[aro]

Hi when I talked to the local vet about crop style I asked for a short crop, what he got was a lot longer than what I expected of a short crop so I'm still posting at 5.5months old.

Ears seems to be standing correctly when in an alert state. What worries me is a sort of "breakpoint" about half the way up on the ear and if not in an alert state the ear will bend at this point. Its most pronounced on one ear.

Until now I have reposted the ears right away after removing the old posting and cleaned his ears.

It was hard to get a picture of how the ears bend when he put them backwards or out, but I got one where you can see the ear starting to bend.


So how do I know when to stop posting? everything else than this bend seems to be working, so should I use a smaller posting for this? I was thinking about a short length of cable tie between two short lengths of leukoplast tape, just to reinforce the upper part of the ear?

Or is this how it looks when the ears is not in an alert state?

 

[Rosemary]

His left ear still looks pretty weak to me. Generally, they need to be posted through teething.

 

[aro]

I posted them again just after your reply. And also reinforced the posting where the ears have a tendency to bend. Thanks for your advice.

He only have the upper canine left of his teething, so maybe you was a but mislead by his size, he is not a big a big 5 month old puppy

 

[dobebug]

Sometimes people who haven't dealt with cropped ears before think that they are supposed to be upright (as in at attention) all the time but from your post it sounded like you did realize that they are supposed to be able to lay them down flat and lay them half way down as well as hold them upright.

I didn't think that his left ear look weak so much as it looked like the basic crop was just a little different from the right ear. Since that's actually pretty short crop I'd probably start leaving them out of posts with the next posting--I generally start with leaving them down for 24 hours and up for 3 days and if there is no drooping and he has complete control of the ears when it comes to having them stand erect I'd move that up to 48 hours with the next posting.

If at any time in the process of increasing the length of time they are left unposted there is any sign of drooping they should be posted immediately.

If his canine incisors are coming in he's almost through teething.

One of the things that happens with ears is that some dogs will sleep with an ear folded down and when the first wake up it'll look like you never posted it. First time it happened to me I almost had a heart attack but by the time he went out to pee and ate his breakfast and I was talking to the vet who cropped him I realized his ears were both standing perfectly. My oldest dog who has a very long show crop still (at 11-1/2) occasionally sleeps on an ear an gets up with one ear up and one ear down. 10 minutes later both of his very long ears are standing as they have for most of his life.

 

[SieYa]

The one thing I was told once the dog is done teething and you 'think' you're done posting, post another 2 weeks +


The biggest reason for a flopped crop is people sometimes are in a hurry to stop posting.

 

[DogsR4Life]

Harley is 7 months old and is still being posted. We tested the ears with breathe rite strips, and eventually her perfectly vertical ears started to lean outwards. So I'd rather over post than under post. You only get ONE chance, one window, to get those ears as straight, and smooth as you can.

Picture of her ears, exactly how I wanted them:
DSC_8182 by RedDobeChase, on Flickr

Picture of her ears leaning out after testing them:
DSC_9468 by RedDobeChase, on Flickr

Picture after two weeks back in full posts:
DSC_0304 by RedDobeChase, on Flickr

They are not where I want them to be, so she is going to be posted well into her 8,9 possible 10 months old.