How to Get a Collie Puppy's Ears to Bend

Between five and seven months old, a Collie puppy's ear will start to stand straight up on the top of the its head. You do not have to train the puppy's ears to tip down if you like the "straight up" look. Collies' ears were trained originally to tip down to create a more sound -sensitive ear, important for when the Collie was used to protect herds of sheep. Training the ears to tip down does not hurt or irritate the dog at all and is easy to do. It is critical to train the puppy's ears before the age of ten months, after which the ears are thicker and harder to bend.

Things You'll Need

  • Hair glue
  • Yarn
  • Yarn needle
  • Comb
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Instructions

    • 1

      Comb the Collie puppy's hair between its ears, back towards its neck. Comb the hair in front of the ears toward the inside of the ear.

    • 2

      Place a dime-sized spot of hair glue at the base of each ear closest to the top of the puppy's head. Press the hair close to the ears into the glue and hold, until the glue is mostly dry. This should only take 10 to 20 seconds.

    • 3

      Thread a piece of yarn through the eye of the yarn needle. Carefully push the needle to a place between the hair glue at the base of the ear and the skin on the ear. Do not pierce the puppy's ear, just the hair and glue. Push the needle through the glue on the other ear, as you did with the first ear.

    • 4

      Cut the yarn, so that each end of the yarn is at least 6 inches long. Grasp the two ends of the yarn and pull slightly to synch the ears together and tie the ends of the yarn together in a knot. Trim the excess yarn. This will train the muscles on the puppy's head to hold the ears high.

    • 5

      Put a small dab of hair glue on the inside tip of the puppy's ear. Bend the ear where you want the ear to tip down and push the tip against the inside corner of the ear to transfer some of the hair glue. Open the ear and apply more hair glue to the tip and to where the glue was transferred. Fold the ear down again and hold the two spots of glue together for 10 to 20 seconds, until the tips of the ears stay tipped down.