EARitating Process

Well it has been quite some time since Mr. Echo has had some air time and I would have to say, I am feeling quite bad about it since he is my little baby boy and all. So I thought I would catch you up on the growth and progress of our little 6.5 month old!
I would love to walk you through the process of Mr. Echo's high maintinance life. Most of it is caused by us, and I would not take anything that we have done back, but man is he high maintinence.
When we got little Echo his ears were floppy and his tail was not docked right. We decided to get his ears cropped to stand up like the traditional Doberman Pinscher and get his tail re-docked to look the normal length.















Once we got rid of the cone in between his ears we had to individually tape the ears to look kinda like antlers and then attach them so they stand up straight at the bottom. I thought he looked quite cute but I know he really looked quite silly. I loved him still the same. (the reason for taping his ears the way they are is to train them to stand up on their own) We would have the tape on for 6 days and off for 1, then back on for 6 and off for 1 until the would eventually stand on their own. We were told this process could take up to 6 months.



So all is going well, progress is being made, life is wonderful! And then... dun, dun, dun... we run out of the tape that the Vet had given to us to use. No biggy, it is just athletic tape, no problem, I went and bought a few rolls and back on went the tape for another 6 days.
Well this time, mid way through the week suddenly his ears start smelling kinda bad. Hmmmm... wierd but he is a dog and dog's smell, right??? Keep the tape on....., smell worsens, and then worsens, till we HAD to take off the tape to survive the smell. Well when the tape is taken off all of this green puss, blood, and other ooze comes out of his ears. Kip almost puked, I was not here thank goodness! A bunch of open wounds had somehow grown and his ears looked REALLY BAD! (sorry no pics of that) So we decide to leave the tape off for 7 days, to let the ears heal, I put hydrogen peroxcide on them (what a jerk, I know, but it helped), and we tried to figure out the problem? So I call the vet and they tell me that you have to get athletic tape that breeths really well and that this problem tends to happen quite often. (By the way, good thing they told us this NOW not when we picked him up from the vet right after the surgery). Whatever! So I go and get some really, really breathable tape that Kip and I both test out by breathing through it to feel how much air gets through. Looks good! Re-tape...keep doing the smell check....3 days pass and nasty smell again! Tape off and wounds opened again and stinky, wet looking ears. NO GOOD! So now I have to take him to the "ear" vet who is 40 minutes away, might I add, because not many vets these days crop ears anymore. They conclude that he is alergic to any tape other than somehow the tape that they use there at the vet's office. SO I buy a bunch of their tape, make like 3 visit's back to the vet to make sure progress is being made. Get a ton of medication and junk for him. And back to the taping process 6 days on 1 day off. They tell us that they should still stand some day at this point.



So this is where we are at now in the "EARitating Process", he is no longer having alergic reactions, THANK GOODNESS!!! And one of his ears has decided to stand up but not the other. Why can't this just be the simple process we thought it would be??? So now we have resourted to taping just the 1 ear that flopps and keep the other, well behaved ear free! We have decided that by showing the one ear the reward for standing it might want to join the other ear in freedom??? We are hoping it will work. So now he looks REALLY SILLY! I do not even know if I can walk him at this point, he is quite silly looking! Enjoy a good laugh and also look at how big he has gotten. Our little 6.5 month old baby that weighs 65 pounds. We love him anyway even though we are parents that know our little baby is quite ugly right now.








So this is what he should eventually look like. Pray for his ear!!!! (This picture was taken right after we took off his ear tape before the ear fell)


In conclusion, I would have to say that anyone that thinks Doberman Pinschers are automatically mean and aggressive dogs, you my frineds are wrong. Mr. Echo is one of the sweetest doggies I have personally ever owned and we have always had labs so that is quite a breed to be compaired to for tempermant. Echo is so stinkin sweet I sometimes worry if he would even be a guard dog. I am confident he really would and even if he was not mean his looks alone would scare someone away. I am so happy that we ended up getting a Doberman Pinscher and thank my hubby for sticking to his guns on the breed he wanted. I could not be happier with a dog. He does not chew, dig, he is FINALLY potty trained and sleeps at the foot of our bed, he is good with kids (accept for when he gets really excited and just trys to play a little too rough), he has never ever been aggressive with us in ANY way, he lets you grab his face, ears, tail and whatever you want whenever you want even if he is eating. Just an all around good indoor family pup. I highly reccomend a Doberman to anyone that likes bigger dogs that wants an indoor/ outdoor dog as a family pet. They look intimidating so nobody will mess with you but they really are the sweetest things. He is also an AWESOME running buddy and can go on forever and ever. It is great!
Sorry this post is forever long, I had to make up for all the time without him having air time. Thanks for reading!