Collie Ear Taping

A short tutorial on using Japanese ear tape on your Collie’s ears.

[@thecolliecrew6176]

This will be my 1st time with my 1st litter we are only doing two of the pups ears because we were asked I seen a few other videos and I did not like them I came across yours and I enjoyed how easy and gentle it is and your Merle girl is beautiful congratulations sweetheart can’t wait to see more of your videos

[@Naomiby1]

This was such a helpful video and so gentle and sweet too! Thank you very much.

[@soprano67888]

This was wonderful thank you! What kind of tape did you use for this?

[@laurenanderson4889]

Japanese Ear Tape. I got it from Amazon

[@DanBoyleDC]

What tape can you recommend? It looks like you use the Japanese Tape but that has been discontinued.

[@laurenanderson4889]

I saw the tape has been discontinued. I used tear mender glue with my second pup last year and actually much preferred that to the tape. Pettist tape on Amazon has good reviews but I haven’t tried it.

[@vcardenas120]

Hi! Thanks for the tutorial it was very helpful, my puppy left it for bout a day & half. Is there anyway of adhering it more where he won’t be able to remove it

[@laurenanderson4889]

I've had other breeders say they spray the tape with starter fluid to make it more tacky but I have not tried it. Sometimes the ears last a few weeks and sometimes I have to redo them within a few days.

[@SnuggleBeansCrochet]

Is that the Japanese ear tape? How long does it last without additional adhesive? I love the simplicity.

[@laurenanderson4889]

It is! If I clean the ears REALLY well and get a really good seal on the tape I have had it last for three weeks. But on average I will change them about every ten days until she's about ten months old.

[@SnuggleBeansCrochet]

@@laurenanderson4889 thanks!

[@elizabethkara-mallis5362]

So could use tip and pointers this will be first time do conformation and tapeing ears. How old do you start tapeing? And what kind of tape? How close do the ears need to be?

[@laurenanderson4889]

Hi! Start taping as early as possible and be very consistent. Not all collies have naturally tipped ears so it’s important to keep up with taping until the puppy 10-12 months old. At the point the cartilage will harden and the ears will do what they’re going to do. I use Japanese ear tape from Amazon. Please send me an email and I’ll be happy to provide you links to my fave products and any additional info. [e-mail]

[@LifeinAlmostHeaven]

How old do you suggest starting/finishing this process?? My 10 wk old has an ear starting to stand and I’d like to keep it tipped if possible as can you do some videos on training your dogs?? I would love to see some of those videos

[@laurenanderson4889]

No time like the present! If it’s important to you for the ears to be tipped you need to keep them consistently taped or glued (I can make a video about glue as well) until the pup is 10-12 months old. At that time the ears will do that they will do. Sometimes no amount of taping will keep them down in adulthood because the ear shape/set isn’t right. I’m not a professional trainer but I’d be happy to help you with your goals. Send me an email to [e-mail] and we can discuss!

[@LifeinAlmostHeaven]

@@laurenanderson4889 I would love to see a video on the glue also and what type of glue?

[@laurenanderson4889]

@@LifeinAlmostHeaven it’s called Tear Mender fabric and leather adhesive. As soon as my little one’s ears come loose I’ll upload a video on how to glue.

[@leonorsoproni2309]

This is sick!

[@laurenanderson4889]

Thanks so much for your comment!

[@susankuhn8367]

what do you use to dissolve the tape to remove it?

[@laurenanderson4889]

I use Unisolve adhesive remover. I get it on Amazon.

[@susankuhn8367]

@@laurenanderson4889 Thank you, the pups were playing and got the inbetween part off then some of the tape pad in one ear....needless to say he has not wanted me to touch it. So hoping this will help.

[@Alexa-lb4qp]

Around what age should I start ear tapping?

[@laurenanderson4889]

We usually start taping between 8-10 weeks and continue on until about 1 year old. At that time the cartilage has set and the ears are the shape they’re going to be.

[@gairunnalls8923]

Thanks for the video. The only problem is that I can't actually see what you're doing especially the last bit where you tip the ears.

[@laurenanderson4889]

I'm sorry it's unclear! If you need help with doing your pup's ears I'd be happy to help you. Please feel free to send me an email to [e-mail]

[@Murphis55]

Leave their ears alone. We don’t need to screw up the poor dogs ears for a silly look. I didn’t do that to my blue Merle and he’s fine.

[@laurenanderson4889]

This process is not harmful or painful to the dogs as you can clearly see from my video. I'm sure your blue merle is just fine and that's nice for you dear. But if you take the time to familiarize yourself with the Collie breed standard you would know that the ears are required to be tipped for show conformation. Tipped ears are part of the breed standard because they help protect the dog's ear canal from cold, harsh, wet weather and debris they may encounter while performing the work they were bred to do.

[@Murphis55]

@@laurenanderson4889 standards are something people made up not the dog. Let dogs be dogs. By the way I paid a fortune for my “show Breed dog” and flew him from over 1200 miles away and just let him be him. He’s a real sweetie and that’s enough for me and him. To many people make these poor animals conform to what we want and tend to forget they are animals not people.

[@laurenanderson4889]

Murphis55 🤣 oh the ignorance is strong with this one. Allow me to highlight a couple key things for you: 1. Your show bred dog literally wouldn’t exist without human intervention. Every single identifiable dog breed in existence was created and engineered by us through the time, money, effort of dedicated breeders and fanciers. So if your argument against breed standards is “we should just let them be dogs” then maybe we should have never domesticated the wolf to begin with? 2. Most breed standards are written with regard to function before form. That said, there are standards that take appearance too far; think docking tails, cropping ears, etc. The English Bulldog, for instance, has been purposefully bred to have such an unusual body shape/size that most female dogs require cesarean sections to deliver puppies. These are practices I vehemently disagree with and in Europe they are already banned. The tipping of Collie ears is achieved with tape. There is no cutting or pain caused to the dog. It would be the equivalent of a person wearing a bandaid. Do bandaids prevent you from doing anything at all? No. 3. In the case of the Collie, the tipped ear is important for function as it protects the ear canal from dirt and debris. A collie whose purpose is to sit on their owner’s couch and be a house pet does not truly need to worry about a working environment. Dogs who are going to be outside in all manner of weather herding, shepherding, or just patrolling the farm need all the protection they can get.

[@Murphis55]

@@laurenanderson4889 I did not say anything about your intelligence you started on me so who is nasty and ignorant? This was about dog ears not a dissertation on breeding miss high and mighty.

[@laurenanderson4889]

Murphis55 I’m going to just keep pointing out why you’re wrong and you’re probably going to keep getting mad about it because you seem like the kind of person who is just always miserable. You came to my page with an irrelevant, negative comment. You could have kept scrolling if you didn’t understand the purpose of the video or what was being discussed or didn’t like what you saw. But instead, you jump on with your ill informed opinions (which could have been resolved with a simple google search) to bring down my video, my page and me. There’s literally no other reason to do things like that besides just spreading negativity because misery loves company. It’s sad. And now you want to play the victim because I called you out on your ignorance and you feel foolish. Wouldn’t you feel better if you raised people up with positive comments? Or watched/discussed content that was more relevant to you? Isn’t it exhausting to be so angry and hateful?