Ears dilemma

Dogdragoness

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#22
I got a better picture, honestly.. I think I'm just going to leave them alone.
I don't have plans to show him really (I mean, there were some tentative "maybe" but he has too many tentative plans/hobbies/jobs as it is)






His ears will likely always be a bit different lol but I like them. He is also 7 months old so taping would probably not do much other than give them a little temporary likeness.

Merlin has always had bigger droopier ears than standard/than normal and always had one that is "off", especially compared to his perfect eared sister Journey! lol but they suit him I think.

Even when he was little, his ears were a bit bigger

Oh. My. God ^^^... I can smell the puppy from here :D

I say let them do what they're gonna do, he's cute like he is :)
 

Jynx

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#23
I would just leave them:) Little story on taping..Jynx's ears were starting to "prick" when she was much younger than Merlin is now, personally I think she wanted ears like my gsd's:)

Anyhow, I taped them, well after a few days, I was smelling this "smell",,I removed the tape, she must have been having an allergic reaction to the tape, nasty nasty nasty :((((

They finally dropped the way they were supposed to by the time she was around 4 mths old,

I think Merlin looks just fine with his ears they way they are,,he's very handsome:)
 

milos_mommy

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#24
Mismatched ears is way cuter than matching ears. Unless you were wanting to show him, I wouldn't bother...and it sounds like it's too late now anyway.

Personally, I'd prefer his ears to be the way they are. If he was my dog, and I WAS definitely going to show him, I'd be taping them and pouting about having to do so, because I'd like them better "wonky".
 

Toller_08

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#25
His ears will likely always be a bit different lol but I like them. He is also 7 months old so taping would probably not do much other than give them a little temporary likeness.

Merlin has always had bigger droopier ears than standard/than normal and always had one that is "off", especially compared to his perfect eared sister Journey! lol but they suit him I think.
His sister doesn't always have perfect ears either!

And actually, I think maybe they're going through another growth stage. Maybe heads are changing? I don't know, because they're definitely done teething, but Journey woke up this morning with two rose ears after having them both lay nicely forward for the last two months LOL.

And for as much as I like both of her ears folded forward (gives her a more elegant look), these are actually my favourite Journey ears:



^ The one likes to stand sort of up and tipped to the side sometimes.

And come to think of it, their mom's ears also don't always lay perfectly forward if I recall correctly. Pretty sure sometimes they're flopped forward and sometimes one roses to the side like Merlin's on occassion. I noticed that when we were at her house, since I'm a tad ear obsessed haha.

And also, I find it a little funny that Merlin's ears went through a wonky stage at all considering how huge they were when we picked the pups up and I'm pretty sure their breeder said something along the lines of she'd be surprised if his ears went anywhere LOL.

(also, that picture of all the puppies on the couch squishing Journey into a Corgi pose is hilarious. I forgot about it! It made me laugh again)
 

Zoom

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#26
Isn't he about to hit pueberty? Everything goes wonky at that age, LOL.

Personally, since he's not going to be a die-hard show dog, I'd just leave them be. I can see what you mean about the different ear set, the left ear does fall quite a bit more than the right, but they could very well even out. Or not. Really, he's so adorable, who cares?
 
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#27
Such adorable pics of Merlin. His ears are gorgeous. I wouldn't touch them. My Rough Collie that passed away years ago used to have uneven ears.
 

Sit Stay

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#28
Quinn has wonky ears too - one is more forward and one is more rose.

DSC_0040 by Charlotte_L, on Flickr

I kind of wish I had taped them but at this point I like her look and I don't know if taping them would have worked out anyways. :)
 

yv0nne

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#29
Quinn has wonky ears too - one is more forward and one is more rose.

DSC_0040 by Charlotte_L, on Flickr

I kind of wish I had taped them but at this point I like her look and I don't know if taping them would have worked out anyways. :)
That is a beautiful dog& a beautiful photo!
Merlin looks fine ..my guess is the majority of people won't even notice& you'll find it more endearing than anything else :)
 
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#30
At least he won't ever have Journey ears :)


We thought about taping them (probably should have, in retrospect), but her ears are so thick that I'm not sure it would have made a difference. For the record I think Merlin's ears look just fine as is.
 

Keechak

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#31
I have actually seen better results with gluing with salon glue for human hair. It seems to be easier on the dog, easier to remove, and stay in better.
 

Beanie

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#32
I used salon glue on both my boys, I saw it recommended online by a few people. Terrible! It's no easier than Speed Sew or anything else to put in, if anything drying time is a bit longer. It stays in - but that's exactly the problem. It REALLY bonds. Baby Auggie had hair being constantly ripped out, at one point he had a little bald spot on his head. Then I had to try and get the remaining clumps out of his fur, which was a joke. With Payton I actually went out and bought the bottle of hair glue remover to try and get it out. I used about half the bottle trying to remove the glue from Payton... one time.

Payton ended up ripping a chunk of skin and fur off his head when he scratched at his ears and it was glued with the hair glue.

In front of his right ear there. I took a close-up shot on my cellphone at the time to send to Auggie's breeder but don't have it anymore, not that anybody wants to see it. It was disgusting, a big open wound, it oozed, it was obviously painful to him - and since it was right where I need to glue his ear to set it, we couldn't set that ear for a few weeks until it healed. x_x

Never again after what happened to Payton. I use Bish's Original Tear Mender now and it's great, dries super fast and comes out super easily with adhesive remover wipes.
 

RD

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#33
Use tear mender or just leave them. I really don't think those look bad and probably won't look weird at adulthood either, but that's just me... I'm not really picky about ears and I think Aussie ears have more personality when they're like Merlin's.
 

elegy

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#34
I think they look fine, but if they bother you, try to fix them. I don't regret glueing Bean's ears even though I got a fair amount of heckling for it. I really wanted them to stand. And stand they do. Beautifully.

 

Saeleofu

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#35
I used to use TearMender, but it's a bear to get out, especially the night before a show. Now I use paper medical tape. It takes seconds to put on, seconds to take out, leaves no residue...I can leave it on until ring time and not worry one bit about pulling it out right before he comes out of the crate. And I usually color it with sharpie so it's less obvious when we're out and about, but that might be tougher with a red merle ;) It stays in place for days, weeks even, which is REALLY surprising since it comes out so easy. I had several people at the last show ask me what it was and where to get it. I get it at the Dollar Tree :p
 
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#37
Honestly? Don't fret. He doesn't have prick ears, he doesn't have hound ears. They appear to be a bit bigger than the usual with thicker leather, but they are nowhere near hound. Examples can be seen here: Clicky
 

Keechak

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#38
You guys must be using different salon glue than I did...
I tried Tear Mender first but it took way too long to dry (over 5 minutes) and it was way too runny and drippy.

Then I tried the salon glue I bought and it was nice and thick and dried within a minute. I only glued Larks ears between 9 weeks and 4 months, after 4 months she never had them glued again.

I taped Haweyes ears for a short time (a couple weeks) when he was around 6 months old after and he looked AWFUL when the tape came out.

Here he was right after the tape was taken out, I almost cried because they looked so bad, I'm so glad they don't look like this anymore. I don't particularly find is current ears very attractive but they are WAY better than this.

The Aussie breed standard requires lift from 1/4 to 1/2 up from the base. Hawkeye's lift was completely GONE in this photo.
 
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