# 8 Months and soft ears



## WaysGSD (Dec 29, 2018)

My family bought our 4th GSD, a long haired female, from the same breeder we got our other 3 dogs from. We've always had good experiences with this breeder in the past - good hips, stable personalities, highly trainable, gorgeous red pigment, amazing personalities, etc. But our 8 month old long haired puppy (born April 5, 2018) has soft (floppy) ears. Her ears were always floppier than our previous GSDs' ears as puppies, but we didn't worry until she stopped teething and her ears still were not showing signs of going up on their own. While we were on vacation for 3 weeks at the end of Sept. to early Oct., we boarded all the dogs with the breeder's recommended trainer, who took our puppy (with our permission) to the breeder to have forms glued to help her ears. Unfortunately, the forms used were cardboard and quickly became wet, and so her ears fell back down within a day of being glued. Of course we were gutted when we picked her up and found her ears weighed down with wet cardboard. We brought her in to an ear specialist we were referred to by our regular vet, who removed the cardboard forms, posted the ears up and fully taped them. However, when we brought her back in a week later to take the tape off and re-evaluate her progress, the ear specialist told us taping would not help her ears because there was not enough cartilage formation. This happened at the end of Nov. Now both ears are paper thin and completely floppy. She's practically unrecognizable as a GSD. Of course we love her no matter what and will not subject her to cosmetic surgery, but I was hoping someone might have some tips or maybe just had a similar experience? I have scoured the web and haven't been able to find anyone else with a GSD from a breeder with 2 soft ears. Our pup is Willow von der Otto out of V Lessy von Christiansund (V Nex vom Osterberger-Tal // V Unja von der Weißenburg) by V Aaron vom Warmetal (VA Yankee mom Feuermelder // V Inka com Kuckucksland).


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## Malibu (Jul 27, 2017)

I think you must reside to the fact those ears do not have a chance to go up sorry. Very sweet looking pup but it didn't look like they ever had a chance at going up.


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## WaysGSD (Dec 29, 2018)

Wanted to add: 

Pics are in chronological order.

Any thoughts on what could be causing this? Bad breeding/genetics or just an unlucky fluke? The ear vet didn't really tell us why the ears are soft, just that they wouldn't stand because of the lack of cartilage. She hasn't had any ear trauma and has been fed the same diet we fed the other 3 dogs as puppies, and they never had ear trouble.


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## Kazel (Nov 29, 2016)

To help our Yorkie's ear learn to stand up at a young-ish age we had to shave them down as the fur was too heavy on them to let them stand up on their own. Whenever they were shaved they would stand up but the rest of the time they stayed fairly floppy. That said I have no experience with GSD ears. I would wonder if the smaller foam inserts would work better than the larger method of taping as the smaller inserts done properly make then stand up but allow the dog to move the ears on their own and build them up. 

But to me they look rather floppy, so I agree with Malibu in that I don't think they'll stand.


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## wolfmonte (Aug 28, 2019)

First of all, I don't think they will ever stand because it seems like a genetic defect. The ones that stand from gluing etc are still perkier or laying front on face but need a little support to become stiff.


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