Ear Taping using bumpers

[FredC]

You do not have to use the bumpers. But if you have ears that are tipping inward they are very helpful. I have also found that the bumpers can sometimes make the post too large for a young puppy's ears

Over Time i have tried many different methods and have found this to be by far the most effective technique ive came across yet.



Copied with Permission from Amanda Shadforth

I would like to thank Amanda for allowing me to post this technique on doberman-chat.com
You can visit her site by clicking the logo above.​

 

[deladobies]

Wow I needed that when mine were pups... great post!

 

[diekrazy]

Tag for later...thanks. crap its stickied sorry. But good info nevertheless.

 

[burlysoldier]

nice! thanks!

 

[McGuyver]

Well done, this is priceless.

 

[MyBuddy]

This is one of the best 'play by play' I've seen on taping! Well done. Do you ever brace them together?

Can you do one ear this way (as in one flopping and not the other!) or does the weight of one make the dog irritated more? I've done just the one that's flopping but sometimes it ends up looking like the 'loser hand signal'! LOL With the wrapped one at a 90 degree angle! (from the weight I guess)

 

[MaddoxDobes]

Thanks to Amanda for allowing us to use her photos to show a great way to post up them ears!

 

[vanLayne]

Just thought I would let you know I finally got around to fixing my ear taping page. The text shouldnt be all jumbled up anymore. I dont know what happened but every now and again when I upload my site, it jumbles it all up. Major PITA! LOL.

Anyway...it is fixed. http://www.vanlayne.com/EarTaping.html

 

[Silent]

Thanks Amanda, I am re- screen capturing it now.

 

[burlysoldier]

We tried th McDonalds Straw technique mentioned somewhere on here (differnet thread I believe) and I did not like it. Though it was light, when Zulu went to sleep in his crate he bent the straws and in turn his ears were flopped over. I bent them back but just like a straw they were not perfectly straight. So we went back to using split popsicle sticks wrapped in gauze, reverse taped etc. HOWEVER this time we braced the bridge with 2 q-tips. We snipped off one end of each q-tip then taped them together with one soft end at each end (sorry if its confusing). So it was a little shorter. Once both ears were posted up with the popsicle sticks we started a standard bridge. After we wrapped tape around one ear we stuck the q-tip support in between them. This has created a very stable puppy proof ear posting and is now my favorite technique.
Still havent tried the foam backer rod technique though and have seen this mentioned on a great dane forum as well. They also really liked it.

 

[MyBuddy]

Interesting Burly, I never thought of the q-tip for a bridge. Nice idea.

I went back to taping Buddy's one ear that is flopping and I use the foam insulation (for pipes) cut thin and to length. It's not down into his ear and so it doesn't bother him. It's just there to keep the ear straight and not bend in the middle of the ear like it's been doing. He can move it and keeps it pretty much upright all the time even though it's not bridged to the other ear. I've been doing this for a long time and can only hope...

 

[burlysoldier]

yeah man and try the knoxx gelatin powder. i have been doing it for a couple days, just a little sprinkle (like salting french fries). Zulu is digesting food perfectly. Firm logs and no signs of it being bad. Seen a few mentions on google and dogpile, mostly from Great Dane sites. I also got the suggestion from a Great Dane gal on the street and as I had said in the earlier thread she swore it was the secret tech for great ears. Zulu's ears look really good IMO especially considering he is my first dobe and I have no experience taping ears. They arent perfect but they are standing. Good luck MB!

 

[MyBuddy]

Ok, I will try it. I was thinking maybe he is too old but it can't hurt!

 

[Damasyn]

After I took down Lexis' ears last time...the 'rods" that the breeder made up for me broke down... so I went and purchased a box of super tampons with cardboard covering. Taped around it...the reversed to make it sticky...put the cotton end in her ear and WOW...ALOT more stable than what I have had in there.

I took them down yesterday for cleaning and put medicine in there...just in case... man those ears couldnt have been any straighter. But after an Hour... I put tampons back in. I think just to be safe I am going to try and keep her ears posted for a few more weeks ( at least ) Then I will take them down and see how they do for a day. She is almost 15 weeks old now. AND 40 LBS !!!! MY other girl was a slight 65 lbs ! So how do you think Lexi is measurng up weight wise...normal or a little larger than most??

 

[Silent]

Many on the forum are new to posting and along with spring comes rain. Posted ears should be kept dry. If the tape gets wet, take them down and repost. Tape can tighten once wet and water that may get in the ears can cause ear infections.

When I posted my first pup it was a battle to keep those ears dry. We had over a month of at least twice a day rains, many that lasted for several days without totally stopping.

In an effort to keep the ears dry I tried several things but one worked, was fast, simple to put on and take off and stayed on when I needed it to. Glad Press'n seal plastic wrap! You can tear off a piece fold it over the posts from the top and squeeze it around the posts. Because it sticks to itself it makes a snug cover that stays on fairly well all on its own. It's fast and easy to remove and you can stretch the pieces back out flat and reuse it. If you are going to be in rain for an extended peroid of time, you can take regular scotch tape and wrap a single loop around the bottom of the post to secure it. Tape usually isn't needed unless the pup is going to be rough housing or the wrap has been used several times and isn't sticking to itself quite as tight or the pup scratches at it and loosens it.

Best of all it WORKS! It protects the posts and ear canal from rain and allows your posts to stay in longer by keeping posts dry.

 

[hrd2gt]

Great reminder silent... my friend told me that if karmas ears ever get wet to take em down RIGHT AWAY... she was very serious about it... the tips of the dogs ears can ROT... it happend to her show dog, it wasnt super bad, but it kinda looks like rawhide on the tips (if anyone had a dog with bad allergies... like that)

Back then we actually got some rain here in tx...............(dramatic dots)...... so i was freakin paranoid about it!!! her ears were down ever other day just in case..

 

[JanS]

That's a great tip about the Press'n seal.
I can attest to the keeping them dry from an incident with Boris. The hubby had taken him out before work one morning when it was raining, and by the time I got home, the tape on the tip of his ear was tightened to the point of cutting off circulation, and he wound up losing a tiny portion of the tip of his ear. I felt horrible, but of course it was too late at that point. That's something that's never going to happen again....
If only we had good info like this available back when we first got him.

 

[MyBuddy]

The odd thing for me is, NO ONE told me about this when I was taping my dogs ears! Oh, yea, they told me not to get them wet, but not WHY. I assumed it was because of if getting moldy or something, like it would never dry under there. I NEVER knew the tape shrunk and that damage like Jan's could result! I found this out HERE on this forum. Gotta love it! Thanks!

 

[Nogger]

does feeding puppymilk support the process of curing? ehm, make the ear harder, faster i mean

 

[FredC]

Wow sorry nobody noticed this question earlier. but in short ive always heard that added calcium does nothing for the ears. and is actually not all that good for a growing pup anyways.