# Approaching 6 months, ears inconsistent. Mother has a lazy ear



## Dutchy (Jul 8, 2018)

Hello all, my pup is approaching 6 months. I'm going off the Leerberg thinking of if the ears aren't up by 7 months, they won't stand up at all. So I don't know if I'm interpreting this right to mean they have to stand up fully erect all the time by 7 months. Here's what's going on with my pup.


1. Her mother has a lazy ear, basically one ear is permanently down. The breeder was very specific about being careful with my puppies ears when playing and mentioned taping if they don't stand up.


2. Before teething: Her ears would stand up intermittently, usually one at a time at different parts of the day before teething.


3. During teething, they went completely down as expected.


4. Teething is done, all of her puppy teeth are gone as of about 3 weeks ago. Her teething has drastically decreased but I feel she still has days where she is chewing more than usual so not sure if she is still considered teething. 


5. Her ears will stand when she is playing, most specifically when she is chasing other dogs or running. One of her ears will usually remain erect for sometime after and sometimes one will stand in the morning. But her ears standing are almost always temporary. Meaning an hour after playing or an hour after waking up, they are back down. In fact, if one of her ears gets caught up, I have caught her shaking her head to get her ear to go back down.


At this point, is my pup a candidate for taping? Or should I wait it out a little longer? I'm trying to not over worry here and I think deep down inside I know they will stand, but that 7 month mark is quickly approaching and if taping or gluing is the safe bet and won't otherwise harm her, why not do it before it's too late.


Thanks. All my prior Shepherd's ears stood very early so I've never dealt with this before.


----------



## Dutchy (Jul 8, 2018)

About a week after 6 months, not much has changed from above. Some days it looks hopeful when at least one of her ears is standing in the morning or they stay up for a bit after she's playing, but the majority of the time her ears are flat.

Just ordered ear forms and skin glue. Will try to document how it goes.


----------



## Pawsed (May 24, 2014)

I wouldn't tape them. I've had 2 dogs over the years whose ears didn't stand until 9 months of age. Others here have had similar experiences, and had pups ears take even longer.

There is no real proof that taping will help, and how could there be? But there is evidence that taping can damage the ears.

Give them more time. If they have been up in the past, the chances are very, very good that they will stand up again.


----------



## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

Mom has a lazy ears. There is a genetic component and this can be passed down to pups. In my opinion it is irresponsible of the breeder to put any responsibility on you by way of “be really careful”, etc.

There is a good chance they’ll stand.... but also valid reasoning if they don’t.

I would not tape them.


----------



## Dutchy (Jul 8, 2018)

Ok. Well the Ear Forms went in today. We're just shy of 7 months and although there's been some glimmers of hope, especially in one of her ears, they have remained, for the majority, down. Have tried ear exercises and stimulation with noise and play, tons of chewing bones and other chews, and even vitamins. 

Put the ear forms in. Definitely a two person job. She surprisingly laid down for it pretty well. But she definitely wasn't in any pain. 

Next 15 minutes kinda sucked, her urge to scratch was high. Took her out on a walk and then laid down and rubbed her ears for about 5 minutes. Since then, she hasn't touched them. No more scratching and no more head shaking. She's just chewing on a bone now. Ears look great although her one ear still looks a bit floppy so might add a breathe right strip or two to help stiffen the base. 

We'll see if it works. Will continue to update this thread.


----------



## Dutchy (Jul 8, 2018)

2 days in. Some of the edges of the ears forms have come off the ear a bit (mostly where they meet the edge and the ear gets hairier) but they're still holding strong in her ears. It's very rare that she messes with them. And her ears look great. They appear like they're standing strong and I see her flexing them to listen to things or if I call her from a different direction than she is facing. Been cleaning her ears daily. No sign of redness or infection. So far so good.


----------



## Dutchy (Jul 8, 2018)

Day 5. The forms are starting to fall out, just like I had read elsewhere. I expect they will come out by tomorrow sometime. Her ears look good, both healthy and straight. Despite loosing some support from the forms that are coming off from the base, they still appear to be standing strong. So I hope they'll come out and the ears will remain up!!! I'm excited. Floppy ears wouldn't have been the end of the world but in my opinion she looks so much better with her ears up.


----------



## Dutchy (Jul 8, 2018)

Ok it's been a little bit over a week with the ear forms in. Today they were really starting to fall out so I took the baby oil and removed them. 

Her left ear is standing but her right ear almost immediately went back down. I guess we will see if the left one stays up or if it falls as well over the next day or so. 

Not sure if I'm going to go another round yet. I was so hopeful they were both going to stand. Her ears looked so good in the forms and you could see her flexing them and holding them up.

There's a bunch of glue still stuck in her ears on the hairs around the edges of the ear. So that's a little bit of a concern with the accumulation of dirt. But will keep applying baby oil and pulling a little bit out at a time. Otherwise, her ears look good. 

I just called her and she shot both of her ears up so maybe all isn't lost. But could very well be fighting genetics here only semi successfully.


----------



## Dutchy (Jul 8, 2018)

Second round of ear forms. This time we only did her right ear cause her left ear is basically standing. 

Went well again, no issues. This time when we took the ear forms out today, her ear stood up and remained so for a few hours. But her ear just flopped again. I'm playing ball with her right now and it'll pop back up every now and then, but it's basically back down. 

I guess I'm doing to give her ears another few days rest and then maybe try a third round if the right one stays down.


----------



## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

Do you have any photos of this dog? Before, after, anything? I like the idea of updating the thread for others that may find themselves in a similar situation, but it lacks a bit without photos - perhaps you’d even gain some more tips, suggestions or opinions if experienced members could get eyes on her ears.

Anyway, just my few cents.


----------



## Dutchy (Jul 8, 2018)

We put the ear form back into the right ear. The right ear was up probably most of the time over the past 3 days but was still pretty droopy and seemed like it was developing a crease in her ear. 

I'll try to update with photos. This forum doesn't work with the Tapatalk app and is otherwise a nightmare to use on a mobile browser.


----------



## crittersitter (Mar 31, 2011)

Besides taping the ears feed gelatin. I did that with all my puppies and had no ear problems.


----------

