Ears not standing - Page 2

General rule of thumb is if the ears were up b4 teething, they will come up after but of course there are exceptions - my last dog Seffe was one ( also mix wgl & czech).

As noted above the thickness of the leather makes a difference (heavy ears usually more of a problem while thin leather often present in ears that blow w the wind while moving).

Genetics can be a factor tho normally that is known within the lines or family.

Hundmutter, I suspect the gelatin is an attempt to increase collagen. Fresh chicken feet would be far more effective and good for the joints.

OP I have seen raw marrow bones used to make a difference. The chewing exercises the muscles in the jaw, neck and head. Certainly falls into the category of might help won't hurt plus can keep her busy and out of trouble. Also if massaging do from the bottom up to avoid creating creases.

I have had two Shepherds w ear issues in 59+ years of gsds. The first one was less a soft ear issue and more of a temperment issue. With this bitch often her ears were correct but she had total control of them. A horribly dominant bitch who would fight I believe to the point of death targeted other bitches ears while keeping hers pinned to her head. Needless to say she was not a breeding bitch.

As noted my last girl Seffe had soft ears. Ironically as noted hers were up as a young pup b4 teething but not after. Not drop ears which is a fault but soft ears that had a variety of positions. Again ironically and somewhat mystifying was when she laid down and stretched out - at her most relaxed- the ears would be erect. Go figure.

Now my show friends were appalled that I kept a dog with floppy ears tho hypocritically I can not tell you the # of times I heard Am showline people say " well they don' t run on their ears" as a dog with a serious ear fault was given the points.

And while I might not agree with that sentiment in a breed ring where the judgement is supposed to be against the standard, it is true that a cosmetic fault does not affect structure or temperament and like Seffe they can be wonderful working dogs.

Seffe's primary role was as a mobility assistance dog for me since I walked with arm crutches for many years. As such she was always in the public eye and in her 12.5 years only once did someone inquire if she was a gsd. Everyone else knew immediately she was regardless of how her ears stood and they loved her and would tell me how beautiful she was. And that she was in body and spirit and temperament and you know those ears gave her a character of all her own.

So love your girl, enjoy, train her and she will be who she is met to be. Give her a kiss on those gorgeous wonderful ears from me. I wish the two of you a long wonderful partnership together.

If she is in the pdb can you post the link and hopefully a picture. Godspeed.

cat said ""My Czech WL GSD female's ears were slow to stand up (lots of up-and-down). I ordered ear forms, and after they arrived, but before I could use them, her ears stood up LOL"

made me LOL as I'm a firm believer in "panic early". why wait?

Rik

Rik...YOU panicking? Oh NO...I don't panic at stuff...I think if people would just chill...Nature will take care of most things...

~Bob~

by Rik on 09 February 2022 - 21:02

cat said ""My Czech WL GSD female's ears were slow to stand up (lots of up-and-down). I ordered ear forms, and after they arrived, but before I could use them, her ears stood up LOL"

made me LOL as I'm a firm believer in "panic early". why wait?

Rik

LOL  "panic early"

Better than "panic after-the-fact"

 

by TIG on 07 February 2022 - 20:02

General rule of thumb is if the ears were up b4 teething, they will come up after but of course there are exceptions - my last dog Seffe was one ( also mix wgl & czech).

As noted above the thickness of the leather makes a difference (heavy ears usually more of a problem while thin leather often present in ears that blow w the wind while moving).

Genetics can be a factor tho normally that is known within the lines or family.

 

I have had two Shepherds w ear issues in 59+ years of gsds. The first one was less a soft ear issue and more of a temperment issue. With this bitch often her ears were correct but she had total control of them. A horribly dominant bitch who would fight I believe to the point of death targeted other bitches ears while keeping hers pinned to her head. Needless to say she was not a breeding bitch

 

and now my dog's got the most beeyoooooteeful GIANT STANDING pointy ears, which communicate so many things as she raises, lowers, pins, points, turns, etc. them.  Like TIG's bitch, I think she has control over them LOL

She's got that handler aggression and serious independent/stubborn streak thing that she inherited through Lines 2 & 4 . . wonder if the ear control thing is an indicator LOL

 

 

 

 

Gscat, It would not surprise me at all if temperment, personality and character had something to do with these bitches and their control over the ears.

There are other structural issues that seem occasionally to be influenced by those traits as well. I've seen dogs that made you wonder what strange alchemy & chewing gum held them together but when they went into the flying trot, something magical happened and what you beheld was a totally different animal. I often heard  old timers (now sad to say that is a good long time ago since I'm a young 72) say that suspension was not a just a function of structure that it also came from the heart and the will of the dog . I agree with them.

Speaking of which, I was pleased to see Heidi Thies as National Breed Warden raise the issue of incorrect fronts and shoulder assemblies and also note that both show and working lines have serious problems tho the problems within each group are slightly different. An old metric used to say the average life expectancy for a competitor in the dog world was 5 years ( first dog ages out basically and most don't come back with another). I don't know if that still holds true but even for more long lasting folks, I believe a big part of the problem is most people today have never seen a correct front and even fewer have ever seen a dog with true suspension. I was blessed in that at my very first dog show I got to see the Shepherd go Best in Show. If you look at a picture you probably would not be impressed - a medium sized male quite unlike the large coarse males often seen these days but damn when he moved you sat there mesmerized. It was like he floated about 2 inches above the floor. This was a dog who easily could have trotted all day long working the flock. BIS Ch. Elch von Haus Obert. Once you have been lucky enough to see that kind of structure and movement your eye never forgets it

Of course, I had to look him up! Nice looking male, and both parents have Sch. titles.

What's your opinion on Rumor, Tig? She sure seems to float!

In the past, I adopted an 18 month old GSD from a friend's breeding kennel who was being let go because one of his ears did not go up in spite of many efforts to get it to do so. Shortly afterwards I noticed that when I called his name both ears went up. I started calling him often to see the ear go up and after awhile it stayed up. It was soft but remained up for the rest of his life.

Thank you everyone, I appreciate the help.
Hundmutter, I had heard of it on the German Shepherd Forum and a DDR group I use to follow, one of the members was using it instead of Glucosamine. The Nupro supplement has a lot of the same Amino Acids.

 I'm giving her bones every couple of days, bully sticks, split Antlers and she is on Primal raw dog food, also Turkey Necks, and Duck Necks.

Ziva, do let us know if you get a result !

I will! Thanks again.