[Raine2011]

My dobe puppy has natural ears. I love the cropped look, but there are not any vets in my area that do it.

My puppy's right ear looks great, folds over nicely and looks really cute. His left ear on the other hand is folded back. When I look directly at him, his right ear is a nice triangle, but the left ear I can see the skin inside his ear because of the way its folded. I think sometimes its referred to as cauliflower ear, but I'm not positive that is the right term.

Does anyone have any suggestions on things I can do to his ear to retrain the ear to lay nicely?

 

[maggiemay]

Here is a thread that was started before on taping natural ears....it has some helpful links.

 

[Raine2011]

Thank you for the links. I did check them out, but those dogs ears look nice, but just flying away from the head. My pups ears look different. The photos were taken with my iphone so I'm sorry if they aren't really clear, but I think you can see what I'm dealing with.

 

[maggiemay]

Ah yes, I see what you mean.....what does your vet say?

Sorry, I can't offer any other suggestion than the taping. Maybe some of the owners of natural eared dogs can help with other suggestions?

What a cutie!

 

[Raine2011]

I've not had him to the vet yet, we have an appointment at 4:30, but my vet is pretty laid back about things like that. I expect him to just tell me that sometimes they are just like that. -- Hence the reason my puppy is not getting cropped.

I had one of my minpin's ears cropped because I found a great vet that would do a great job at a good price. But it was a 24 hour drive to get there, and with fuel prices they way they are now, I cant afford the trip this time around.

 

[wgsdluver]

I agree with the post about taping the natural ears, thats what you have to do if you want them flat.

 

[Abby]

That's just how the ears lay, it's called a rose ear and is correct for some breeds like natural eared pitties and am staffs, and some sighthounds like greyhounds and Italian greyhounds.
If you do a google search you'll see those ears, these breeds have smaller ears so it looks a little different but the same fold is happening.

I can't imagine there's any reason to see a vet, it's simply cosmetic. This website is a good one to keep ears laying correctly. http://www.6stardanes.com/ears.html

Oh, and can I say THANK YOU for caring about how your dogs natural ears lay?! I've always felt that it was as important as someone who crops their dogs ears needing to make sure they stand.

 

[murphy06]

As cropping is illegal over here all my dobes past and present have/had natural ears. Only One of my dobes had one fly ear and I used to tape them with low adhesive surgical tape, they are lovely now. It is usually an indication of heavy teething. Good luck xx