One of the Many, Many Ways to Set a Kerry’s Ears

What is the best way to set a Kerry puppy’s ears? That’s easy. Contact your breeder. The breeder is your best resource. They should be able to guide you or send you to a person who will help. Each breeder has a favorite brand of glue and a specific procedure they have found successful.

A Kerry’s ears need to be set, usually every four weeks, from the time they are 10 to 12 weeks old, until the cartilage hardens and the ears keep the desired set. Every new Kerry owner asks the question, “How long do I have to have the ears set?” Edith Izant states in her book, The Kerry Blue Terrier, “It may be necessary to keep very large or very small ears pasted beyond the seventh month – sometimes until the puppy is nine or ten months old.” How long do you have to set a puppy’s ears? There is no specific answer to this question. This time varies with the size of the ear and the thickness of the leather. You do not want the ears to droop, nor do you want them to fly.

Puppy’s ears are set once a month on average for six to seven months. Each month the ears should be cleaned and the hair removed inside the ear before you start the gluing process. After the ears are cleaned, I usually like to wait until the next day before I glue the ears. It lessens the possibility of placing glue on an irritated surface, which could lead to an infection. The glue being used for the demonstration on this website is Val-A, which can be purchased from Cherrybrook.

In the “Ear Pasting Gallery” on this website is a set of pictures with comments, which demonstrate just one of the many, many ways you can set a Kerry’s ears. You may also want to refer to the three-page article, written by Carol Basler, published in the last USKBTC 1992 Handbook. Most importantly, keep in touch with your breeder during this entire process. A good breeder can be your best teacher.

Please share your special ear pasting techniques by sending in a brief article with a few pictures to the USKBTC Content Editor on this web site. We would love to hear from you all.

Special thanks to Accie, Eve’s Kerry and Gerry Yeager for helping to produce these pictures.

Carol Kearney