# Ear gluing and my experience (Australian Shepherd)



## ClanWorgen (Feb 2, 2021)

Putting this in the sports/show forum because ear gluing is usually used on conformation dogs (not in my case, however). I wanted to make this post because before I started gluing there was limited information on various methods, so I want to add to it. I am trying to achieve button ears rather than rose ears. Aside from button ears being super cute, I have had issues with my Pit Bull and her rose ears. I can't remember the medical term at this moment but basically the crease in her ear has restricted blood flow. From time to time a hole opens up and it can take months to heal due to the lack of blood flow, which puts her at risk for infection. It's possible her cartilage is too hard and that combined with the rose ear causes this problem, I am unsure, but I do not want to deal with it in my young dog.

For starters the only two products I have used on my dogs ears is the tear mender glue as well as moleskin. This is a latex glue and it ONLY really stick to the FUR. This means the skin should not be irritated or damaged by it. Tear mender can be taken out with almost any oil, I have been using jojoba. It will slowly dissolve the glue and 2-3 hours after applying the oil you can reapply, massage it and comb the glue out.

The first method I used was using moleskin and glue. I cut out two moleskin patches for each ear in the shape of the blue lines below, adhered them to each other then used the glue to attach them to the fur.









Pros: lets the ears flop around freely
Cons: easy gets pulled off during play or when the dog scratches. Easily noticed and I got a lot of questions. A little clunky, caused the ears to get stuck backward. When the moleskin gets pulled off too much hair goes with it for my liking.

(all of the gluing methods below involve adhering the flap to the cheek and/or forehead)

Second method was just gluing the tips of the ears to the cheeks.









Pros: still pretty loose, decent air flow
Cons: looked funny much of the time. Great angle for the pup to scratch and rip the glue off.


Third technique I glued just the outer edges to fold where they naturally would with button ears.









Pros: Nice and crisp. VERY sturdy.
Cons: can make the ears look pretty silly, can be itchy if there is no space at the fold itself ( I solved this by folding the ear over a pencil while the glue dried, the pencil left a nice space for air and comfort)

Fourth method was similar to the second but covers more surface area.









Pros and cons are similar to the second method, however more surface glued meant that it wasn't as easily pulled apart and less air flow.


Here is what we have been doing lately.









Seems to leave plenty of room for the ear to move naturally. I have noticed that when gluing the inside of the ear the pup can more easily scratch the glue apart, but it leaves a more natural look than gluing the ear on the outer edge.
Havent been doing this technique for long, could change my mind and try something else, but thus far it has been doing well.


This would be much simpler if I weren't trying to achieve a natural look. I hate getting questions about it, I also want to be able to take cute photos without my pup looking earless 
I would guess moleskin works better on posting cropped ears.

If you don't care about how it looks during gluing then the fourth method with even more surface area would work perfect. ALWAYS BE SURE TO LEAVE SPACE FOR AIR FLOW!!!!
If you choose to train your puppy's ears then you're looking at several months of it, and that means redoing it about every week or so depending on how well it lasts on your particular pup.

Overall this hasn't been a difficult process, my pup has not reacted to it at all which tells me he doesn't really notice his ears are glued. We have a few more weeks to go and even though we aren't showing it is a simple thing to do to get this adorable ear set!


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## storyist (Sep 19, 2019)

Interesting. I know what rose ears are but have never heard of button ears. The picture you posted at the end looks to me like what I'd call a correct ear set, but I know breeds are different. I had to tape one of my Rottie's ears for a while as a puppy but never had to do anything for as long as you've faced. I would do it rather than have problem ears, though, and I didn't even know ear set could cause problems with blood flow.


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## ClanWorgen (Feb 2, 2021)

storyist said:


> but never had to do anything for as long as you've faced. I would do it rather than have problem ears, though, and I didn't even know ear set could cause problems with blood flow.


There are so many suggestions out there. Perhaps I could have waited until 5.5 months old and done it for only four weeks, but I decided I'd rather start early instead of risk it not being effective. Many people were saying to do it at young as 12 weeks, but I waited until 16. Rose and button ears are both accepted within the breed standard, but I prefer button. 

I had no idea an ear set could cause a problem either until I experienced it! I even got a referral from my vet to a vet who does medical crops on adult dogs, but they ended up deciding my Pit wasn't a good candidate. Now I am just diligent about checking her ears regularly and if I see irritation I apply calendula cream.


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