# About Collies and Ears



## Pax (Dec 19, 2007)

So I've been perusing a bunch of rough collie breeder sites, and I noticed that on some sites the puppy pictures show the puppies with funny curler-looking things on their ears.

Is this something commonly done with collies? Do some collies have ears that naturally curl under? If a collie doesn't have curled-under ears, will the other collies laugh at him behind his back?


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

I imagine they can't place in shows if their ears don't tip.......and some people just like how tipped ears look. I think some Collies have ears that naturally do that, and others need a little help, but I'm no expert, so wait for the Collie people to weigh in!


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## Dogstar (May 11, 2007)

The collie standard calls for ears to break 1/4 of the way down from the top and tip forward. (Tipped/semi-prick ears) However, it's a pretty complicated trait to breed (or select!) for- almost ALL puppies have perfect ears at 8 weeks before they start to go up. Most- not all, but most- pet collies' ears will go all the way up if they're not taped.  So pretty much everyone tapes to some extent or another. 

Mal's ears break a little high and don't tip enough- so they're tipped but not tipped ENOUGH. He wears tape now (yes, still, at almost two years old) in hopes of keeping them down enough that when he goes into the ring (and tape comes off an hour or so before hand) that they'll count against him. Judges KNOW most- if not all those ears- are taped to get that pretty ear carriage. 

There *are* people who cheat and have the ears surgically altered in order to break and tip at the right spot. I don't know exactly what they do (I suspect they break the cartilege in the ears) but it's illegal, regardless.


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## Rough_Collies2008 (Jan 4, 2008)

Dogstar answered it all.

Most breeders I have seen will send their puppies home with some sort of glue or tape...usually, it comes out in a week or two(may take longer if the pup doesn't get it wet or have another dog pull it out in play).

Natural ears are not very common anymore, and they do require taping or glue to have them set right for the 1/4 tip. 

Here is Riley as a pup with his ears glued, and a brace.










Right after I took it out.










I did tape his ears with something my breeder recommended, only because he had lazy ears(wanted to sit on the side of his head), and I wanted to help build strength. I, personally, could care less about the perfect tip as they are just pet collies(although, it was a plus if they did end up with a nice tip). As you can see in my siggy...both the collies have semi-tipped ears. Aspen(the one on the left) has her right ear go up slightly more, and the left ear is more tipped...and Riley is exactly the same as her.

I don't know, maybe another Collie person can give an opinion. But it seems most Collies I see have their right ear more upright!


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## Pax (Dec 19, 2007)

Rough_collies2008, I was looking at your sig and thinking how nice and perfect (and matched!) your dogs' ears are, especially compared to some I've seen that have almost a curl rather than a prick, if that makes sense. I thought maybe it had something to do with the quality of the breeder. But the way you all explained it, it makes sense. 

Thanks! I can always count on DF for answers.


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## Tankstar (Dec 30, 2006)

Its mostly done for showing. But some people like the tip. I have the best of both worls Blaze has one tipped and one not lol, gives him some charecter. I really didnt care what his ears did, and did nothing to help them, I just let them go wild.

Growing up our collie we had did have tipped ears, my mom worked hard on getting them to tip, even though she was just a pet. the breeder should her and she did it. I honestly dont care one way or another.


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

Shelties are exactly the same. If you look at my dogs in my sig, Trey's ears were taped and Nikki's were not. You can definitely tell!

ETA: If we're talking about which ears go up, on mine, it's the left

Nik's untaped ears:










Mr Model's taped ears:


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## Rowdy (Sep 2, 2007)

Both of my dogs had their ears taped while at the breeder's. Toby's ears have stayed tipped. 

Toby chewed off Cameron's tape and as soon it got cold his ears stood straight up. His left one is completely pricked and the right has a very slight bend at the top. (see my sig) But since he's not a show dog, it really doesn't matter to us.

Along with taping before a show I've heard about people putting leaded white paint inside the ear tip to weigh it down for showing.


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## Dogstar (May 11, 2007)

I don't know about the leaded white paint, but some people use tungstun powder. (It's black, though.)


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