[Ryoung69]

My 4 month old puppy has had her ears taped at the vet every 10days to 2 weeks but its starting to get too expensive. She has a show crop(did not choose that) and havent seen much results. Was wondering of any methods to speed up process or just a really good way to tape the ears at home. Just a little skeptical because the breeder who showed us how to do the ears did not do a good job. When we took off the tape she had lost circulation on the tip of one of her ears and was kind of infected. WAs wondering if anybody thinks that could be an issue with that one being able to stand at all. Any other advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, ryan and layla

 

[Sinister]

http://www.dobermantalk.com/puppy-corner/47747-ear-posting-directions-photo-tutorial-my-method.html

Basically what I use. also, don't leave them posted 0 days. I repost every 3-4 days.

 

[PatchworkRobot]

Chances are that a dog with a long show crop won't be showing much progress at 4 months as those crops take the longest to stand. Don't get discouraged!

 

[melbrod]

If you could post some pictures of your pup in and out of tapes, we might could offer some advice for your particular case. There is a thread which gives names and areas of folks here who have volunteered to help people with their posting jobs; give it a look and see if anyone is close to you that you could contact.

http://www.dobermantalk.com/puppy-c...ll-help-new-owners-ears-please-post-here.html

I do highly recommend that you learn how to post yourself--not only is it less expensive, as you said, but you can also catch any problems as they start to happen and correct them immediately, instead of having to wait for your next vet appt. It's not hard, just a bit fiddly for the first few times you try to do it. Posting quickly becomes second nature and almost automatic.

 

[TheStig]

Some torbot skin bond will buy you a few extra days between having to change the posts. As in, the glue will last a bit longer than the back taping method. In hindsight, I don't feel the juice was worth the squeeze on the glue though. Sure it buys you a few more days, but it takes longer to clean out the ears.

I had to do practically nothing once I tried the back taping method, cleaning wise. I tried for a minimum of 10 days up, but rough play cut that time short once or twice.

Changing every 3-4 days is a complete waste of materials and time, unless your pup rolls around head first in poo or mud, goes scuba diving and gets the posts 100% soaking wet or uses the posts as spears to go old school fishing in the pond out back.

Oh, you don't have a pond out back? Well, the first two then

I had posts in through potty breaks in the rain, my other labs biting and playing and licking, etc., etc., etc., and the most that ever resulted in the extended time, compared to what others recommend, is a bit more ear wax build up. Most of the wax, however, was coated on the base on the post, which is foam backer rod. A quick wipe with some alcohol wipes, followed by a quick swipe of some cornstarch powder...perfecto, ears were good to go.

Definitely a wise idea to do it yourself, as mentioned above. Unless of course your breeders name was kim.

 

[MeadowCat]

Some torbot skin bond will buy you a few extra days between having to change the posts. As in, the glue will last a bit longer than the back taping method. In hindsight, I don't feel the juice was worth the squeeze on the glue though. Sure it buys you a few more days, but it takes longer to clean out the ears.

I had to do practically nothing once I tried the back taping method, cleaning wise. I tried for a minimum of 10 days up, but rough play cut that time short once or twice.

Changing every 3-4 days is a complete waste of materials and time, unless your pup rolls around head first in poo or mud, goes scuba diving and gets the posts 100% soaking wet or uses the posts as spears to go old school fishing in the pond out back.

Oh, you don't have a pond out back? Well, the first two then

I had posts in through potty breaks in the rain, my other labs biting and playing and licking, etc., etc., etc., and the most that ever resulted in the extended time, compared to what others recommend, is a bit more ear wax build up. Most of the wax, however, was coated on the base on the post, which is foam backer rod. A quick wipe with some alcohol wipes, followed by a quick swipe of some cornstarch powder...perfecto, ears were good to go.

Definitely a wise idea to do it yourself, as mentioned above. Unless of course your breeders name was kim.

Posts should be changed every 4 days or so to give you a chance to look for any signs of infection.

TheStig, you continue to post erroneous and potentially dangerous information about posting ears. OP, I recommend reading through the link posted by melbrod earlier. There is also a thread that's a sticky that has listings of experienced people willing to help newcomers with posting. There are a lot of generous, experienced people on here who would be happy to help you either by PM or even in person.

 

[StarlightDobe]

From experience I can tell you it is better to change more frequently than to wait too long. An ear infection is not fun to deal with and it is painful for the poor puppy. My girl was digging at her ear post and the vet tech didnt do anything when I took her in for a post change other than throw some powder in when she put new posts in. In less than 24 hrs I had her to my regular vet to be treated for an infection. I had to leave the post out for 10 days and medicate her as well as give her antibiotics. After that I started doing my own posting and I changed it every 4 days. Sadly the ear is still trying to stand and my girl is 8 months old. I have had it stand for a week then drop again and have had to go back and forth with posting. We need to give her some calcium supplements and hope we can get it to stand but I dont know if we can. It is going to take a while now, possibly another couple months of posting. So yeah, dont leave them up for 10 days or anything, so what if you use a bit more supplies by doing it every 4 days its better than dealing with infection and then having to play catch up and end up using more in the long run.

 

[LindaH]

OP, I let Parker's posts stay in as long as I could and that ended up being about 5 days max before a post popped out from the bottom. He seemed to be growing out of his. I really don't see the need to change more often than five days but you should keep a constant eye on the posts, ears to make sure infection hasn't set up. Smell test them too.

I really feel every three days is leaning toward the extreme in posting. That is my opinion anyway.

From experience I can tell you it is better to change more frequently than to wait too long. An ear infection is not fun to deal with and it is painful for the poor puppy. My girl was digging at her ear post and the vet tech didnt do anything when I took her in for a post change other than throw some powder in when she put new posts in. In less than 24 hrs I had her to my regular vet to be treated for an infection. I had to leave the post out for 10 days and medicate her as well as give her antibiotics. After that I started doing my own posting and I changed it every 4 days. Sadly the ear is still trying to stand and my girl is 8 months old. I have had it stand for a week then drop again and have had to go back and forth with posting.
We need to give her some calcium supplements and hope we can get it to stand but I dont know if we can. It is going to take a while now, possibly another couple months of posting. So yeah, dont leave them up for 10 days or anything, so what if you use a bit more supplies by doing it every 4 days its better than dealing with infection and then having to play catch up and end up using more in the long run.

If you are leaving the ears unposted till they fall, you are setting yourself up for the ears to take longer to stand. You can test them, but as soon as they show the slightest weakness you should post them up immediately.

We don't recommend you give calcium suppliments as calcuim and phosphorus must be fed in a ratio. Dog foods have the ratio of calcium to phosphorus right in the food, to add additional calcium throws the proper ratio off and could cause problems with bone development, especially the long bones of the legs.

 

[TheStig]

To the Op,

Despite what the naysayer implies, the information I am relaying is majority given by the vet and tech that did my pups ears. The vet has been cropping for 30+ years and his vet tech has been handling the posting process and aftercare for his patients/clients for 10+ years.

Would you listen to a professional who has a doctorate in veterinary medicine, and his tech who have a combined 40+ years of experience, the vet himself having owned several dobermans past and present, or a moderator who simply just doesn't like me?

A simple understanding of what an infection is and how it is created, and a little common sense goes a long way.

My pups ears are done, never had any issues. Can't really argue with that.

Good luck with your doggy.

 

[melbrod]

Just to make sure both threads get mentioned--

There is one in the Educational Archive that discusses what is involved in ear cropping, and gives information and pictures about the posting process.
http://www.dobermantalk.com/dt-educational-archive/8772-ear-cropping-posting.html

And there is another with contact information of DT'ers who have volunteered to help folks with ear posting.
http://www.dobermantalk.com/puppy-c...ll-help-new-owners-ears-please-post-here.html

 

[Whiskey]

Good luck with your kids ears. I'm using the ear posting method stickied here and after some trial and error it's working fine.

 

[StarlightDobe]

If you are leaving the ears unposted till they fall, you are setting yourself up for the ears to take longer to stand. You can test them, but as soon as they show the slightest weakness you should post them up immediately.

We don't recommend you give calcium suppliments as calcuim and phosphorus must be fed in a ratio. Dog foods have the ratio of calcium to phosphorus right in the food, to add additional calcium throws the proper ratio off and could cause problems with bone development, especially the long bones of the legs.

We had been leaving them unposted only for the time it took them to dry, maybe a few hours then they would go back up, and we did this until she was 7 months old, at which time they seemed to be stable. We left them down for 24 hrs which is the time it had taken previously for them to begin showing a slight weakness, and they were stable, so I gave it another day, they remained standing. She was done teething and I thought perhaps the ear had finally caught up to her other one. After over 5 days the ear started to flop over, and we had to begin the process all over again.

 

[nagaer525]

Where are you located? Perhaps someone from the forum is close to you and could show you how to do it yourself!!

 

[Julie W]

It's quite simple to do yourself and I think some tutorials have already been posted above (haven't read through carefully). And I wouldn't worry about them not standing at 4 months. My puppy is 5 1/2 months and his ears aren't standing either and I'm not worried about it. They will eventually with consistent posting.

Here are what Ethan's look like right now:

 

[LindaH]

It's quite simple to do yourself and I think some tutorials have already been posted above (haven't read through carefully). And I wouldn't worry about them not standing at 4 months. My puppy is 5 1/2 months and his ears aren't standing either and I'm not worried about it. They will eventually with consistent posting.

Here are what Ethan's look like right now:

That is such a cute picture!!! They're halfway there!!!