American Staffordshire Terrier Rose-Shaped Ears
It may come as a surprise that some Amstaff’s are not born with the rose-shaped ear often associated with the breed. Sometimes they are born with bigger floppier ears, or smaller stiffer ears.
Depending on the ear type they are born with, your Amstaff puppy may require some assistance to achieve the correct ear shape. For example, American Staffordshire Terriers with smaller ears can have them trained into shape by glueing, if necessary.
For Amstaff puppies with bigger, heavier ears, this is achieved by taping the ears when the Amstaff puppy is in the teething stage. However, as with most things in life (and when it comes to Amstaffs), it’s important to do this the right way!
At Zaliamstaff, we haven’t had to adjust our puppy’s ears for some time now. However, we know that’s not the case for everyone! So, we’ve put together this helpful series of images showing how to correctly tape for rose-shaped ears.
Please feel free to share this post with your Amstaff-owning friends. If you have any queries, we’d love to hear from you via our Facebook page!
Taping an Amstaff Puppy’s Ears for the Rose-Shape
Pro Amstaff Ear Taping Tips:
Make sure your Amstaff is relaxed
Being able to follow the above image guide will require your Amstaff puppy to have plenty of trust in the touch of the person applying the Sports tape. So, we recommend you set aside a little time for some exercise and affection prior to starting and have plenty of treats.
Note: We are not saying you should tire the puppy out! We recommend you take a look at this guide to puppy exercising, and take a cue from that.
Choose a quiet space where your Amstaff puppy isn’t going to be distracted
You probably already know how curious and easily distracted your Amstaff puppy is. So, choosing a nice quiet spot will probably help you out!
Be prepared to re-do the taping
If you manage to ace this method the first time out, you’re exceptional! Go you!
It is far more likely that you’ll have to give it a few tries before you get it right. And, once you get it right, sometimes the tape won’t hold for long. Or, you might go to the beach and end up with soggy tape. Or your Amstaff might decide they don’t think much of having their ears taped and use their paws to undo your hard work!
And, of course, sometimes you’ll need to swap it out for clean tape anyway. The same patience you give when training your American Staffordshire Terrier will come in handy here!With a little practice and smart timing as to when you tape your Amstaff’s ears, it will get easier.
Tape the ears for three days, inspect, and reapply if necessary
As a rough guide, leave the tape on for three days. Give your Amstaff’s ears a day or two, and then re-tape if needed.
We hope you’ve found this short guide to taping your American Staffordshire Terrier puppy’s ears helpful. If you’ve got a helpful hint that you’d like to share, please head over to our Facebook Page and message us.
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