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Taping German Shepherd Ears

By Ed Frawley

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I get a lot of emails about taping German Shepherd 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 puppy's 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 dog's ears too early or in the wrong way. I know people who have screwed their dog's 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 it's 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 it's not time to panic, it is time to sit up and take notice.

The first thing to do is make sure that your puppy is in good health. This means no intestinal parasites. Take a stool sample to your vet to have it analyzed. It's also important to make sure the pup is getting good quality food. We feed and recommend a raw diet but if you do feed a commercial diet, I strongly recommend researching all the options available and feeding the highest-quality food you can afford. View our list of all-natural kibble alternatives.

It's 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 teeth. 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 dog's ears.

Use the thin white surgical tape (the kind that's paper-thin and tears easily). The 3M Micropore tape, 2" wide, works well. I like to use women's hair rollers. Take the plastic out of them and just use the foam.
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.

The ears should look like this once taped.

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 patience 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 toward a vet that has some experience in this area. I don't think it's something that normal small animal vets know how to do well.

Gluing German Shepherd Dog Ears

We used to glue German Shepherd Dogs ears but now only tape instead. Here are some photos sent in from a reader that glued their puppy's ears:

Before at 4 1/2 months. In my opinion, too young to tape.

The material to use to tape German Shepherd Ears

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 for this puppy.

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About Author

Ed Frawley

Ed Frawley is the founder of Leerburg. He has been training dogs since the 1950s. For 30 years, Ed bred working bloodline German Shepherds and has produced over 350 litters. During this time, Ed began recording dog training videos and soon grew an interest in police service dogs. His narcotic dogs have been involved in over 1,000 narcotics searches resulting in hundreds of arrests in the state of Wisconsin. Ed now solely focuses on producing dog training courses with renowned dog trainers nationwide. If you want to learn more about Ed, read about his history here.