# when should I expect ears to be up?



## blondee127 (Jun 5, 2008)

I know this question has for sure been asked before but when looking thru the past threads I didn't see it.... what is the normal time frame for ears to go up? At one point should I be nervous if the ears aren't up?

We just got a new puppy. He is 14 weeks old today. We just got him this past Saturday. When we got him one ear was down and one ear was barely up. The barely up one is now completely up but I don't see movement in the other ear as of yet. And being the worry wart I am, I am concerned. Once in a while when he gets up both ears are completely up... I get so excited but it must have been the way he was laying because as soon as he starts moving around the ear falls back down.


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

When pups teethe their ears can go up and down.

Personally, if the ears aren't up by 12 weeks I will tape them.


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## alaman (May 3, 2006)

Give pup some Vitamin E. Be up in a week or so. Seen it work several times


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

My little girls ears werent up at 5 months so i taped them. By 6 months they were up and strong. I think the general rule is if they arent up by the time theyre done with teething to start taping/glueing/whatever.


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## blondee127 (Jun 5, 2008)

I have heard that vitamin C is good to give... so I just started that yesterday. I am giving him 250mgs a day. Should I give him Vitamin E instead of or along with the vitamin C?


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## Sherush (Jan 12, 2008)

Jesse's ears were up at 10 weeks old and never went down during teething (which is odd) cause seems a lot of GSD ears sometimes goes down during that time and then come back up afterwards.


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## DarkStars (Nov 3, 2008)

My Kane is 6 1/2 months old and being our first GSD we were not sure how long it would take either - - I think his started standing up straight somewhere around 4 months... For the longest time like you said, he had one that stood up straight and one that folded in. I thought for sure they would stay like that. I think the hardest thing is not letting anyone touch his ears - everyone always goes to scratch behind the ears! We did not use vitamins or taping and his ears stand up perfect now. Hope this helps!


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## blondee127 (Jun 5, 2008)

Here is a picture of Baron the day we brought him home...









And here is Baron from two days ago.









See how the one ear has gone completely up but the other is still floppy? He is 14 weeks old. Is there still a decent chance his other ear could go up on his own? Or do you think it will need to be glued or taped. If it needs to be glued or taped, do I do it now at 14 weeks or should I wait?

A floppy eared dog may be cute, but to me it is not the look of a German Shepherd.


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## Keegan62 (Aug 17, 2008)

Baron is so cute and he sure looks like GSD to me LOL
His ear will go up he is a baby......


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## blondee127 (Jun 5, 2008)

Yes, he does look like a Shepherd. But from reading about the ears, if you wait too long to glue or tape them, it may be too late. So I don't want to get past that point. As you can see, he still has the one floppy ear and as I am sure you can tell I am quite worried. Like the one person said above, if the ears aren't up on her puppies by 12 weeks she tapes them. And since Baron is 14 weeks, I didn't know if they would need to be taped or glued now... or if I can/should wait...


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## SunCzarina (Nov 24, 2000)

Personally, I would tape it. There's lots of ideas in the Ears Up section.
Does he chew a lot? This develops the muscles needed to hold the ears up. Otto spends hours chewing every day, always has, both of his were up at 9 weeks. Behind my chair, I hear the sound of yet another booda tug being devastated...


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## blondee127 (Jun 5, 2008)

I did just read about the chewing and how that can help. He does chew.. but I wouldn't say a ton.


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## blondee127 (Jun 5, 2008)

see how it looks like his ears are up? When I first saw this I was so excited!!!

















but as soon as he tilts his head it flops back over


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## Grims (Jul 3, 2008)

Axel's were up perfect for one full day at 9 weeks...then fell back down and haven't come back up since


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## blondee127 (Jun 5, 2008)

its starting to look good!!! His floppy ear is the one that is tilted down and yet it is still up!!! And as of right now it is still up... more tilted in towards his head now but still up.


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## dawnie (Jul 15, 2008)

<span style="color: #6633FF">Hooray! Those are some great looking ears!</span>


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

hang in there. he's ears will probably go up without any help. the ears do the ear dance. up down and all around. i had a Shep who's ears didn't stand untill he was 5 months or so. i think the Shep i have now ears were up at 4 months or so. i never played with my dog's ears nor did i allow anyone to pet his head. after his ears were soundly up i didn't care if people petted his head.


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## blondee127 (Jun 5, 2008)

Thank you for all of your replies and advise. Now that the ear finally went up I am not so worried. Both Bullet and Bianca's ears did the ear dance so I know all about that. I was just so concerned because the one ear hadn't been up at all yet. I have never taped or glued ears before and from reading things online it seemed there is only a short window of when you can do that in hopes that it would make a difference. So I didn't want to miss it. I did speak with the breeder and he said sometimes the larger the dog will be, the longer it takes for the ears to stand up. He told me not to worry and he was right. He also suggested NuVet vitamins. Do any of you use them? I did go ahead and order them.. they should be here hopefully by the end of the week.


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## KohleePiper (Jun 13, 2007)

I must be lucky because Diesel's ears were up at 9 weeks and they haven't been down since. He's now 12 weeks old! He is a BIG chewer though!!!!


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## thezinger (Nov 6, 2008)

our kyah had her ears glued up by our breeder at 8 weeks old. the glue came apart after about 3 weeks and both ears were standing. then one fell. then the other..

now they are both down and really floppy. hope they go back up, shes 13 weeks now. no sign of either trying


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

> Originally Posted By: KohleePiperI must be lucky because Diesel's ears were up at 9 weeks and they haven't been down since. He's now 12 weeks old! He is a BIG chewer though!!!!


Nikon's were up by 10 weeks but at 15 weeks his left ear fell and has been down for a week.

Blondee your dog looks just like mine!


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## BlackGSD (Jan 4, 2005)

> Originally Posted By: thezingerour kyah had her ears glued up by our breeder at 8 weeks old. the glue came apart after about 3 weeks and both ears were standing. then one fell. then the other..
> 
> now they are both down and really floppy. hope they go back up, shes 13 weeks now. no sign of either trying


No offense but your "breeder" should be smacked! I have NEVER heard of a "breeder" glueing a puppies ears at 8 weeks. Makes me think that they tend to have weak eared dogs that they KNOW need "help" to stand.


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## thezinger (Nov 6, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: BlackGSD
> 
> No offense but your "breeder" should be smacked! I have NEVER heard of a "breeder" glueing a puppies ears at 8 weeks. Makes me think that they tend to have weak eared dogs that they KNOW need "help" to stand.


i know, its really unfortunate. i hope it didnt somehow ruin her chances of her ears coming up by doing it at that age.

i can see when she tilts her head or plays around they do flop up and stay for a second. hopefully they make a change soon. they have been down and floppy with no change at all for at least 3 weeks now.

or maybe shes just a late bloomer


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## benkllr (Nov 3, 2008)

Hang in there they'll come up. I was worried about when my 13 week old puppy's ears werent up as well. They had thier moments when I thought they would be up any day...but usually they would stay floppy. Both ears came up at the start of week 15, and they havent been back down yet. 

Funny thing, I was walking him at my girlfriends house (lives in a big city), and another lady was walking her GSD. We talked for a minute, and I asked her about her dogs ears (she had a 12month old GSD). She said she's had 3 GSD's, and her trick was to give them Milk. "Milk?" I said, yep..she insisted that each dog she had when thier ears werent up, she'd give them a 1.5 cup of milk each day for a week. Well...at 13.5 weeks, I was at the store and said wth, so bought a half gallon of milk. Panzer loves the stuff, so I gave him a cup and a half everyday. His ears were up literally 3 days after the first cup of milk. Coincidence? Probably, but I dont care how they came up, just glad they did.


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## blondee127 (Jun 5, 2008)

Liesje.. I haven't checked the post for a couple of weeks.. and when I pulled it up just now I saw the picture of your puppy and did think it was mine for a second and thought where the heck was that taken and who posted it. Then I read your comment! Where did you get him from? They look so much a like.. how old is he now?

I am happy to say that Baron just turned 5 months old and both ears are up.... finally... and I didn't have to do anything to them. I did buy glue that someone had suggested because they said it could be hard to get.. but I returned it as I didn't need it!


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## lac (Dec 31, 2008)

This is my 4 mo old. I HOPE her other ear come up!
She is part shep/part lab though, could she have one lab ear and one shep ear??? That would be rather cute though...LOL 

There are times when she is playing or doing commands when the ear does come up on its own and then it flops back down!! 







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