setting puppy ears

[Lana]

My then 5 year old daughter was in the truck with the very pricked eared dog in my avatar pic shown here . She said " mommy i like Mints spiky ears" I said " they are called prick ears babe" she did a double take and said " but mommy I heard you call somebody a prick on the phone was that about their ears ?"

[geonni banner]

This is a fun page from the Border Collie Museum. At the bottom there are two dogs with very "houndy" ears. I had a friend who had a dog much like the one on the right. That dog was also tailless. She got her from a shelter. She said the dog came with "papers" saying that it was a Border Collie, but it always seemed more like an Australian Shepherd to me.

 

[juliepoudrier]

Lana,

You crack me up!

 

J.

[Gideon's girl]

My then 5 year old daughter was in the truck with the very pricked eared dog in my avatar pic shown here . She said " mommy i like Mints spiky ears" I said " they are called prick ears babe" she did a double take and said " but mommy I heard you call somebody a prick on the phone was that about their ears ?"

More proof that children hear EVERYTHING.

[Laurae]

My then 5 year old daughter was in the truck with the very pricked eared dog in my avatar pic shown here . She said " mommy i like Mints spiky ears" I said " they are called prick ears babe" she did a double take and said " but mommy I heard you call somebody a prick on the phone was that about their ears ?"

 

Lana Rowley, keeping the boards entertaining far too infrequently...

[Kian's Mom]

Lana,

Thank you for the laugh. I can just see my 3 1/2 yr od granddaughter saying the same thing. Out of the mouths of babes.

They sure hear a lot of what they shouldn't and not enough of what they should. LOL

[Sue R]

They have studied it. Any vet will tell you ear infections are more common in floppy-eared dogs.

 

http://petkareclinic.com/handouts/COTE%20Otitis%20Externa.pdf

 

Yes, but the dog I have with upright (tipped, but probably set by her previous owner) is more likely to get grass seeds, bits of plant material, and small insects inside her ears, which the airplane-eared dogs do not. There are pluses and minuses to each sort of ear.

 

PS - Knock on wood but with a series of airplane-eared dogs, we have not had any of these issues. Nor ear mites, even when the cats have had a bad infestation for a couple of months (new move-in outside cat).

[Sue R]

My then 5 year old daughter was in the truck with the very pricked eared dog in my avatar pic shown here . She said " mommy i like Mints spiky ears" I said " they are called prick ears babe" she did a double take and said " but mommy I heard you call somebody a prick on the phone was that about their ears ?"

Only Lana and the indomitable Katy!

[Sue R]

The guy on the Dutch forum was thinking about about function, rather then form, and who's to say that he was not genuine in his response? Was there a discussion on his forum of how moisture escapes from ears, and that upright ears would seem to allow water to evaporate? It's an interesting area of conversation. Likely no clear answer; anyway I don't know what it is. Have scientists studied it? I give him credit for applying thought processes to the issue. -- TEC

Sorry, but you can hear showring folks explain just about everything in the "standard" in terms of functionality - and it takes a big dose of gullibility to swallow that. Like one who insisted that the pronounced stop in the show dog's head standard was so its brain would be protected from cow kicks, or the location of the eyes for a similar purpose. That the stocky and heavy-boned show winners are built that way to hold up over miles run on the hills and, again, resist injury from kicks. Sure, you want to buy a bridge, mister/missus?

[Cynthia P]

One of my puppies in my litter just has very very houndy ears. It takes everything in me not to tape them (as I did have Giant Schnauzers and have taped many an ear).

 

Spec, the dam, has very large prick ears...and I hope that the puppies ears do something other than be a hound....I'll massage and I'll hold him on the ATV and drive into the wind...but taping, i draw the line!

 

When he works well and sheep respect, i'll get over the hound ears...But many a working /trialling friend of mine has looked at him and said...FREE TO A GOOD HOME! So don't think we don't care how they look...we know we are vain, there isn't a reason such as water resistance or drip resistance or hearing at a distance or......

 

I'll find a picture when i'm not travelling so you all can make fun of him!

[PSmitty]

"Drive into the wind". :lol: Awesome!

[Liz P]

Rowan's current ear set. I keep whispering to her that I like radar dish ears. I am hoping she listens to me.

 

[Cynthia P]

Yes...i'm ashamed

 

I always joke that my dogs all have prick ears, just peer pressure from the Giant Schnauzers (i've had 3 giants and 2 minis). But I don't have any Giants left...is that my penance so now i shall have a hound dog

[rushdoggie]

One of my puppies in my litter just has very very houndy ears. It takes everything in me not to tape them (as I did have Giant Schnauzers and have taped many an ear).

 

Spec, the dam, has very large prick ears...and I hope that the puppies ears do something other than be a hound....I'll massage and I'll hold him on the ATV and drive into the wind...but taping, i draw the line!

 

When he works well and sheep respect, i'll get over the hound ears...But many a working /trialling friend of mine has looked at him and said...FREE TO A GOOD HOME! So don't think we don't care how they look...we know we are vain, there isn't a reason such as water resistance or drip resistance or hearing at a distance or......

 

I'll find a picture when i'm not travelling so you all can make fun of him!

 

Argos had hound ears and they settled into lovely airplane types. Now and then one will pop up and stand erect in a stiff breeze or when hes really excited.

 

We called him Snoopy:

 

stiff beach breezes:

[Root Beer]

We don't need no tape or glue!!!

 

[Shetlander]

Quinn's airplane ears also will stand up, usually just one, when he is really intense. When he had sheep lessons, I often took photographs and found it interesting that the ear closest to the instructor would be the one that stood up. I figured it meant he was listening.

[Gideon's girl]

I'll find a picture when i'm not travelling so you all can make fun of him!

I won't laugh! **snicker,snicker** I promise! **snicker, snicker**

 

Both of mine have airplane ears, but are able to prick one at a time, a different one each time, so I have no room to laugh.

[terrecar]

What's next, a thread on how to straighten a curly coat?

That will be after "Poodles and Perms: Avoiding Detection".

[terrecar]

This is not another snide remark but a real question; is there any way to lock a thread that you've started?

Not saying you do, but I wouldn't feel bad about asking the question in your original post at all. It is hard to escape AKC's influence on purebred dogs (although that is changing), so while most people who purchase a purebred pet do not go to the lengths that show people do, there is some spill over in terms of docking, cropping and ear fixing, and veterinarians have been involved in such things. You came to the right place to find out that there is a better way

[geonni banner]

Not saying you do, but I wouldn't feel bad about asking the question in your original post at all. It is hard to escape AKC's influence on purebred dogs (although that is changing), so while most people who purchase a purebred pet do not go to the lengths that show people do, there is some spill over in terms of docking, cropping and ear fixing, and most veterinarians have been involved in such things. You came to the right place to find out that there is a better way

 

I'm with you on the ear cropping and bracing, but having worked in a vet's office and seen undocked Doberman and Rottweiler tails (and Great Dane tails) misshapen with hematomas and large raw areas, I'm not sure docking (at a very young age) is such a bad thing for some breeds. I have seen a Great Dane with a tail weltering with blood, stand next to a cinder-block wall and beat and beat his tail against it by wagging very hard. It's like they have no pain receptors in their tails. They would have to have their tail taped to one of their legs until it could be treated.

 

Other breeds with long, heavy tails don't seem to do it so much. Greyhounds for instance - which have no more protection/ padding from hair don't seem to do it nearly so much. Maybe there is a good reason folk started docking the tails of Dobermans and Rottweilers. For all I know, un-docked Danes may be a later development. ( I don't know how old a breed the Great Dane is.) Mastiffs commonly had theirs docked in olden times. I've heard it said that it was to keep them from getting injured. Never heard what kind of injury.

 

Of course, it is said that the bully breeds had their ears cropped to prevent an adversary from seizing them by the ear/s and to prevent massive blood loss in a fight - ears are well-furnished with capillaries. But as these dogs (mostly) don't fight for a living any more, what need to crop their ears?

[terrecar]

My daughter's greyhound actually had to have his tail docked for the very reason you describe. Antibiotics were useless, because he kept re-injuring the tail by wagging/banging it against the wall (lovely dog, but a bit of a goof). I think if there are medical reasons, or the propensity to develop them, then by all means. On the other hand, most of the terrier breeds that are still docked will never need to be pulled from a den, yet the convention remains.

 

ETA: I also think that, in terms of ear cropping vs tail docking, the latter--when done on a very young puppy-is comparatively mild.

[Alchemist]

My then 5 year old daughter was in the truck with the very pricked eared dog in my avatar pic shown here . She said " mommy i like Mints spiky ears" I said " they are called prick ears babe" she did a double take and said " but mommy I heard you call somebody a prick on the phone was that about their ears ?"

 

Lana - that made my day!!! Katy is really something else. Give her a hug - and stand back, because she is a force of Nature!!!!

[mum24dog]

My daughter's greyhound actually had to have his tail docked for the very reason you describe. Antibiotics were useless, because he kept re-injuring the tail by wagging/banging it against the wall (lovely dog, but a bit of a goof). I think if there are medical reasons, or the propensity to develop them, then by all means. On the other hand, most of the terrier breeds that are still docked will never need to be pulled from a den, yet the convention remains.

 

Very common in greyhounds.

 

I've only had one dog that would go to ground and have been very grateful that she had a long tail to grab hold of.

 

ETA: I also think that, in terms of ear cropping vs tail docking, the latter--when done on a very young puppy-is comparatively mild.

 

Having been present at the docking of many poodle pups I would have to disagree that the procedure is "comparatively mild". Thank goodness it is banned (with certain exceptions) in England.

[mum24dog]

Maybe there is a good reason folk started docking the tails of Dobermans and Rottweilers.

 

Hard to separate the fact from the fiction. But the excuse for wanting to continue docking from breeders here included the admission that their dogs hadn't been bred with tail conformation in mind and they didn't know what they were "supposed" to look like; horror of horrors, they could turn out to differ from dog to dog. Big deal - chop them all off then.

 

 

For all I know, un-docked Danes may be a later development.

 

Docked Great Danes? Never come across that.

[mum24dog]

Rowan's current ear set. I keep whispering to her that I like radar dish ears. I am hoping she listens to me.

 

 

Terrier ears.