Floppy ear in German Shepherd.

Dr. Marie replied:

Thanks for your question.

This is a controversial subject. You will hear many different opinions on things that you should or should not do to get a dog's ears to stand and the truth is that no one knows for sure what is the best thing to do.

In general, I tell my clients that if the dog's ear is not up by 6 months then it is not likely to stand which means that Rock's ear may not ever stand up.

There is no evidence at all that calcium or vitamin C would help. I really can't see how they would. You will definitely have people who claim that they did help saying things like, "My dog's ears were floppy. I gave him vitamin C for two weeks and then they finally stood up." But who's to say that they wouldn't have stood on their own? I find that most floppy dog ears are like that...they can just decide to stand on their own even if you do nothing.

The taping is something that *may* help. It is important that the taping job is done by someone who has experience with taping. There's no harm in taping but again, no one has proven whether it actually works or not. My guess, however is that by this age the taping may not work.

I personally love the look of a floppy eared German Shepherd, especially if just one ear is floppy, but I can understand having a preference for straight ears.

Dr. Marie.

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Dr. Marie replied:

Good to know. Thanks for the update.

Dr. Marie.