March 20, 2013
Hi Cindy,
This floppy ear issue keeps coming up. We had a GSD with a floppy ear when I was a teenager (in the 1950s), and my mother went so far as to get the dog a cartilage transplant, and it didn’t work but cost plenty.
We bought two GSD puppies from a breeder in July 2002. The male had a floppy ear, so I tried almost all the solutions on your website, except that I also cut a piece of x-ray film into an ear shape and taped it in. We visited several “experts” in Mendocino County and got the same advice you offer: sponge hair rollers, rolled-up cotton, even Tampax. Nothing worked.
So eventually, I took one of the clear Breathe Right strips I apply to my nose at night, and used Super Glue to stick it to the outer edge of the inside of the ear (which is where the ear creases). It stood up fine and was essentially invisible. Strangers could not tell we were splinting our dog’s ear.
In a couple weeks it started to loosen, so I glued another clear Breathe Right strip to his ear, this time on the back edge, to prevent tissue damage.
We alternated front and back for about three months, and Voila! The ear stayed up on its own for the rest of his life.
Unfortunately, both dogs died at 10 years, about nine months apart, of cancer.
I emailed the Breathe Right manufacturer with this info, but got no response. We would not hesitate to use this method again.
I hope you have occasion to pass this on to others. Please let people know it’s important to switch from front to back every couple of weeks to avoid tissue damage or impairment of hair growth.
Best regards,
Robert
May 6, 2012
Hello Cindy,
I am writing to you as I know you are one of the top places to ask questions. I do not have a question but an answer in regard to ear implants.
I have a super drive GSD, which I imported. I was also told he had weak ears, and all the photos showed his ears standing, but a bit wavy. When I picked him up and the airport, it turned out the dogs ears were floppy, not weak. While working and having his attention, they would go up, but not remain up at all times. I decided to investigate ear implants, mainly for one ear, as the other would pretty much stay up.
Shame on me is all I can say. I gave in to all the peer pressure of everyone saying such a nice dog, but those ears etc.. Lesson one, for me should have been to ignore the idiots. Second, don't play with mother nature, especially that my dog was 2 years old.
I investigated the implants, the possible complications, mainly I was told, possible rejection, or infection. Being a nurse I tried to think of every scenario and every question I could think of.
I have the implant done, and everything looks great, both ears are up. Several months go by, and I notice a small scab on the back of the ear. It turns out, the implant is coming out of the skin, and now has to be removed. The vet insists on resetting the implant as this would be less traumatic for the dog. Several days later I bring the dog home. I am cleaning the scabbed area as directed and the implant is eroding thru the skin.
I take the dog to my regular vet and have everything removed. The poor dog has now gone through 3 surgeries, all for nothing and me feeling like I did this to the dog. Shame on me.
Lesson learned. There are a lot more complications than was disclosed, so for anyone considering a implant, leave well enough alone.
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
Oregon City, Oregon
Mr. Frawley,
I just read your article about making a GSD's ears stand or any other dog's ear stand. About a year ago before finding your article I found the pink-foam-roller-way of doing it with tape and my shepherd after 3 weeks of re-taping I tried a different way. My shepherd couldn't get used to the extra weight or maybe something else about the rollers with a popsicle stick. What worked for him was gluing the back of the inside of his ears to make the shape of a tee-pee. Start a quarter inch about his head and all the way to the tips. The glue was Tear-Mender adhesive. It's non-toxic and bonds in less than 2 minutes. After about two weeks the glue gives up but it only took 3 applications to get my dogs to stand up and they have been standing ever since. Maybe you know of this way already. I did find it on the internet. Thanks for your great DVDs and eBooks.
Respectfully,
Wayne
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
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 electricity 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
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. 
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.
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.
