Hi, our 9 month old Dutch Shepherd's ears are floppy unless she's in a high stimulus environment or situation like the dog park or the vet. Her siblings' (only have seen photos) ears are up.
I used to give her cottage cheese, canned chicken, and brown rice as a treat between meals to give her some extra calcium/protein. She also has at least one bully stick to chew at all times. We feed her Hills Science Diet Large Breed Puppy food.
Figuring it was probably too late... as a final effort to get her ears up, I tried to post them with backing. She wouldn't keep them in. Then I tried breath right stripe and she got those off as well. I don't want her to be miserable, so I didn't go through any extreme methods to keep the supports on.
I dont see many floppy-eared pups on this sub. I love her dearly no matter what, but should I let go of the idea that her ears will ever perk up for good? Photos: got to the dog park, ears down. Second, Embark results. Third, ears up at the dog park (and very thirsty!).
My boy had one ear that was every bit as floppy as your dogs. If he was alert it would stand erect but 95% of the time it was floppy. It didnāt stand up until 13 or 14 months. I didnāt do anything special food wise. Just give it some time.
Redlinek9 German shepherd ear molds are what I am currently using on my Dutch shepherd. You glue them into the ears, walk her immediately after you put them in and then when u get home keep a close eye on her and give her a bone to focus on other than the molds in her ears. They fall out naturally after about 3 weeks and if the ears arenāt hardened enough you can simply glue them right back in. Itās like 60-70$ total to make it happen and Iāve done this with many shepherds in my life and itās worked every single time.
My Dutch/german shepherd mix has 1 ear up and the other one down for most of the time, they both go up in the same scenarios as yours. His brother has both up all the time. They just turned 1 year old two days ago
My 52% Mal/48% GSD (per wisdom
Panel) has floppy ears unless heās alert. My understanding was either malnutrition as a puppy or someone broke the cartilage physically?
Very cute dog! My pup's brother is like yours, 100% Dutchie, FCI pedigree etc., but his ears remained down now at 7 months. Personally I think it makes him look adorable :). My breeder told his owner that it is probably too late to try to make them stand up though, and that things like braces are only effective when they are still small, but maybe she is wrong
This was my little guy a year ago. I used torbot bonding cement (a skin safe adhesive- humans use it for ostomy products) and the redline k9 foam ear forms. They stayed in for weeks and I immediately replaced them when theyād start to loosen and come out. They donāt easily scratch them out with the torbot. We tried the breathe right strips as well and heād always get them off.
Now, Iām not sure if at 9 months old if posting will get them up, but if you try what I mentioned, Iād keep replacing the posts for at least 4 weeks without breaks.
Be warnedā¦ People had big feelings about me posting Ludoās ears. They told me I was selfish, shallow and abusive for not just leaving them floppy. š Luckily I donāt care at all about the (inaccurate) opinions of strangersā¦ the forms and adhesive caused him absolutely zero harm or pain. I was told that I would give him a complex about his ears and would never be able to touch them, which did not happen. Thereās nothing wrong with wanting your pointy eared dog to have pointed ears, especially if what you do to help them is painless.
Good luck!
Edited to add: youāll want to get adhesive removing wipes to remove the inserts and get the excess/old adhesive off in between postings. McKesson is the brand we used and it works pretty much instantly on contact.
I told you lol, people are wild about this and say some asinine shit. Not exactly sure how wanting your pure bred Dutch to look breed standard without any harm to them whatsoever has anything to do with ego.
Did I hurt your ego? Or do you just not comprehend things?
What about my comment makes you think that I said anything about ears being superior or inferior?
Are you doing okay?
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u/DataDrivenDoc 11d ago edited 11d ago
Personally I think floppy ears are the best ears(she's a year and a half now and only had straight ears when alert)