Trimming the ears of dogs 



397 



INSTRUMENTS. - 



1. Scissors. 



2. Artery forceps. 



3. Special ear-clamp, (not absolutely essential). 

 TECHNIQUE.— First Step.— Marking the Length,— The 



two ears are pinched together with the fingers and stretched 

 upward to the center of the poll, where the anterior edge of 

 both is marked by one snip of the scissors to assure uniform- 

 ity of length. The direction of the snip should correspond to 

 that of the proposed line' of amputation of- which it becomes a 

 part. 



Fig. 198— Trimming Ears with Delahanty's Table. 



Second Step. — The Amputation. — The tip and posterior 

 border of the right ear is heldjn the left hand while the am- 

 putation is effected with two or three strokes of the scissors, 

 cutting in the downward direction toward the base of the 

 concha. The shape of the line of amputation in its downward 

 course, which determines the desired design of the trimmed 

 ears, varies from a straight one, to one deeply incurved, ac- 

 cording to the breed of the. subject and also possibly accord- 

 ing to the wishes of the fancier. The left ear, which is some- 

 what more difficult to trim accurately, is marked out with the 



