On Sunday morning, Pupper, Jason and I walked 30 minutes each way to a home health care store. It was freezing cold, so we weren't fans of the long walk over. Pupper was not a fan of the return trip either. There was salt on the pavement and pavement pounding with no grass isn't fun. She was tired and wanted to lie down. But at -25, we only let her lay down for a few minutes before making her get up and move with us again. She got really frustrated and wanted to nip my legs on our return trip. But remembering the prong corrections, she only barked really really closely to my legs. I didn't want to correct her because I thought this was her trying to communicate with me, but I'm not sure. This highlights my need to find a trainer to work with me ASAP to better understand how to deal with scenarios like this.
On our way home, we walked by a florist. Pupper meets helium balloons for the first time.
The trip to the store was to buy ostomy glue. Pupper has a slightly floppy right ear. The tip bends backwards when running in wind, and it's droopy when she's sleepy. Under the advice of my breeder, I glued a pre-cut foam shape to her ear with Ostomy paste. It was a struggle to grab hold of her, but once I held onto her ear, she held relatively still for the gluing process. Unfortunately, I'm not very skilled at using this paste, and the foams came out twice already between then and now. It left a large area of dried glue caked to the tip of her ears, making the tip even more floppy. I got really worried until I was able to remove most of it this morning with nail-polish remover. She held really really still for this, and I'm really happy with the trust we're starting to build. There's still tons of glue in her ear, but less on her tip so now she can stand them by herself.
I don't know if I should continue gluing. She's at the idea age to glue her ears, but they already KIND of stand on their own. It's just a floppy tip. I'm really worried that my lack of experience will cause more harm to her. I'm not sure what to do.
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| Suffering. Glued ears. Ick. :( |
You're GLUING her ears upright??? I'm sorry but that sounds ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteCommon practice in the dog world. Some breeds get surgery for their ears as puppies.
DeleteGenetics need a push sometimes. While I do not condone ear cropping, tail docking and declawing, gluing ears is a mild and usually short-term inconvenience for the dog. You are working WITH the dog's natural genetics to help move it in one direction. It is just like a person that is genetically predisposed to being over-weight due to family history. That person needs to work harder to maintain a proper weight. Like that, sometimes ears need extra help to stand on their own...
DeletePoor puppers! She will get used to it. Is the foam keeping her ears upright now? There is a very fine line between 'not enough' glue, and too much. You don't want to weigh down the ears. Make sure you check (and recheck) her ears frequently for signs of infection.
ReplyDelete-anon
The foam fell off, and her ears looked a bit red so I didn't want to stick them back in. I'm thinking of waiting till next week and going back to Toronto to find a professional to glue it for me.
DeleteAfter my poor glue job, righty looks floppier than ever. It used to stand most of the time by itself, now it flops most of the time by itself. I think I should've just left it alone.
You are doing a great job. Keep it up! Your breeder sounds amazing and wouldn't have suggested if she thought you would fail. Ears are a tricky thing, you will get the hang of it :)
ReplyDeleteShe is amazing! She offered to send me the supplies that I had trouble locating in Canada, and more ear foams. I think she gets a sense of dread every time I message her, it's rarely good news. :D
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