.
 
I was told recently by one big name sheltie breeder to use moleskin to make them stand up and worry about tipping later. Wonder how well that works. I haven't had any luck in helping friends with hound ears yet.
 
There's 50 ways to leave your lover, and just about as many to glue Sheltie ears! :lol:

One easy way is to make a hair thread (just twist) at the back of each ear and glue it together to pull the ears up. Then glue the tips to the hair on the top of the head for the fold. Voilla!
 
Well, a couple days ago they came unglued and stayed perfect for two days. Not sure how long they would have stayed because I found some moleskin today and eyelash glue and fixed them up nice. Just the fact that they didn't start to float back down made me feel hopeful. Going to try to keep them up seriously until a year.

I know it's not necessary for a pet, but I do prefer the look.
 
Chris said:
There's 50 ways to leave your lover, and just about as many to glue Sheltie ears! :lol:

One easy way is to make a hair thread (just twist) at the back of each ear and glue it together to pull the ears up. Then glue the tips to the hair on the top of the head for the fold. Voilla!
Click to expand...

Chris! You always make me laugh!

And yes, you do not have to brace with moleskin or Japenese tape.

As Christ said, keep the hair between the ears long and twist them together and glue.

Make sure, however, that you have an adhesive remover like Detachol. At some point the glue will fail and you'll need to reglue, but you really have to remove the old glue before you start again.

Otherwise you will have a real mess, and end up having to cut out the glue, and then no hair to glue together anymore! That's what happened to my Bacca....hound dog extraordinaire!
 
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