Greetings,

My dobie has gone trough the ear posting for several months now. when we initially remove the tampons from his ears, they look great. However, within 2 days, the tips begin to curl inward. Just the tips, every other part of his ear is perfectly erect. We cropped him in late october. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is there a way to just tip the ears w/out having to continiously shove tampons in his ears? Your assistance will be greatly appreciated.

O.K.-Ive been through this. You can put a thin piece of tape up the back and over the top and down the front. Leave a space in the tape above the ear squeezing the two tacky sides together for strength. Cut the tape tapering it as an upside down V, (the shape of the ear) but not so wide that it is too heavy. Medical tape is good if you first spray a little adhesive on the sticky side a couple minutes before you apply it. I have used 3M multi-purpose or there is an Elmers spray. As Ed often say's, "after saing that" You should be aware that the whole ear can fall again even after a week or two and you'll have to go back to the cones. It is extremely important in cones not to tape so tight as to cut off the circulation to the tips. One worry I had when my boy was going through this was the bare spots left on the ear. Not to worry,the hair will grow in and covered those areas.

Michael,

Thank you for your input. I understood everything but the following "Cut the tape tapering it as an upside down V, (the shape of the ear) but not so wide that it is too heavy. Medical tape is good if you first spray a little adhesive on the sticky side a couple minutes before you apply it. I have used 3M multi-purpose or there is an Elmers spray". Can you elaborate please. Thanks in advance.

I have seen people use duct tape. Duct tape scares me as it does not want to ever come off. You want the tape to last a week or two at a time. A little cooking oil on a rag or paper towell worked slowly is good to remove excess tape, or glue. The shape of the tape is not all together important. The concept is simple. The tape is just holding the tips straight. I do not know which cut your baby has-short, medium, or long. But I have found it is helpful to start the tape a third of the way down the inside of the ear moving upward over the top and back down the outside an inch or so. You just want it to be held in position until the cartlidge grows and hardens to that shape. The V-shape is where I confused you I think. I was referring to a shape of an hour-glass cut tape-before it is applied. The skinny middle is folded over the tip and the wider part is further down both sides of the ear-sort of following the ears shape. The glue reference is because the medical tape will not stick very long without the help. So, now I hope I have not totally confused you. please keep in contact with eather questions or progress. we obviously have simular interests.

Yikes! Don't use duct tape! The tape that you use needs to be breathable or it can cause damage to the ears. There is a striated Curity-Kendall product that sticks really well and lets the skin breath. It can only be found at a medical supply store though, not usually a drug store. We soak it with baby-oil to remove it, and then wipe the ears off well. There is generally no more oily-ness by the time we tape again so it hasn't been a problem.

If you end up finding a medical supply store then you can also pick up the product that is designed to lift and remove the tape. I do not have a medical supply near me, so I used the regular drug store med-tape with the spray on glue. I got the idea from a vet in my area. I feel he is pretty good. He is the most respected on ear cropping in the area that we live. its a kick everytime we go into his office because we get to meet other Doberman pups as well as Boxers, Snauzers, Pit Bulls, etc. The last time I was in there we met a fella with a nine month old Great Dane that already weighed 180-lbs. Another very noble breed. My boy is eight months old and weighs 85-lbs. He took one look at that big dog then started looking back and forth across that office as if he was trying to find the jocky.

Your dog is still teething and calcium is being pulled away from the ears. I have a five month old myself with show cut ears. I use Breath Right strips (people use them for their noses for colds or snoring) for the tips and that seems to work well.

Good tips-No pun intended. Breath Rite, for snoring. It is enteresting how the ear cropping procedure can rely on so many products that are intended for human orifices. Too late for my boy I found a product selling on another website called Quick-Brace. In theory the product seems to be a good idea, one that is made especially for ear cropping. I purchased the braces and the video just to see it. It is used and sold by a seemingly well known Doberman breeder. Has anyone had a real experiance in using it?

Don't forget that when you take the tape off, pull in the direction of the hair, otherwise you will end up "waxing" the hair right off the ear and end up with a bald ear. I did that and the hair never grew in as thick