What to do for floppy ears? - YorkieTalk.com Forums

UtahAnimalLover · 01-04-2010, 06:40 AM

Hello,

I'm new and still trying to figure out how to navigate around on YT so I hope I am posting this in the correct catagory.

I have a new yorkie puppy he's 13 weeks old and his ears are still very floppy showing no sign of standing. I've been doing some reading on this and I wanted to know what everything thinks is best. Should I shave the 1st third of his ear? I also watched a video on taping where a tiny tampon is used to help support the ear and then taped and changed every 1 to 2 days. My other yorkie "Navy" was 13 weeks when i brought her home and her ears were already standing and have had no problem. Any help or feedback is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Angela

kaknight · 01-04-2010, 06:41 AM

I was told the ears can get floppy while teething. At 13 weeks maybe he is teething?

I dont really have any advice but good luck

rx8holly · 01-04-2010, 06:43 AM

I took Bella to the groomer at 13 weeks old to make an appointment and the lady told me it was important to tip the ears if you want them to stand. She basically just trimmed the hair off the tip of her ears. If you let the hair grow there, it will weigh them down.

yorkymom1 · 01-04-2010, 06:47 AM

I would definitely start with tipping the ears. That seems to help even though it doesn;t seem like the hair on the ears weighs that much..

I've also seen people tape the ears or even this method..

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/880898-post7.html

I have two puppies currently and when I got them at 12 weeks, one had ears that were straight from the start. The other one had ears that were floppy constantly. All I ended up doing was to keep the ears tipped and by around 16/17 weeks they have been straight up (most of the time). Their are both around 20 weeks now.

yorkymom1 · 01-04-2010, 06:50 AM

Also, I'm not sure if your doing your own grooming but its actually really easy to tip the ears yourself rather than take them in to a groomer. Just PM me or do a search on YT and you can find info on how to do it.
I've been keeping my puppies ears tipped by trimming their ears ever 2-3 weeks.

UtahAnimalLover · 01-04-2010, 07:32 AM

Thank you for the replies! I will start by tipping his ears. I had once purchased a groom video for my schanuzer to learn how so I have the clippers and I will look up the proper method. How long should I wait if I see no results before taping the ears?

yorkymom1 · 01-04-2010, 07:48 AM

I think its hard to say. If it were me, I would tip them. Keep them trimmed down and see how things were working out in about 2-3 weeks. When I got my 12 week old yorkie both her ears were floppy and down. A couple weeks later one was up, one was down..they would take their turns.

But now their stronger and they pretty much remain up all on their own. I never ended up having to tape.
How big is your puppie?
Out of the two that I have, the one whose ears were floppy is the smaller one. she will be around 4 1/2 lbs as an adult. I initially wondered if the floppyness had anything to do with her being smaller but now I'm not so sure. Its probably just genetics. Did the parents of your pup have straight ears?

bjh · 01-04-2010, 07:58 AM

I would recommend shaving the whole ear and taping the ears. Usually by 13 weeks the ears should start showing some signs of standing. For yorkies with larger ears and thick ears sometimes it is difficult to get the ears to come up.

UtahAnimalLover · 01-04-2010, 07:59 AM

Unfortunately I didn't have an opportunity to see the parents. Just pictures...so who knows. I will tip them today when my 17 yr old gets home from school and can help me keep him still. He does not like to hold still for very long LOL

Long story short...after getting a puppy from this breeder who wanted me to meet her in a local parking lot....I took him home and to my horror he was absolutely terrified of people. He loved my other dogs and cats but he would literally poop himself when anyone tried to retrieve him. The next morning I contacted the breeder and had a conversation where I agreed to keep him and work with him all day and by that evening she agreed to meet me once again and this time brought another puppy from a differen't litter so I gave her another $250 and traded. This puppy has been great other than we really really struggled to get him to eat the first few days. Took him to my vet who said he looks great other than a little conjuctivitis (sp...basically pink eye). Btw...I learned of YT by googling her phone number which is 801-822-3891 and the search results came up with not very nice things to say about her from members here. I wished I would have done that in the beginning. Oh well...I still love and adore my cute puppy and he is doing great!

UtahAnimalLover · 01-04-2010, 08:00 AM

He does have big thick ears. And I love yorkies ears up so I really hope I can get them to stand. Thank you!

bjh · 01-04-2010, 08:06 AM

Here is a good thread that discusses taping ears and other methods. I have never done any taping myself, yet, but I think the method using the breath right strip sounds interesting.

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...s-up-down.html

Don't feel bad about making a mistake in selecting breeder to buy from. Many of us have done the same thing. Your baby is just lucky that you found him.

yorkymom1 · 01-04-2010, 08:15 AM

Yep. I concur. Don't feel bad about not selecting the right breeder. My first yorkie is from a pet shop. I wasn't very educated in the beginning and would never ever ever go to purchase a yorkie from a pet shop again. Luckily, my yorkie ended up being very healthy and has a great temperment, but you never know what you might end up with as many pet shops get their animals from puppy mills.

Either way I love her and I'll be her forever mom.

The way I look at it now is that I rescued her!

I wish I was Yorkie Talkin before my first purchase

I did a lot of research the second time around and was very selective with who I bought my next puppies from.

Since your puppy has thicker ears maybe you should try taping sooner than later? Lets see what some of the other folks out here have to say. The pup I have whose ears used to be floppy has very delicate and thin ears.

UtahAnimalLover · 01-04-2010, 08:30 AM

Thanks to everyone. I feel bad for the poor pup I gave back. I don't know if he was from a puppy mill and was never socialized or he he had just been abused. For that kind of money I was concerned to keep a pup who seemed to have severe emotional problems. I felt guilty trading him for this puppy but all in all I think it was the best choice as this little guy is outgoing, lively and spunky as a yorkie should be.

I'm very interested in the dr. Schols pood pad in which you use strip fake eye lash glue to glue the ears up, however I need more info on how to do it. I've mailed the person who gave that as a suggestion in the ears up and down post. So I will see what they say. It sounds nice because I worry about my dog "Navy" pulling at his ears if they are taped when I go back to work on Wednesday.

This is an amazing group of pet owners and I am grateful to have stumbled upon Yorkie Talk!

yorkymom1 · 01-04-2010, 08:34 AM

Do you leave the new puppy crated when your at work? I keep mine in a crate when I'm not home to keep an eye on them. Each dog/puppy has their own crate. If you do end up taping then it might be better to seperate the little one from Navy?
I laugh because I know have a wall of crates for my three. My family room looks a little funny

They can be together yet are apart for safety reasons when no one is there to keep an eye on them

UtahAnimalLover · 01-04-2010, 08:44 AM

Actually I have all three of my dogs sleep in a crate together at night which is next to my bed. They seem to love to cuddle and sleep together. Then if one needs to potty during the night I know to take them out and no one cries at bedtime from being alone.

I do not crate during my work days because they can be left alone for up to 12 hours if I have a big work day which isn't common lately as the economy has really hurt my business.

What I do do is I have a laundry room with an adjoining bathroom. There is a dog door to my fenced back yard. Sophie and Navy use it and come in and out during the day but do not have access to the rest of the house when I am away. I babygate the bathroom off with a plexiglass gate as when Navy was small I did not want her using the dog door and she would climb over the baby gate I had which was made with plastic mesh. I was grateful when I found the plexi glass gate. I have been leaving Navy and the pup together in the bathroom so he could have some company. Sophie weighs 13 lbs and has no problem hopping the gate if she wants to hang with the other dogs. I suppose he could be left alone in the bathroom. I just hated for him to be lonely. By the way I have one of those puppy pad holders and keep the puppy pad in there with a bed, water and toys. Sorry for the long post LOL

01-04-2010, 06:40 AM	#1
UtahAnimalLover Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: South Jordan, Utah USA Posts: 33	What to do for floppy ears? Hello, I'm new and still trying to figure out how to navigate around on YT so I hope I am posting this in the correct catagory. I have a new yorkie puppy he's 13 weeks old and his ears are still very floppy showing no sign of standing. I've been doing some reading on this and I wanted to know what everything thinks is best. Should I shave the 1st third of his ear? I also watched a video on taping where a tiny tampon is used to help support the ear and then taped and changed every 1 to 2 days. My other yorkie "Navy" was 13 weeks when i brought her home and her ears were already standing and have had no problem. Any help or feedback is greatly appreciated! Thanks, Angela

01-04-2010, 06:43 AM	#3
rx8holly Donating Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 425	I took Bella to the groomer at 13 weeks old to make an appointment and the lady told me it was important to tip the ears if you want them to stand. She basically just trimmed the hair off the tip of her ears. If you let the hair grow there, it will weigh them down. __________________ Bella

01-04-2010, 06:47 AM	#4
yorkymom1 Donating Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: New York Posts: 885	I would definitely start with tipping the ears. That seems to help even though it doesn;t seem like the hair on the ears weighs that much.. I've also seen people tape the ears or even this method.. http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/880898-post7.html I have two puppies currently and when I got them at 12 weeks, one had ears that were straight from the start. The other one had ears that were floppy constantly. All I ended up doing was to keep the ears tipped and by around 16/17 weeks they have been straight up (most of the time). Their are both around 20 weeks now. __________________ Joanne There is no better love than that of a 4-legged friend

01-04-2010, 06:50 AM	#5
yorkymom1 Donating Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: New York Posts: 885	Also, I'm not sure if your doing your own grooming but its actually really easy to tip the ears yourself rather than take them in to a groomer. Just PM me or do a search on YT and you can find info on how to do it. I've been keeping my puppies ears tipped by trimming their ears ever 2-3 weeks. __________________ Joanne There is no better love than that of a 4-legged friend

01-04-2010, 07:48 AM	#7
yorkymom1 Donating Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: New York Posts: 885	I think its hard to say. If it were me, I would tip them. Keep them trimmed down and see how things were working out in about 2-3 weeks. When I got my 12 week old yorkie both her ears were floppy and down. A couple weeks later one was up, one was down..they would take their turns. But now their stronger and they pretty much remain up all on their own. I never ended up having to tape. How big is your puppie? Out of the two that I have, the one whose ears were floppy is the smaller one. she will be around 4 1/2 lbs as an adult. I initially wondered if the floppyness had anything to do with her being smaller but now I'm not so sure. Its probably just genetics. Did the parents of your pup have straight ears? __________________ Joanne There is no better love than that of a 4-legged friend

01-04-2010, 06:41 AM	#2
kaknight YT Addict Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Upstate, NY Posts: 370	I was told the ears can get floppy while teething. At 13 weeks maybe he is teething? I dont really have any advice but good luck

01-04-2010, 07:32 AM	#6
UtahAnimalLover Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: South Jordan, Utah USA Posts: 33	Thank you for the replies! I will start by tipping his ears. I had once purchased a groom video for my schanuzer to learn how so I have the clippers and I will look up the proper method. How long should I wait if I see no results before taping the ears?

01-04-2010, 07:58 AM	#8
bjh Donating YT 5000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Southeast Texas Posts: 7,959	I would recommend shaving the whole ear and taping the ears. Usually by 13 weeks the ears should start showing some signs of standing. For yorkies with larger ears and thick ears sometimes it is difficult to get the ears to come up.

01-04-2010, 07:59 AM	#9
UtahAnimalLover Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: South Jordan, Utah USA Posts: 33	Unfortunately I didn't have an opportunity to see the parents. Just pictures...so who knows. I will tip them today when my 17 yr old gets home from school and can help me keep him still. He does not like to hold still for very long LOL Long story short...after getting a puppy from this breeder who wanted me to meet her in a local parking lot....I took him home and to my horror he was absolutely terrified of people. He loved my other dogs and cats but he would literally poop himself when anyone tried to retrieve him. The next morning I contacted the breeder and had a conversation where I agreed to keep him and work with him all day and by that evening she agreed to meet me once again and this time brought another puppy from a differen't litter so I gave her another $250 and traded. This puppy has been great other than we really really struggled to get him to eat the first few days. Took him to my vet who said he looks great other than a little conjuctivitis (sp...basically pink eye). Btw...I learned of YT by googling her phone number which is 801-822-3891 and the search results came up with not very nice things to say about her from members here. I wished I would have done that in the beginning. Oh well...I still love and adore my cute puppy and he is doing great!

01-04-2010, 08:00 AM	#10
UtahAnimalLover Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: South Jordan, Utah USA Posts: 33	He does have big thick ears. And I love yorkies ears up so I really hope I can get them to stand. Thank you!

01-04-2010, 08:06 AM	#11
bjh Donating YT 5000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Southeast Texas Posts: 7,959	Here is a good thread that discusses taping ears and other methods. I have never done any taping myself, yet, but I think the method using the breath right strip sounds interesting. http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...s-up-down.html Don't feel bad about making a mistake in selecting breeder to buy from. Many of us have done the same thing. Your baby is just lucky that you found him.

01-04-2010, 08:15 AM	#12
yorkymom1 Donating Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: New York Posts: 885	Yep. I concur. Don't feel bad about not selecting the right breeder. My first yorkie is from a pet shop. I wasn't very educated in the beginning and would never ever ever go to purchase a yorkie from a pet shop again. Luckily, my yorkie ended up being very healthy and has a great temperment, but you never know what you might end up with as many pet shops get their animals from puppy mills. Either way I love her and I'll be her forever mom. The way I look at it now is that I rescued her! I wish I was Yorkie Talkin before my first purchase I did a lot of research the second time around and was very selective with who I bought my next puppies from. Since your puppy has thicker ears maybe you should try taping sooner than later? Lets see what some of the other folks out here have to say. The pup I have whose ears used to be floppy has very delicate and thin ears. __________________ Joanne There is no better love than that of a 4-legged friend

01-04-2010, 08:30 AM	#13
UtahAnimalLover Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: South Jordan, Utah USA Posts: 33	Thanks to everyone. I feel bad for the poor pup I gave back. I don't know if he was from a puppy mill and was never socialized or he he had just been abused. For that kind of money I was concerned to keep a pup who seemed to have severe emotional problems. I felt guilty trading him for this puppy but all in all I think it was the best choice as this little guy is outgoing, lively and spunky as a yorkie should be. I'm very interested in the dr. Schols pood pad in which you use strip fake eye lash glue to glue the ears up, however I need more info on how to do it. I've mailed the person who gave that as a suggestion in the ears up and down post. So I will see what they say. It sounds nice because I worry about my dog "Navy" pulling at his ears if they are taped when I go back to work on Wednesday. This is an amazing group of pet owners and I am grateful to have stumbled upon Yorkie Talk!

01-04-2010, 08:34 AM	#14
yorkymom1 Donating Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: New York Posts: 885	Do you leave the new puppy crated when your at work? I keep mine in a crate when I'm not home to keep an eye on them. Each dog/puppy has their own crate. If you do end up taping then it might be better to seperate the little one from Navy? I laugh because I know have a wall of crates for my three. My family room looks a little funny They can be together yet are apart for safety reasons when no one is there to keep an eye on them __________________ Joanne There is no better love than that of a 4-legged friend

01-04-2010, 08:44 AM	#15
UtahAnimalLover Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: South Jordan, Utah USA Posts: 33	Actually I have all three of my dogs sleep in a crate together at night which is next to my bed. They seem to love to cuddle and sleep together. Then if one needs to potty during the night I know to take them out and no one cries at bedtime from being alone. I do not crate during my work days because they can be left alone for up to 12 hours if I have a big work day which isn't common lately as the economy has really hurt my business. What I do do is I have a laundry room with an adjoining bathroom. There is a dog door to my fenced back yard. Sophie and Navy use it and come in and out during the day but do not have access to the rest of the house when I am away. I babygate the bathroom off with a plexiglass gate as when Navy was small I did not want her using the dog door and she would climb over the baby gate I had which was made with plastic mesh. I was grateful when I found the plexi glass gate. I have been leaving Navy and the pup together in the bathroom so he could have some company. Sophie weighs 13 lbs and has no problem hopping the gate if she wants to hang with the other dogs. I suppose he could be left alone in the bathroom. I just hated for him to be lonely. By the way I have one of those puppy pad holders and keep the puppy pad in there with a bed, water and toys. Sorry for the long post LOL