# Ears Are Driving Me Nuts...Advice



## Abbey'sMom (Jul 25, 2012)

Abbey is 4.5 months old....i have sent pics to the breeder so she can see her progress....she says she looks beautiful but you have to get those ears up.....so she emailed me directions with the glue and strips...simple enough...i saw some pics of dogs with just the strips in the forums here....and i looked for the glue but couldnt find it....so bought the large strips, did an awesome job, they were clear and you couldnt even see them....i was leary of putting glue anyway.....i originally wanted to leave well enough alone, but th breeder panicked me a little. So i put the strips on and decided to take her for a walk to distract her from the objects in her ears.....

She threw herself on the ground and scratched the daylights out of her ears until they were out....i picked up the strips off the sidewalk and we finished our walk......

My problem now is that the one weaker ear looks flatter than before....like a lab or rottie.

What do i do now....did i hurt the ear somehow when i applied the strips, i was very gentle. Will these ears go up at all?...or will i get the question of the day every time i go out...."Is She a PB"....UGH.....im a little annoyed to say the least becasue i feel like i should have just followed my own advice, i can almost kick myself.

Abbey is my second shepherd, i never played the ear game before....my other one had her ears up at 3 months....when i bought her.

Any suggestions out there..."IM ALL EARS".....

Lorraine


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## Nigel (Jul 10, 2012)

Sorry I can't address your ear problems, but don't beat yourself up. I doubt you've done anything to damage your pups ears. Hopefully someone with ear experience will come along
And help.


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## vomlittlehaus (Aug 24, 2010)

There are several threads already and videos on taping the ears. Strong ears are genetic, I have never had a problem with them in my pups. What are you feeding?? My first litter was on kibble, did the up and down game with the ears through teething. My second litter was on raw, the ears never came down during teething. Larger ears are going to have more weight to them and flop more. You cant change the genetic make up of the ear (i.e. size, thickness, conformation). But you can damage what is already there (trauma, hemotoma). What are people with littermates experiencing?? Have the parents been bred before? and if so, how are those offspring ears doing?


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## phgsd (Jun 6, 2004)

If she was scratching so hard at her ears, she might have damaged them. If you try to tape them again I'd put her on a leash and keep her from scratching until she gets used to them. 
I don't think I would have taped - but maybe the breeder knows soft ears are an issue and that's why she wanted you to do it now. If her ear is damaged you might not have a choice but to do it again. I'd give it a day or so to see if it goes back to normal...if not, try again but be sure she doesn't scratch at them.


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## Jag (Jul 27, 2012)

My plush coat female had ear issues. Her ears were heavy, and one just refused to stand. I ended up gluing and then put the plastic E-cone on her for several days to keep her from scratching. The ear did finally stand... but she was near a year old by the time I figured out this way to do it. The ear stayed up after that, but we had many 'tries' before coming to this. If you don't use the cone, I don't see a pup leaving it alone no matter what you use.


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## 0pusX (Jul 21, 2012)

I've got my 4 month old in a cone due to surgery and I actually have noticed that the cone itself is helping prop the ears up!!


Sent from my iPhone using PG Free


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## rooandtree (May 13, 2012)

i think ive become a ear expert with my pup whos 7 months old lol...you can look through my journey in all my threads..for my guy he wouldnt leave anything alone except for the glue. He would get the tape,foam,inserts and breathe right strips out in a few seconds..no matter what..tear mender glue was they only thing that saved us. My breeder told me about it..i glued ears together likie a teepee and when they came apart i would regule..as of today they are both up  if they the one flops again i will reglue again. I found tear mender at JoAnn crafts..its at most fabric stores.Good luck


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## Jag (Jul 27, 2012)

That's the name of it!  Tear mender glue was also what I used... with the cone. I tried it without the cone first, and she still managed to rip them apart with scratching. The second try (with the cone) was where I found success. Thank you, I couldn't for the life of me remember what the glue was called!


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## Abbey'sMom (Jul 25, 2012)

Parents were bred before, one other litter. I met both of her parents...Breeder has been doing it for over 22 years.....Mom is a beautiful black and tan and dad is a pure black GSD. Non one else seems to be going through the ear issues, except me. She is large though...one of the biggest of the litter beside a little boy who was about the same size she is....very big paws...she is 42lbs at almost 18 weeks old....im happy to announce the ear that looked flatter seemed to have gone back into its old position, which i will take at this point.

Im going to get the glue if i dont see any real progress within the next 2 weeks....seems the tear mender is what the breeder recommended as well.

Thanks for the input and will keep you all posted.

She eats kibble...Nutro Ultra Puppy...switching over to the adult Kirkland i have read so many good things about on here...she gets a pet tab and a vitamin c per the breeder...every day. 

Does extra calcium help?...i also read that if you have seen ear action they will go up....when she looks down or is sleeping and she gets up they take turns going up then flop over again?

Lorraine


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## rooandtree (May 13, 2012)

ive talked to some great people on here that have the best pedigree lines and ended up with the one dog that needed help with their ears. Im glad i used tear mender....here are some pics..my guy is almost 8 months now 
and if his ear flops again i will glue again..im not giving up


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## jewels04 (Jul 20, 2012)

I was told larger puppies take longer for their ears to stand. Yours may be a late bloomer? Our puppy is like that too, he is 13 weeks all other puppies in litter have standing ears and his still flopped. I have started giving 1 tsp of the Knox gelatin twice a day. And it's only been a week but I think I see results already his left ear will stand at times and his right is perking up a little more too.

I feed the same food to our boy and he is doing wonderful, Kirkland is really good! Also encourage your baby to chew on bones too to help work the muscles and help the ears stand.


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## Abbey'sMom (Jul 25, 2012)

Thanks so much for all the feedback, something very comforting in knowing im not the only one with the one puppy from the litter that is the late bloomer...with the heavy ears. Dont get me wrong, we all love her very much, but i feel i would be doing her a disservice if i didnt at least try to get those ears up so she has that beautiful GSD look.

Thanks again everyone, and i will try the gelatin...cant hurt.



Lorraine


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