# To tape, or not to tape...?



## headtripparade (May 9, 2009)

Lou is 8 months old. His right ear has been up since about 5 months, but his left is still as floppy as ever. I've read that 8 months is too late to tape, but I'm considering giving it a try anyway. If it doesn't work, then whatever. I love him in all of his floppy glory.

Question is... do I bother? If I do, what exactly do I need to do?

This is him at 6 months:


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## littledmc17 (Apr 9, 2008)

I would I think Brady did that at 8 months too 
it came up


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## Samba (Apr 23, 2001)

You could give it a try. It is a bit late though and very probably the ear leather is just not strong enough. You might get some improvement, but I doubt you can make it completely correct. He is cute anyway!

There are numerous methods for taping. 

http://leerburg.com/tapingears.htm

http://www.total-german-shepherd.com/GermanShepherdeartaping.html


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## HeidiW (Apr 9, 2009)

I know a few breeders that glue the ears, use the tear mender fabric glue it will last for two weeks until his hair grows it out. You will need two people to do it, have him lay down and rub his belly hopefully at night when he is almost asleep, the other person has to take the floppy up and towards the good ear and glue the two together on the outside ear trim forming a tepee and hold it for a few seconds as it bonds. I know some pople that had success with a 11 month old. It looks like it has a good base start but you don't want that crease to be deep or it maybe to late.


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## Debbieg (Jun 7, 2009)

What a beautiful pup. Benny's is 5.5 months and his left ear was a bit floppy and I thought it might have been from rough play with my sons pup. Thge breeder just said to tape the tip of the the floppy ear to the erect one, making him a cone head and after four days ( we had to do it each day as the tape would come off, but it was very easy ) the left ear is up has been up for two weeks. It is still a bit weaker then the right but he has full control of it.


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## Minnieski (Jan 27, 2009)

Has it ever stood up? If so it will probably come up. At about 7 months we panicked and decided to glue Minnie's left ear up, but the form just kept falling out and she would look at us all suspicious if we walked toward her with anything in our hands for about a week after that. So we never did tape it, but my dh said that we must have scared it up, because by the end of that week it decided to stand up for good. How weird! It had stood up for short amounts of time before that, but it always flopped back down. 

Your pup looks like he has a good base going for his ear, so I would think that if you could tape it it would stand. Good luck!


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## HeidiW (Apr 9, 2009)

The foam stuff falls out fast and so does taping, but the glue which is regular like white glue lasts 2 wks just enough time to let the cartilage strengthen. 

http://selah1.homestead.com/ears.html


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## headtripparade (May 9, 2009)

Thanks for the suggestions guys! It has stood up on its own before, like when he's listening to a specific noise and (oddly enough) when he's sleeping it will fall out of the crease. There have also been times I have propped it up (like sort of bent it out of the crease) and it's stayed that way for quite a few minutes. 

Here's one pic I took of him when he was about 5 months, right about the time his right ear came up. I had propped it up on my own. (phone pic. Sorry about the quality/angle.)


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## Stephanie17s (Jun 16, 2009)

I would give it a show. What do you have to lose? I think I read on here that someone's dog's ear came up at 1.5 years! Don't lose hope yet!


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## Martie (Jun 3, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: Stephanie17sI would give it a show. What do you have to lose? I think I read on here that someone's dog's ear came up at 1.5 years! Don't lose hope yet!


It does happen - Luther is one of those late bloomers. His ears came up very slowly, but we noticed the progress. His right ear was way behind the left and for a long time he just put it up when he was excited or very interested in something. At 19 months, they are both up all the time - still somewhat "soft" (always up, but flop a bit when he runs) - but we are still noting strengthening and expect they will be just fine.

I do think, however, this is not the norm. If it is important to you, I would try taping to give it a boost.


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## Minnieski (Jan 27, 2009)

We noticed that Minnie's ears stood up when we played fetch with her, so we played a LOT of fetch to try and strengthen it. It must have worked, 'cause like I said before, they're up now. I would try to do something that gets his ear up on their own a lot. What a cutie!


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