The Jane and Cash litter of 2/6/2021 turned 4 months old yesterday. Time to start thinking about taping ears. The female I kept, See See, did have both ears up, but one has flopped back down. I am showing her this Friday in a puppy show, so I decided to tape today. Unfortunately, I had no one to help me. I think I did a pretty good job with these instructional videos in spite of going solo!
Here are some more tips:
Really important: Smell the ears each day. If it smells yeasty or bad in any way, don’t let it go, that can get bad real fast. Take off everything and let them air out. If your puppy is digging at them you may need a vet to treat them. Make sure the canal stays open. You should be able to stick your finger down in the ear. Make sure the tape is NOT covering the ear canal.
Along those same lines, don’t let the ears get wet. You’d be setting them up for a yeast infection. Take your puppy out with an umbrella if necessary.
Don’t let any other pets chew on the tape! They will be attracted to the adhesive smell.
Buy lots of tape and moleskin. With a wiggly puppy, it’s easy to mess up and then you have to start over. Have the tape already torn off the roll and ready to grab. If it’s windy, don’t do it outside.
Make sure the puppy is somewhat tired from playing, but not thirsty, squirmy, leave me alone tired. He will be easier to handle. The less restraint you have to use the better.
With a long haired puppy, you may have to use clippers on the inside of the ears to trim the hair off, to make a smooth surface for the adhesive on the moleskin to stick. You may even have to trim the hair around the ears so the tape stays in place.
And yes, I know this would have been better if you could see it actually being done. Hopefully I can get some help next time.
And yes, there are many ways to do this! Every breeder has their own favorite way. This is my favorite way! I have used other methods and taken from each to come up with this.
Also, and I want to stress this, the puppies’ dam, Jane, had weak ears. I had to tape them for what seemed like forever. That’s one reason I bred to Cash, because he has such nice ears. So Cash doesn’t get the blame for the puppies’ weak ears, Jane does, which is my bloodline. See See’s ears are way better than Jane’s, and Clyde’s are really good. So, definitely an improvement with Cash’s genes.
Shepherd Sight 