# Be happy if ears do not go up in early months



## Sirscarecrow (Oct 26, 2010)

My puppie's ears went up with exactly 12 weeks naturally. First of all two factors here:

The first one, be happy if they do not go up in early months. My dog's went up at 12 weeks and it took just two days for a major ear infection and puppie's and infections that can cause fever and more can be serious. I wished my puppies ears would go up later because they are huge compared to his head size and all sorts of stuff, from one single damp grass to an ant can go in that huge ear and it will and cause you a headache. Give it time...

Another thing after talking to experts you want to consider is his parents. Are they of pink pedigree or does not have a pedigree at all. Genetics is a factor here big time. Odin's father was a show dog and Schutzhund competition dog. He was bread in Germany, by a famous breeder and he was bred for shows. He is pink pedigree and most of the times there, yet not always, the ears for example is no factor because the family tree goes back to dogs that have over decades, contineously being bred for perfection.

Not that I call this frog that is biting the metal chair stand instead of his nylabone as I write this perfect, but his pedigree is impressive. His parents and grandparents and so forth date back long time and although occasionally the breeder has admitted having to have taped ears, most of the times it is not needed.

So, first of all, be happy if it takes a while so his immune system is strong when the nasty ear infection arrives and I am sure it does at one point. Then check your dogs history, or ask when his parents ears went up if you can and be patient.


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## VegasResident (Oct 4, 2006)

Sirscarecrow said:


> My puppie's ears went up with exactly 12 weeks naturally. First of all two factors here:
> 
> The first one, be happy if they do not go up in early months. My dog's went up at 12 weeks and it took just two days for a major ear infection and puppie's and infections that can cause fever and more can be serious. I wished my puppies ears would go up later because they are huge compared to his head size and all sorts of stuff, from one single damp grass to an ant can go in that huge ear and it will and cause you a headache. Give it time...
> 
> ...


Mines went up at 4.5 months. Was nice as he did not look like an HBO receiver.

Metal Chair? Mine goes for fabric...trade you!


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## Sirscarecrow (Oct 26, 2010)

Hehe

Odin's ears were huge compared to his size when his ears were up. Still are huge. Point of this post was just that people should know that ear infections happen and in young puppies it can be serious, so they should wait a bit and be happy they do not go up at 3.5 months already.

As for the chair, I meant the chair stand, that is out of metal so I am going to have to say no to your trade request :laugh: because of everything he had in his mouth, this chair stand got the better end of it !


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

I don't think that the ear infection had much to do with the ears being up - lots of pups have erect ears at that age, and it does not make them more or less prone to an infection. Sorry your pup went through that, glad he is better.

And yeah, they do need to grow into their ears! LOL! Some puppies can look like they have wings!


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## Sirscarecrow (Oct 26, 2010)

Odin definitely shouldn't hang around outside if the winds are greater than 15 kts. Chances for him to take off and I would not want to see his kamikaze tendencies in the air, it already is sufficient to see it on the ground.

As for his ears, had the Vet and breeder say if the ears are up at a very early age and it happened to mine, one damp grass in there can already cause a significant infection. The infection or ear infections that are one of the most ocuring problems in any dog with outstanding ears the size of the GSD are in itself not so bad. They react very positively if the vet knows how to treat the infection and many even recommend a few times a week to clean the ears with special ear care products. The problem is that German shepherd puppies are very prone to problems and a ear infection which in an adult GSD is rather minor can cause severe problems.

Odin's ear was as red as a tomato when it happened his ear also fell flat sideways, looked like a flying saucer and he shook is head basically 30 long seconds in one minute. It was horrible. It hurt me just looking at it. Now we treat the ear the way it should be treated and it is fine again. We continue to do so even after the ear infection has gone with special ear care products once or twice a week. 

Let's see what happens from here.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

I'm really not buying that ears going up early can make them more susceptible to ear infections. I think you should research that theory a bit more before believing it.


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## Lesley1905 (Aug 25, 2010)

Brodys ears were up solid at 8 weeks old and never really had problems. He was funny looking with such big ears and a little head! I hope his ears are better and stop getting infected! We got some ear cleaning solution from our vet the one time his ears were a tad smelly. It must have stopped it in its tracks before it got worse. I would just make sure to clean them out the minute they smell funky or have dirt in them! Also if you give him a shower, make sure there is no resting water in them! Best of luck to you and those cute ears!


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## Montana Scout (Sep 27, 2010)

Lesley1905 said:


> Also if you give him a shower, make sure there is no resting water in them! Best of luck to you and those cute ears!



ive heard putting cotton balls in the ears helps... but i haven't given him a shower yet.. im sure he might hate it LOL

but my pups ears have been up since 7 weeks... nothing so far and he's 3 months, im sure they will flop during teething... i don't know if massaging them is keeping them up or if he just naturally has perky ears


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

My parents had an English Setter. Setter ears are down like a GSD puppy's ears. It provides a warm damp place for every nasty infectious thing, like mites or yeast or whatever to grow and grow. 

Open ears like sheps are like huge arial vaccumes for every nasty thing. 

Up or down, some dogs are just prone to ear infections. 

Do NOT believe they are minor in adult dogs. They may not cause fevers that you notice, but the ear canal will bleed and hurt, they will cry and shake their heads, they can get a hematoma and the ear will likely be broken then forever. More seriously though, they can puncture their ear drum. 

Moist is bad. A lot of ear cleaning products dogs do not object to because they have aloe and such in them, and they do not feel bad, but they do not dry out the ear canal either. You need a product that will clean and then dry out the ear canal so that the environment is less welcoming to the problems that cause ear infections.

YES cleaning the ears once or twice a week regularly will help, but only if it is with a product that will dry out the canal. Also a little tube of anamox fights ear infections whether they are caused by yeast, infection, mites, or something that isn't coming right now. The stuff works pretty good. I use it at the first sign of trouble and it usually cleans it right up. 

I have never had an infection in such a young pup. Hope that is not an indication of what is to come. I guess you should just make cleaning the ears a regular part of grooming him. 

Good luck.


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## Zoeys mom (Jan 23, 2010)

Zoe's ears were up at 6 weeks and never went down. No ear infections or nasty insect bites, but yes a satellite dish had nothing on her ears....actually at a year old she still has huge ears. We call her bat ears and love them no matter how disproportionate they look


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## CaseysGSD (Oct 15, 2010)

Zoeys mom said:


> Zoe's ears were up at 6 weeks and never went down. No ear infections or nasty insect bites, but yes a satellite dish had nothing on her


Same here for us, though having them up at 6 weeks made me a little sad to have never seen the flop!!!


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## PaddyD (Jul 22, 2010)

Abby's went up at 17 weeks (now 17 months), no problems so far. Previous dog had floppy ears (mutt), occasional problems with infections but 13 years of running in the woods and digging in the dirt are bound to cause problems from time to time.

Now if she would just grow into them....... !


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