stockdogranch Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 The other thread about gluing ears got me to thinking...I very recently learned of a top agility person who "fixed" a pup's ears. The pup is cattle-bred ABCA, and the breeder sold the pup to an agility person. The pup got dual registered so it can be shown in AKC agility (sigh). The pup is slick-coated, very leggy, and had one prick ear, and the other ear's tip flopped over. Cute--just like the pup's dam, in fact--same ear tipped. So, the breeder emailed the owner for an update (pup is now 7 months old), and was told, that 1) the pup had been given to a friend (to do agility), but original owner maintains breeding rights, and 2) they (prior and current owners, presumably) had figured out how to "fix" the pup's ears! They did something (weighted it, perhaps?) to make the prick one flop, so now she is "symmetrical." My question: I know that the conformation folks do this all the time--glue them, weight them so they both tip over, etc., but I had no idea that sports folks gave a rip about such things! How common is this? A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurae Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 I know a few sport folks who glue the ears of pups. Not sure if it's anything to do with sports per se, or whether they personally just like the look of symmetrical, pricked ears and don't want to take any chances... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumpin Boots Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 I run NADAC agility and have never heard on any competitor doing anything like this. Maybe you would see it in the AKC ring, but I wouldn't know. Mainly I've noticed people keeping dogs nails and foot hair trimmed a certain length to keep the dog from slipping depending on the ground surface. People also trim feathers and tail hair so the hairs don't get wrapped around the weaves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Journey Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 My question: I know that the conformation folks do this all the time--glue them, weight them so they both tip over, etc., but I had no idea that sports folks gave a rip about such things! How common is this? A Not too common. I suppose if they are in the spot light, pictures and all they would want the "symmetrical look" gag.....I'd be more concerned with said buyer giving away the pup though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdarling Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 Well HERE are more illustrated instructions on how to get the ears you want ... and from the website it's listed on ... you can see ... even people who own dogs whose sole job it is to produce puppies every year ... year after year ... care about what their doggies ears look like. Poor dogs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumpin Boots Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 Oh, so thoughtful to get the adhesive remover too, with molding the dogs ears, I'm surprised they don't just rip off the glue...oh sorry is that snarky ...makes me sick, poor dogs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSmitty Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 I'm not part of the hard core sport people, although I do agility and flyball with one of my dogs. With the people I know, gluing ears is not common around here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaryP Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 I don't know of any sport people that I train with (in agility) that "fix" ears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 My question: I know that the conformation folks do this all the time--glue them, weight them so they both tip over, etc., but I had no idea that sports folks gave a rip about such things! How common is this? A In my experience it is somewhat common. I know a few Sheltie people who do the ear thing. I don't really know why, but it is important to them to have the ears be a certain way. My guess, though, is that it is not done for sport purposes, but just because they feel it "should" be done. I don't know anyone in sports with a Border Collie who has taped/glued ears on the dog, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenajo Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 There have been photos fairly recently in Clean Run - the Susan Salo articles on puppy jumping - that show a red Border Collie pup with his ears clearly taped and braced. Heard the ear converstaion at a USDAA trial as recently as last fall. There is a lot of sympathy apparently for "failed" ear set attempts. None of the dogs were conformation dogs, in fact were your average smooth coats. One lady even commented she just "couldn't stand" looking at her one ear up, one ear down dog's ears. He looks "so wrong" she said. I'm not sure whats worse for a dog. To be given up for an ear set, or to be kept and thought pitingly of as ugly for the rest of its life. I'd rather be given up if I were the dog. Not too common. I suppose if they are in the spot light, pictures and all they would want the "symmetrical look" gag.....I'd be more concerned with said buyer giving away the pup though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurelin Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 It depends on the breed and person imo. I only see it in shelties really, and it's super common no matter where they got the dog or what they want to do with the dog. A lot of pet people on the sheltie boards do it just cuz. I don't think it's cruel, cruel is a strong word, but unnecessary? Yes, it's definitely unnecessary. We tried it on one of our shelties- our first. We had read books and there was a big section on taping. It was basically just stated as something you do just because that's how it's done with the breed. So we did. She didn't notice it at all, but we couldn't get it to stay so we gave up and her ears went all the way up. Our male sheltie we have now had his done and he was going to be a sports dog. I'm pretty sure the breeder just taped all the puppies ears to be safe. Anyways, he ended up being returned to her when he was 10 months and we got him a few weeks later so his ears were already finished. I don't see it in sport bcs, and no one messes with papillon ears, it's highly looked down upon. If one goes up and one goes down, it's just not a show dog. Of course it may be because that is a lot less common in that breed. One of mine has soft ears and went back forth between drop ears and erect ears forever. They eventually went up on their own but for a long time we thought he'd be lopsided. As I said before, shelties most the time don't have the 'preferred' look naturally. It's a very common practice in shelties and collies (and pretty common in pugs too, I think). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shetlander Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 I don't think it's cruel, cruel is a strong word, but unnecessary? Yes, it's definitely unnecessary. I don't think it is cruel at all, but then I glued both my Shelties' ears. I didn't remove the glue. It eventally was cut off when the hair became long enough. The dogs never had any irritation from it and never seemed to notice, quite frankly. Off hand, I can think of one obedience competitor who messes with her Border Collies' ears and there are probably a few others I never noticed. I see all sorts of ears at agility and obedience shows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShoresDog Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 What's wrong with 'em? Don't they realize one-up, one-down is by far the foxiest look? ....Juno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoga Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 What's wrong with 'em? Don't they realize one-up, one-down is by far the foxiest look? ....Juno The PERFECT reason NOT to mess with ears! How do you improve on that look??? You go, Juno!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertranger Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 Gluing ears doesn't fix 'em, it breaks 'em. Of all the BC's I've ever had only one came with glued ears. We unglued them. As much as I love the tipped over ears it's not natural. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sluj Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 I was thinking about this other thread 'my dog talks to me'. Well mine doesn't vocalize; she just gives me these looks. She can convey a wealth of meaning, and most of the fine nuance comes from tiny flicks and tilts of the ear. How much of your dogs communicative ability is lost by taping the ears? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shetlander Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 How much of your dogs communicative ability is lost by taping the ears? I never noticed any loss in the Sheltie with tipped ears. Her ears still twitch, perk up, move forward and back, etc. Quinn is interesting because if he is really intent, one or both of his floppy ears often go up. Pictures of him working stock often show this. Usually it is the ear closest to the instructor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenajo Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 Gluing ears doesn't fix 'em, it breaks 'em. Of all the BC's I've ever had only one came with glued ears. We unglued them. As much as I love the tipped over ears it's not natural. Actually it can be. My Dinah has the prettiest natural set of tulip ears you've ever seen. People are forever thinking I glued them (at least in the sport circles). Di also has a short curl coat, which doubles the looks. I think I just got lucky myself. Di's my girl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaryP Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 Well, I thought we were only talking about bc's. I know that lots of things are done to make a dog look a particular way with other breeds, but I've not seen it (with the people I train with) with bc's doing agility. As far as the one ear up and one ear down look, I love it. I think it is adorable and I can't imagine why someone would want to "fix" it. When I first got Skittles, he had one ear up and one ear down. I was a little sad when both ears went up, but that's who he is, so why would I want to change that? Of course, he's neither a bc or a sport dog. He's just a trouble-maker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz P Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 All natural ears. His do tip in a rather cute way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Cressa Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 All natural ears. His do tip in a rather cute way. EEK How cute!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rave Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 It's a personal preference among sports people. Some are all for it, some are against it, some don't give a flip and some just do it because their friends did. Some sports people come from the breed ring, so it carries over for there. Doesn't affect performance in any way (and no one thinks it does either). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotch Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 Gluing ears doesn't fix 'em, it breaks 'em. Of all the BC's I've ever had only one came with glued ears. We unglued them. As much as I love the tipped over ears it's not natural. Ahem ~ we beg to differ with that opinion These are as natural as they come ~ NO GLUE HERE! Just a few Mardi Gras beads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 As much as I love the tipped over ears it's not natural. Not natural? Well no, I guess not. Those are color contacts, too. And we tye dyed him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurelin Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 Not natural? Well no, I guess not. Those are color contacts, too. And we tye dyed him. I'm trying to imagine someone getting a contact into a bc's eye. Yeah, not going well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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