Ears not up @ 8 months - Page 1

First I am new to this message board so Hi ;)

Yes I know a well spoken of topic, but my friend has a lovely big boy with huge ears that flop...the base is good but only a third of the way up, he is a long coat as well so the risk of ear trouble worries both of us, we went to a local breeder for help taping @ 6 1/2 months and that resulted in an infection from the glue used with in a few days....my friend loves him the way he is but would like him to look like a the GSD he is, as well but with that first bad experience she is hesitant about giving it another shot (with the RIGHT adhesive)

She was told by a few people to "just leave them be" and "my dog took a year to come up you'll be fine" so has she missed the boat on them or have anyone had ears come up naturally or with help extremely late??

Many breeders will start taping before 4.5 months if ears not up. After teething. I think, perhaps, the window of opportunity is passed on this big boy. I would leave them alone, and if they come up, they come up. It's alot to put them through, especially after infection. Tell her not to be so vain. If she's not showing, and he's a pet, just love them the way they are. The bigger the dog, the longer they may take to come up. Some folks say they have had ears come up at one year, I've not seen that.  Get past the ears and into his temperament, that's really so much more important, at this point. Good luck, Von Leistung

I have a big 11 month old male, out of a current VA.  His ears did not come up until last week.  He has big heavy ears and it hurt to see such a beautiful pup with those darn ears.  I suscribe to the theory that taping should not be done with bad ears, as it masks the true dog (for other reasons as well as illustrated above), and so I bit the bullet and just waited and hoped.

They finally came up and he is beautiful.

It is true that there are no guarantees and sometimes ears do not come up, but that would be unusual.  Like stated by another above.  Gotta love him, floppy ears and all.  Gives him personality I bet.  Of course I am hoping along with you that they do come up, strong and healthy.

Milli,

The ears may or may not perk up, I don't believe in taping ears.   When you breed you look for things like this.  The breeder didn't seem to think it was worth the worry and may have overlooked other shortcoming's as well. 

I understand the dispointment but you can't alter what is in the dog's genetic's and shouldn't even try.  

I hope this is not all the friend care's about and except's this dog for what it is.

Brent.

http://www.hauspharao.com/promoting.html

health

ears

If the pup is long coated.. you could shave the hair off the ears to make them lighter..sometimes that helps  and if it is only the tops that are falling over..  the Breath Right Strips .. for peoples noses!  works really well !  

Wait it out...Like Do Right just said....most of them come up ...the bigger bone the dog , some of them are not up till 9 mos or later....seen it many time...just provide lots of pork bones raw and chew sticks,,,,that are healthy,,,read labels first   make sure not made in china or mexico and no red dye...

I dont believe in taping ears either.....

I've been through this. Leerburg has an excellent article on "posting" ears. This is what I had to do with my first GSD who was an American line GSD. I found ONE vet who helped and showed me how to do it. Changed the tape every week and cleaned the ears. It took from 8 months to 10 months for the ears to become permenantly up. These people who say not to worry, probably don't have a dog with this problem. I also let the breeder know about that and other problems. If I wanted a floppy eared GSD, I would not have paid so much for him. No more bad nerved, bony legged, anxious American line GSDs for me.

My boy, Radar has lovely big ears (as anticipated by the name) and they seemed to take FOREVER to come up.  I started singing to him -- and as he listened, he would sort of perk his ears up, and this served as exercise.  Don't know if this did the trick or not, but we were all glad to see the ears come up, but no one was happier than Radar  who is now enjoying the silence.

Thank you for replying :) this boy is extremely loved no matter what his ears are like, IMO taping ears is like braces for kids with crooked teeth....I think the owner will sit it out as she was so distressed at the first go (a glue bought from the hardware store) I thought better of this and queried it but was shot down that this breeder "uses it on her dogs if needed" and both my friend and I have no experience in this so a reaction was the result.

It's good to hear there is still some hope naturally as this was my main Q ...I think my friend gets sick of being asked all the time "what is he?" and then disbelief as he is a mild long coat as well (plush with just the fluff on his ears) that and the possible ear infections that could go along with it.

is it too late to give the calcium or other supplements?, as far as I know he has his big chew bones daily and is on euk with a couple of sardines with natural yogurt

I like the singing!!! I'll let her know lol

any other advice or experience in late ears is still appreciated ;)