Taping German Shepherds Ears
By Ed Frawley
I get a lot of emails about taping German Shepherds
puppy ears. The majority of these emails come from people who are jumping
the
gun and worrying too much. By that I mean their pups are 3 or 4 months
old and they are starting to panic because their puppies ears are
not standing. I tell these people that they need patience, they need
to wait until their pup has finished teething.
I caution these people not to jump the gun and tape
the dogs ears too early or in the wrong way. I know people who have screwed
their dogs ears up for life by doing this. I have had puppy customers
who go ballistic on me and panic. So I issue a word of caution here.
With that said, the other side of the spectrum of taping
ears is something that many people do not take seriously until
its' too
late. When ears are taped at 7 and 8 months there is very little
chance of it working. This is an unfortunate fact of life.
German Shepherd puppy ears can come up between 8 weeks
and 6 months. If they are not up when the dog is through teething (this
varies from dog to dog but in general between 16 weeks and 20 weeks of
age) I tell my puppy customers to get very interested in
their
ears.
While
its
not
time
to
panic, it is time to sit up and take notice.
The first thing to do is make sure that the puppies
are in good health. This means wormed. I recommend giving the pup a calcium
pill and a good vitamin every day. Its also important to make sure the
pup is getting a good quality food. I am not a fan of any commercial dog
food. I feed all of the dogs in my kennel and all-natural
diet. If you do feed commercial dog food I strongly recommend puppies
GO OFF of puppy food at 5 months of age. It causes pups to grow too fast
and this causes skeletal problems.
Its not uncommon for ears not to be up until 4 1/2 to
5 months of age. In fact a lot of times a pup will have both ears up
and all of a sudden they will come back down when the pup starts to teethe.
Many owners panic when this happens. But not to worry, I have never seen
a pup whose ears did not go back up when this happens.
If a pup does not have his ears up by 5 months I strongly
recommend that you get involved with taping your dogs ears.
- Use the thin white surgical
tape (the kind that's paper thin and tears easily). The 3M Micropore
tape, 2" wide works well (found at the drug store). I like to
use women's hair rollers (some people use tampons holder.) I prefer
the
foam hair rollers that are sold in K-Mart. Take the plastic out of
them and just use the foam. (DONT USE DUCT TAPE OR SIMILAR TAPES!!)
- Wrap the ear around the foam and tape them into a
tight roll. In a vertical position.
- Take a popsicle stick and attach it to the top part
of both ears. In a horizontal position.
- The pup is going to tear the tape or stick off the
ears several times. The key is to continue to re-tape the ears. Sooner
or later the pup will forget the tape and ignore it.
- About once a week, take the tape off and see if the
ears will stand on their own. Continue to re-tape until the ears stand.
- If the ears are not up by 7 or 8 months they are
not going to come up.
I have seen ears that did not stand which in my opinion
would have stood had they been taped. So this process is not something
to take lightly.
I also need to say that many ears will be a little
weak right after taping but with time they will strengthen. So when an
ear does not stand perfectly after taping don't panic. Just have pateince
and see what happens. You will really not have an idea exactly what you
have until the pup is 12 months old.
When ears do not stand there are ear implants that can
be surgically added. I have no experience with this and do not know anything
about them. If you are unlucky enough to have a dog whose ears will not
stand. I would point you towards a vet that has some experience in this
area. I don't think its something that normal small animal vets know how
to do (at least not well).
Ripken with his ears taped
Owned by Cheryl Graper
A 15 week old puppy with floppy ears.
We also use glue to tape German Shepherd Dogs ears. Here
are some photos sent in from a reader that used this method:
Before at 4 1/2 months - in my opinion
too young to tape
The material to use to tape German Shepherd
Ears
The pup with it's ears taped
I prefer taping German Shepherd Dogs ears after
the dog has finished teething. This usually means the dog is older
than
4 - 6 months - maybe waiting another month would have been a better
idea.
Ed,
I have a 8 month old Briard and have had so
much trouble training his ears to stand he is very stubborn and does
not like anything on his ears. He is a head shaker and a scratcher. When I first got him
his ears were glued but after about a week he scratched so much that
he made the entire top of his head and back of both ears a giant hot
spot. After it healed I re-glued but he did it again, then again so I
contacted his breeder for help. She suggested that I layer strips of
tape coated with glue on the inside of his ear making a kind of cast
inside the ear then glue just the out skirts of the hair well he didn't
go for that either. Next I decided to find a vet schooled in ear
cropping and taping but after 4 visits and a few hundred dollars I gave
that up, he wasn't doing anything I couldn't do myself. Well I was
sitting around this past weekend so I decided to search the Internet
one last time hoping for something that would work when I came across
your webpage on ear taping. It was mostly about Shepard's but it seemed like
it would be very easy, and it was. I went to Kmart bought some rollers
and the microtape then taped up his ears. He didn't like it and got most
of it off in no time so I went back to Kmart and this time bought some
athletic tape. I put one curler atop another taping them together at
the ends and taped them firmly to his ears as you instructed. It has
been 3 days and it doesn't seem to bother him very much but even
if it does a little he can't get it off. That is the quickest, easiest
method I found and it seems to be working great. Since he is already
8 mos the chances are not good but hey appear to be standing fine. I
am going to keep them up another 3 weeks or so then I will let you know
the outcome. Thank you so much I wish I would have found your
webpage sooner.
Tammy Perez
Oregon City, Oregon
A Email from one of my Leerburg puppy owners:
Hi Ed,
Just wanted to let you know how I fixed
Syron's ears. Found it very difficult to eradicate his worms (as no
doubt he picked
them up here too as I have Labs I breed) plus he had an unusual very
hard time cutting his teeth. Only just finished in fact. Not good for
ears. At six months I started to get worried about his ears going up
and down, mostly down, particularly as he could pull off, somehow overnight,
every kind of tape or female sanitary holder and tape you can think
of to get them straight no matter how I did it.. I discovered Dr. Scholls
self sticking Mole foam padding. (for human feet). NOT moleSKIN padding
which is thinner. Cut it to shape, stuck it in his ear for 48 hours along
with some human skin bond to make sure it didn't fall out. His ears are
straight now. Within 48 hours. They just needed that perk to hold them up and it worked
better than taping because he couldn't get it off.
Syron has excelled at SAR and tracking and great at
obedience. There isn't a kid in the district he doesn't like, which
is great. Amusing note: for some reason from the first week he got here,
he's hated the Utility woman who comes to read the electricy meter -
and I've heard that some other GSD's in the district feel the same way.
...mmmm.. just found out she has passed issues with child cruelty.
Regards,
Anna
Question:
Hi. I have been reading your website, again, all morning.
I have not been able to find my problem. Here it is in a nutshell:
My husband and I bought our GSD (first ever) at 9.5
weeks old. At 10.5 weeks, he went for his first visit to the vet. The
vet insisted that we tape the ears up. At first, we didn't do it and in
fact, untaped the one the vet did. Well, when he went back for his Rabies
shot, the vet again insisted that we get them taped. Unfortunately, and
much to my regret, we did it. Now he is 4 months old today, and he has
one hear that wants to lay on top of his head. I can kick myself for listening
to this vet. Other people I have spoken to, so they can't believe the
vet told us to do this, as the ears usually come up on their own. Have
you ever heard of doing this? And, do you think that there is any hope
of his ears being normal? I know that the cartilage is formed by 5 months.
Do you think that we should continue to tape them up....with extra care.....now
that we have started this mess?
I am so very upset, because Rommell is a gorgeous boy.
Of course, I am now considering finding me a new vet! By the way, on the
ear that lays over, you can see a definite "dent" in the cartilage.
I have attached a picture for you to see what I am talking about. So,
what is your opinion? Do you think there is hope for my "baby"
over the next 4 weeks?
Thanks for any reply. Also, are there any types of surgeries
to help correct this?
Brenda
Answer:
Let me explain something – you are dealing with
a good vet and VERY VERY STUPID people.
I have an article on my web site about taping ears.
Look in the list of training articles on my web site
http://leerburg.com/articles.htm. I strongly suggest that you tape
this dogs ears if it is done teething. If it still has baby teeth then
this often effects the ears. There has been no damage done by already
taping. Ears come up and go down as a pup grows and teethes during
the first 5 months.
If you want some advice you should keep this Vet
and tell these stupid people to go out and get some experience before
they pass on such stupid advice. If you do not tape this dogs ears there
is a very very good possibility that the ears will not stand – this
dog has ears like an elephant. They are too big – but that comes
with American bloodlines.
Suggestion:
I just wanted to let you know, in
case this helps others out, what we did for our GSD puppy's ear to
come up. We read tons of web
sites, talked with the breeder, vet, and others to find out what we should
do b/c Sadie's left ear just did not want to come up on its own by almost
7 months. We tried doing the curler and taping the ear, that didn't work
and she started getting an infection after 2 days of it being on. Finally,
the German Shepherd Club in Atlanta gave us our answer. There is a product
called "Skin Bond" your local pharmacy should have it, could
order it for you, or give the name of a pharmacy that carries it. We
also bought pipe insulation tubing (Grey, I believe 2'' from Home Depot.)
We cut the tubing to fit the size and shape of her ear, followed the
directions on the skin bond bottle, inserted the insulation, held it
there for a few minutes and it was like she never knew it was on her
ear. We kept it on for almost 2 weeks (until it was about to fall out
on its own) and the ear was standing up like a champ!
This seemed to be the best thing to use as it is extremely light weight
and was virtually painless on the dog (versus having to use 2 people
to hold her down when taking tape off).
I hope this can help others out.
Nikkie
Question on Taping Ears:
Ed,
Attached are three shots of my Male GSD from a showline.
Born November 18th, 2004 he is now as of today 10 1/2 months
old. The shot of him next to my working line GSD shows how his ears are
most of the time. I was concerned from the get go but was told they will
stand. Both his parents from Germany have ear that stand fine. I was
at the kennels myself and have pictures of both parents.
After reading your website I've been very upset all day that they won't
stand and I don't want to keep waiting, time is a wasting here. I took
him to the supposed ear vet guy in Baltimore and he said don't bother
taping his ears they will not stand! Needless to say I left there crying!
The fact that they will stand like the other picture
attached gives me hope so I believe I must do something TODAY! The
suggestion I read
at the bottom of your e-mail about the Pipe insulation seems most promising
as well as the skin bond but I'm unsure how to do it actually. How much
tubing do I use, how much skin bond etc. I don't want to give up without
a fight here. He is a SWEETHEART. AWESOME TEMPERMENT, AMAZING PREY DRIVE
and Obedient WOW you could not ask for anything more. He's well on his
was he just needs to look the part.
Answer:
I doubt they will stand. With that said – love
your dog for what he is and not what you expect him to be.
Photos that were attached:
Question:
Hello. I have what I believe to be Lab/Malinois mix (It's difficult to be sure because I rescued it from the Humane Society). When I adopted it, it looked like a shepherd. It is 7 months old. Is it possible to do something to make its ears stand? Or is it futile?
Thank you.
Answer:
You can try taping them, it may work or it may not. If done correctly, it won't hurt to try if it's important to you that the ears stand.
Question:
Hi, I have question about my german shepherd, he is almost three years old. His ears both stand erect but are a little flimsy when he moves. I was wondering if their was something I could give him to make the cartilege in his ears stronger so that they can stand fully erect??
Answer:
By 3 years old, your dog is fully mature and there really isn’t anything you can do. Some dogs just have thinner ears, we call these ‘soft ears’. There is not anything you can do about it unless you opt for some type of ear surgery (which I would NOT recommend).
Question:
Hi,
My German Shepherd just recently got a hematoma removed from his ear, which made is flop halfway down, and the vet said his ear would not stand back up from scar tissue. Would cropping or taping it up while its healing fix this problem?
Answer:
The only experience I have with dogs that have had ear hematomas is that the ear is permanently changed due to the scar tissue. I don't believe taping will help unfortunately. The amount of scar tissue depends on the amount of damage done to the ear, some dogs have ears that stand up but they have a 'crease' in them, but some are totally broken down and do not stand.
I'm sorry that I don't have any solutions for you on this problem. Cropping is actually surgery and I would never recommend that.
Question:
I was reading on your website about gluing a dogs ears. I have tried taping and gluing with tear mender. Skin bond has been discontinued it is not sold at any local pharmacy, they are changing the ingredients and making it latex free ( I doubt the "new and improved" would work anyway). Nothing works with my GS. I saw that you recommended another type of glue that I could buy at the auto parts store when I came back 2 weeks later the part number had been taken down from your website. Would you mind giving that information to me?
Thanks.
Jeanne
Answer:
I have heard of people using the glue used to attach the rubber weather stripping to car doors, but personally I wouldn’t put that on my dog’s skin. I don’t have the old information that used to be on the website.
I would talk to the pharmacist at a drug store and ask what colostomy patients use, that’s the type of glue I have experience with and would feel most comfortable using or recommending.
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