# 1st time gsd owner, with ear stress!



## cms711 (Feb 5, 2012)

My german shepherd is 13 and a half wks old, at first his right ear was up and the left was veryyy floppy. then they both were going up pretty good, now they switched roles, the right is very floppy with a bend/crease in it and the left one is up more, not straight up but better. i felt better after reading posts here thinking he's just teething, theyll go up.

today he went to the vet for his shots and my vet (who im not too fond of to begin with) said ohhh hes too lazy to hold his ears up. maybe youll just be a floppy eared shepherd. she said hes already losing baby teeth and that i need to start rubbing and massaging his ears up or else theyd get stuck down once all his teeth came in.

should i be concerned? i dont know how to tape/glue the ears up, is it too early to worry about it?

advice please! ill attach some pictures.







picture 1 is a week or two ago.







picture 2 was this morning.

when he wakes up sometimes the ones almost flat to his head, then it goes up more as the day goes on.


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## GSD2 (Jan 27, 2012)

Yeah, it's too early to worry about the ears. My girl was 15 weeks, I think it was before they both stayed up. I was told to leave the ears alone, I wouldn't massage them. You can give raw marrow bones, it will strenthen the muscle needed for ear development. Don't tape them yet, that can cause more harm at this point. Many vets don't have a clue about the ears.


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## 1sttimeforgsd (Jul 29, 2010)

It is normal on some puppies for the ears to go up and down several times until they get through teething. It will help if you give him some kind of chews to chew on which in turn will help strengthen the ears.


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## cms711 (Feb 5, 2012)

Okay, i thought i was overreacting but then my vet freaked me out today! I bought him this big puppy nyla bone that he chews at night while we relax and watch tv and he loves it.


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## kidkhmer (Jul 14, 2010)

Ok this is not directd at you but yours is the most recent post....so ....I honestly don't know why everyone gets so uptight and intense about ears !!!!?? I mean....I DO understand that if you pay top money for a "quality" pup then you expect that it will look amazing and do back-flips on command but the truth of the matter is by the time you have had the dog for a month or two you will more than likely love it so much that you won't care care about its ears.? It is still going to function like a dog ! My new pup at 4.5 months has one ear up and one floppy and I can say I never think about it. I acutally love the soft ear look. Anyways....I am sure your pups ears will be fine in time. No idea on figures but id say the incidence of ears not coming up is very low.....

Having said that if i paid $1million for Bentley and the windows didn't go up id be rather miffed. ;-)


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## kidkhmer (Jul 14, 2010)

oh and i might be stating the blooming obvious here but when you give them bones, cut them in half along the length of the bone so the dogs can suck the marrow right out nice an easy !


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## cms711 (Feb 5, 2012)

I obviously love my dog no matter what, but i chose a german shepherd for the whole packaged. The looks, personality, etc..


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

the dog i have now ears went up at 5 months old.
before that they did the ear dance (up down and all around).
my last GSD ears went up at 6 months old.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

that's why i chose a GSD, looks (both ears up), trainability and versatility.



cms711 said:


> I obviously love my dog no matter what, but i chose a german shepherd for the whole packaged. The looks, personality, etc..


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## pyratemom (Jan 10, 2011)

Both my dog's ears were up by 12 weeks. Both went up and down after that for a few months. Raina has really soft ears but they have no problem standing up and I didn't do anything special for them. Pyrate has really strong stiff ears and was the first pup in his litter to have both ears up permanently. It will vary but with the age of your pup you have lots of time for those ears to do the up and down dance. Don't worry. It will still be a German Shepherd with the personality you were looking for. The ears won't be such a big deal. I think you just need to wait a while and they will probably pop up.


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## bratt (Aug 24, 2010)

*Ears*

My boyfriend was concerned about this also, so we used breath right strips with surgical glue to help hold. The glue is removable and the breath right strips allow the skin to breath unlike tape. Worked great.


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## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

at this age ears are not a worry -- massaging and messing around with them may damage delicate cartilage . 
The vet isn't that informed on gsd . 
Sometimes ears will drop after a vaccination . There may be a reaction with slightly raised temperature , or at other end of spectrum an allergic response with face swelling or solid lump at injection site. 

how vaccinations affect collagen etc.

Featured Articles 

Carmen
CARMSPACK.com 

Growth is a stress , lot going on. Provide good solid nutrition , something that addresses ligament and cartilage integrity which is also beneficial to overall orthopedics.


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## cms711 (Feb 5, 2012)

thanks everyone you deff made me feel better and a little less stressed about his ears !


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## Scarlettsmom (Jul 12, 2011)

Who did that funny photo montage about their pups ears? It was something like "To the left..." It really showed how those ears change weekly until they finally stand up. 

I've only ever had rescues who were past the ear-wacky stage, but I do understand how it would be a little unnerving to have them change so dramatically week-to-week. What I have learned from everyone on here is that it's perfectly normal. Definitely take lots of pictures. I believe you will look back and chuckle to yourself. Those baby ears are so stinkin' cute!


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## Scarlettsmom (Jul 12, 2011)

Ears Up?????? - German Shepherd Dog Forums

Click on the Ear Stages -a pictorial 

This is the one I was referring to. Hope I linked it correctly...


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