MinPin Ears- Will they stand if uncropped?

[sholbro]

My husband and I recently adopted a 7-week old minpin. We DO NOT want to crop her ears; however, we like the look of erect ears. Is there any chance of her ears standing either on their own or with taping methods similar to those used on boston terriers?

Note: If they won't stand with taping or on their own, we still will NOT crop her ears. If they stand, great.. if they don't, we still love her and think she's the cutest dog ever.

[DeLaUK]

Congrats on your new pup and good for you for not cropping.

There is a simple answer to your question, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesnt, sorry, probably not what you wanted to hear but I have seen this and done it myself with a couple of dogs over the years, sometimes it doesnt matter what you do they still wont stand.

I had an absolutely gorgeous GSD about 20 something years ago, he was a slow 'grower' and finally started to prick his ears up at around 4 and a half months, unfortunately my Sheltie mix thought they made a great toy to drag him around by while playing but he got a little tired of it and then kept his ears down (we know this as he did actually have his ears up at one stage and as soon as 'madam' walked in the room they flopped) again, we tried tape, toilet rolls (the cardboard bit) on each ear, couldnt believe some of the suggestions people made....never put them back up though. One thing I have done before with some dogs is to use a stiff strip of very light plastic...the width you need from tip of the ear to tip of the other ear and about haf an inch depth, put tape on that so it holds the ears at the top straight (sorry hard to explain but basically it would look like an agility jump shape....kind of ) and then tape the inside of the ear, can use a thin srip of plastic for this also...I used to use small strips of old x-ray film...all connected and you would need an e-collar (cone) so that he doesnt scratch at them, keep in mind this will probably be an annoyance to him though for a while (it can take months and I wouldnt do it until he is about 3 or 4 months) and make sure that he doesnt have any kind of reaction to the tape. To be honest its usually a long process and is tedious and think about if you really want to put him through it. Any kind of messing with the ears can make them very sensitive to their ears being touched and so if later on he ever needs any kind of medical treatment to his ears you might have some problems (hell be a bit cranky over them being touched).