| Sweet Collies Ear Tipping Page |
| Skin Bond (get it at Bruce Medical) online or any medical supply store/pharmacy. Duct tape, scissors and rubbing alcohol (to clean ears with) I use an old rag to clean ears, but some prefer cotton balls. After you have prepared the puppies ears, let's start making the "brace" |
| Depending on the size of the puppy, you will need to determine how long or short your piece of tape should be. Some folks like using a ruler, but with good eye and good judgement, means less work, and I like less work! Cut slits in each end of the tape, like so.... |
| This will allow you to make an inverted "U" by sticking the middle flap backwards to the sticky side of the tape. |
| After you have made the inverted "U" shaped "brace", you will then trim it up a bit. For instance the tabs shouldn't be this long and you will want to trim across the top part of the brace as well as trim the corners off so the tape won't bother puppy's ears. |
| Once you are through trimming, don't forget the corners, your brace will look like so..... |
| Now you are ready to paint your tape with skin bond.......do so lightly, not in excess please. Then wait a moment or two til the skin bond is tacky, it sticks better this way. |
| Make sure you didn't catch any hairs in the tape or puppy with scratch at the ears. Next you are going to make the "rolled tape" for the ears to tip over. Tear of a thin strip of tape approximately 3 inches long and an inch wide. For smaller puppies, roll tape around your pinky, for larger puppies roll tape around index finger. |
| For smaller puppies, make the bend halfway down the ear, ***as the puppy grows, the ear will tip1/4 of the way down. For older/larger puppies, you can tip 1/4 of the ears. |
| We also use a product called "tear mender" to keep ears over while puppies are teething, they don't normally need bracing at an older age, so tear mender comes in real handy |
| For removal of tear mender, we use a product called "Goo-Gone" you can find it at wal-mart. Or unisolve from Bruce Medical. You can get tear mender at most pet supply catalogs online. |
| Email: samandlacy@frontiernet.net |
| NOTE: If your dogs ears haven't begun tipping and staying over by 7-9 months, then they never will. In order to have nicely tipped ears, you will have to start training the ears AFTER 7 weeks of age and keep doing it, especially through teething. When tape comes out, let ears rest a day or so, then begin again. Questions? Feel free to email me..... |
| Be sure that your puppies ears are clean and free of any residue or ear wax/oils Also trim any excess hair inside the ear. You will need the following........ |
| You are ready to place the brace in the puppies ears.... |
| After placing rolled tape in each ear in the proper place... you're done! |
| Helpful tip... Have a helper helping you when taping and bracing puppy ears. When you are ready to insert tape, have another person hold the puppy mid-air, holding the puppy under it's armpits, do not let the puppy rest against you, this gives the same feeling that Mom does when she would carry a puppy by the nape of the neck. |