Help with Tulip Ears!

Submitted by Vanize on October 14, 2011 - 11:19pm

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Hello All,

I'm a new member in the forum. I'm an inexperienced and proud momma of 2 English Bulldog puppies from different breeders.

My beloved female called Piper is 4 months old and she has Tulip ears. Please check her pictures attached.

I got help from someone experienced in glueing ears and we did it for 3 weeks. We did see a small result, but her ears are still pretty much erect.

We left it alone for 3 weeks, and we will re-glue one more time next week.

The breeder is not being helpful at all. But he suggested I find a experienced vet to stitch her ears so the cartilage can be broken. Have you guys ever heard of this procedure in English Bulldogs?

Any other suggestion?

Thanks a lot. Any help is really really appreciated. Please check pictures below.

Ears

Submitted by Deb and MacKenz... on October 15, 2011 - 9:59am.

I will be honest and tell you they are what they are. You are not going to fix them. You could do more glueing but IMO that will not help. I don't think the breeder has a clue, does he show? There is no reason to have them stitched at this age. Did you want to show her?

You can keep trying to glue

Submitted by RobinandLeo on October 15, 2011 - 10:04am.

You can keep trying to glue them but will likely see only small improvements. I've got a female Bulldog with tulip ears and her breeder had a 'button' (similar to stitching them) and even that didn't help. She can hold her ears back but that isn't the way she carries them 95% of the time - makes me crazy because otherwise she is a beautiful girl.

What you can also try is to massage her ears into a rose shape, it will relaxe her too. When ever you see her holding her ears correctly praise her, she might get the idea?

A photo of Solo with her 'happy' ears -

She can hold her ears back though -

Solo is a gorgeous girl!

Submitted by Vanize on October 15, 2011 - 11:22am.

Hello!! Wow Solo is a beautiful girl!!! Piper does the same thing.. when she sees us she puts them back (and then she looks so much better).. But 95% of the time her ears are everywhere... :-( The breeder has champions, he shows his dogs. But I don't think he is that interested on breeding for quality. He even said I was being "obscessed" about her ears... didn't show any interest in helping. Bad for him. I just got another expensive puppy from a serious breeder..

But Solo's ears look better then Piper's.

What is a "button"? Where did you get this done and how old was she? I'd be willing to try, even to get small improvements.

Do you have pictures of Solo when she was youger so I can compare?

Thanks a bunch! Really appreciate it.

Solo as a 6 week old pup and other photos

Submitted by RobinandLeo on October 15, 2011 - 3:47pm.

Thanks for tthe compliment on Solo (she got her name by being a litter of 1 pup)

I don't remember at what age her breeder had the buttons put into her ears, probably before she was 6 months old. It was done at her Vet's office and was the Vet's suggestion to try. It did leave 2 tiny 'bumps' of a scar that you can't see, but can feel in her ear flap.

Solo came to me when she was about 13 months old and had developed a barking habit that was driving the breeder's husband nutty. She offered Solo to me since I owed her sire and didn't have a daughter of his. I thought she was too nice to be spayed and sit on someone's couch even though I didn't plan on showing her because of her goofy ears. So she has a home here with me and had a litter last year. Two of her pups have been shown, her daughter needs her 2nd major to finish and one of her sons has a few single points so far. Solo's ears kept her from being shown, but that didn't hamper her from passing her other good qualities on to her kids.

Solo's daughter Elise -