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Cheap solution to fix broken ears in an ADULT GSDs.

121K views 71 replies 22 participants last post by  LynnPritchard 
#1 ·
Hi All,

We already asked before about a solution to fix our girl's broken ear and everyone said it was impossible :(

Just a reminder. Our girl had her ears up since she was a pup. Then by 6-7 months, one of the ears started to go up and down till about 14 months, it was completely down and never up. We tried everything (so we thought): chewing bones and toys, glucosamine and chondroitine tablets, cheese, yoghourt, rubbing her ears, and you name it and nothing worked. Our girl had a visible deep crease in her ear from where the ear was down for so long. Since cartilages are like bones and need to be held in place to be fixed, we decided to think of something that would hold the ear straight and remove the crease. So I came up with this very simple cheap way that perfectly worked for us and the crease has completely gone :D
After a while, I did some research and found that some vet in the States has brought out a similar technique but charges nearly $300 or so for it!!!
In reality, this technique would cost you about $5-15 at max for 3-4 months of treating the ears!! Here is a video I've made for you guys and I really hope it helps and really sorry for the video quality, it's my very first upload :)



Also, here are some pics of before the fix, during the fix and after. As you can see, our girl's ear is perfectly fixed and standing on its own for months now yet we started really late when she was about 14 months and she's now 20 months. We still keep applying it even though the ear is standing perfectly just to make sure the cartilage gets stronger and stronger.

I recommend doing it as long as possible, specially if your dog is not a pup anymore, at least minimum 8-12 months.
This technique is very suitable for puppies as well since it's very light for the ear. This may also work in other breeds too since the principle is the same for broken cartilages.

Good luck and really really hope this helps you with your dog's ears. Let us know :)
 

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#3 ·
Your very welcome :) Really hope it helps out a lot of people like it did for us :)
 
#4 ·
Great video, this will defintely be able to help others here with the same issues. Did your dogs teeth ever grow in? I have a dog also missing teeth.
 
#5 ·
Thanks a lot Msmaria :) Unfortunately Enakai has still 2 missing teeth (P1 teeth). I've read in another post someone had their dogs P1 teeth growing after 2 years of age, so I'll wait and see with fingers crossed :)
 
#9 ·
Your welcome all :)



I think the sooner you start fixing your pup's ear, the better it is. We thought at the same age that the floppy ear would still stand on its own and instead it got worse and once it was fully down, it never went up again and we were told it never will.. At least your pup's ear is still going up so you should definitively start doing something now before the crease in its ear gets deeper (if it has one now), this will make things a lot easier for you guys, rather than waiting like we did. I really hope it helps you if you try it :)
 
#11 ·
Thanks!

Thanks for this video! We'll have to try this. We've tried everything too. Our Odin had both ears up before teething, then both ears down while teething, then only one came up. Looks just like your girl - and he's a long coated too. We've shaved his ears, tried breath right, we've done Tee pee method (which has worked for him, but his ear falls down in 1-2 days after). Even cardboard glued into his ear. We think he smooshed it while sleeping since he ALWAYS sleeps on his left side. He's 8 mo. right now - and we've been trying off and on since 6 mo. My husband, trainers, friends are adament that we don't mess with him anymore. It's "character". He's from a 30yr. old show breeder...and looks like a mutt (especially since he's long coated) :) at the end of the day I don't really care because he is a goof and it fit him, but still - he just looks so good when both are up and alert.
 

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#12 ·
Ears!

Harriet, he's ADORABLE! But, I'd be right with you in wanting that ear up. I pray that our puppy's will be okay. He'll be 6 months on the 13th of this month. We're doing the pipe insulation and tape route from the Leerburg site, and it appears to be helping. But, he knocks it all down at night and then his ears tend to be back down. So stressful. I'll bet that you've still go a real shot at 8 months. I'm going to try the method from the video if we don't have good result by 6.5 months, I think.

I attached a photo of our current efforts. Trappe is a large pup (69 lbs at 5.5 months) with huge, heavy, soft ears.

Good luck!
 

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#13 ·
Will look for the supplies for this in the next few days... We've been putting strips in the ear at night because it falls when he's resting, tired, or asleep and the strips keep the ear up all night long but don't seem to flatten the crease enough to make a difference the next day. Been doing this for a few weeks and his ear seems floppier than ever! It also flops all around when he walks and plays... It's just so soft. :-(

Mammal Vertebrate Dog breed Dog Canidae


Dog Mammal Vertebrate Dog breed Canidae


Dog Mammal Vertebrate Dog breed Canidae



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#15 ·
He is a little over 8 months! A sweet and cute boy but just so handsome with standing ears! I'm hoping if this method flattens the crease enough and stays in long enough, the ear can start to harden in the "up" position. When I go to put the strips in, he sits calmly but always folds his ear back, thus it's hard for me flatten the crease completely.

Never gone through this much trouble for ears before!


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#16 ·
It sounds a though you may need to pull out the stops and do everything you can at this point, since I've seen "7-8 months" as the outside time for having success. However, the person with the video seems to have achieved success well after that time. I'm totally with you....we have to get these ears right; they're too handsome to have floppy ears. Trappe is my fourth shepherd, and we've never had "ear issues" before. Nothing is ever easy, is it?? Have you read the ear article on the Leerburg.com site? It has some good information, and that's where I got the pipe insulation and surgical tape method. Breathe Rite wasn't even close: ears too heavy. Anyway, I'm going to try the video method if my current efforts don't work. He typically gets his ears mostly up for an entire day but then either one or both drops again.
 
#17 ·
Hi everyone,
Well we tried the pipe insulation and tape trick but it seemed to be really bugging and irritating for our girl. She would not leave it alone and kept on pulling it off and we also tried the nose strips but she got a rash from them. With the technic of the card and medical tape, it seems like it never irritated our girl's ear and it's not bugging her neither or make her scratch her hear since it's quite light and very easy to remove yet it keeps the ear straight and nice. Also it's very discrete.
It's taken a while to get the ear up on our girl and the crease to completely disappear. I've been keeping the card and tape in for 2 days max or if i see it's coming apart a bit i'll change it and i've done this for a few months non stop. Also try a thicker and wider bit of card for the first few weeks or if your dog's ears are heavy then move to a thinner piece after a month min. Make sure that you keep the crease straight. The card REALLY needs to stay in there all the time, take it off only to change it and put a new one straight away. Try not to let the ear fall back down (pre-make the change). With our girl we thought it was not going to work at first as after about 2 weeks we left it out to see how it was looking. It was staying up for about 2 / 3 hours then falling down, so i started to read up a bit about cartilage and healing times, from what i read cartilages take a real long time to heal due to having a deprived blood supply, which means that nutrients that help in healing are not readily obtainable. So once i read that, i was more determined to keep at it and get her ear up. It's been about 4-5 months I've been doing it and i am still doing it now even though the ear never falls down when i remove the card (even after a day without the tape) and the deep crease has completely gone. I keep on doing it because i want to make sure its healed up really good, just like a leg break or arm you have to keep it in place for a prolonged period for it to work.
Really really hope which ever technic you try, it works for you :)
 
#19 ·
Mickey, you're wonderful! What would we do without help from our online friends? Many, many thanks for the additional information and your terrific encouragement. I continue to think that Trappe's ears may yet just be coming up on their own, but I don't dare take the chance and miss our window for getting them right. I think that I'll make up a stack of the cards in advance and have them at the ready.

What was the brand/width of the tape you used in the video?

Thanks!!
 
#20 ·
Here's Warden's ear using this fix. It's been in since last night. Will use this method for the next few months and go from there... Yesterday his ear would hardly stand!

Mammal Vertebrate Dog Canidae Dog breed


Dog Mammal Vertebrate Dog breed Canidae


Mammal Vertebrate Dog Dog breed Canidae


I wasn't able to find the tape in the video though, even after contacting 3M (which looked like the brand) so I used moleskin. So far it's holding.


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#22 ·
By the way, I found this particular tape, Mefix Self-Adhesive Fabric Tape - 4" x 11 yds. - Molnlycke 311099, by talking to a medical supply business and describing the tape as best I found. She thought it might be this product, which comes in several different widths. I ordered it yesterday from Amazon.com. I'll let you know if it appears to be the right thing. Amazon says that it has been shipped.
 
#23 ·
Oh great! Very anxious to hear! The moleskin is just dr scholls, it comes in sheets so it's easy to cut. I got it bc I'm a runner and use it because it sticks well. Basically the stickiness is my biggest hurdle so far... Nothing seems to stay very long! The moleskin is ok but is a felt material on one side so taping the card to it doesn't seem to be working that well. Hoping you have good luck w the tape!!


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#25 ·
That might work?! Try it out and see if it's too stiff... I just changed the insert because the card fell off and the moleskin was lifting at the bottom a little... Plus I wanted to try making it smaller. But two layers of moleskin sounds like it might work, because the edges around the card would be flexible but the card would still hold the ear straight!


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#26 ·
Well, that was a bust for me! The moleskin didn't stick to Trappe's ear! I expect to receive the Mefix tape this week, so I'll give it a try and let you know. Will take a photo, too. Trappe is still teething and will be 6 mo old tomorrow, so I'm still praying that I'm unnecessarily worried and that this will sort itself out.....but we'll see. Tired of worrying about ears!!

Good luck at your end!
 
#29 ·
And I don't know why my moleskin didn't stick. I cleaned his ear ( as directed by the video!). I wasn't sure about the set of his ear after I got one in, as the piece sort of made his ear stick out to the side a bit. So, I had decided to go back to my pipe insulation with the "goalposts", which keep everything in perfect alignment. When I got ready to remove the moleskin, it came right out very easily, so I don't think it would have held up. Did you use the moleskin "padding" or some other version? Maybe I had the wrong thing.
 
#30 ·
Yeah it was the moleskin padding I think... it feels like a felt. It's Meijer brand... you might not have Meijer where you are. Im really hoping the tape works for you, my pup also has a vet visit to see if there's anything else that would work better. The moleskin is ok but when I go to peel it off, some areas are really "stuck" and I dont want to irritate his ears. I peel off the support when changing it, when one area "pops" off or creases due to his crazy ear movements, or when he goes to daycare, because I need to talk to the owner about letting him play with it on.

SIGH! Such ear drama
 
#31 ·
You've probably found most of the same things I have on this site, but I found this from several years ago this AM:

You don't need to buy fancy forms to do the ears, I use pipe insulating foam. You can get it at most hardware stores in the plumbing aisle, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, etc. You will also need Johnson's Sports Tape, you can purchase it at Walgreens, make sure you use Johnson's, I have tried other brands and gotten skin reactions, never with Johnson's. If you intend to glue, you will need to purchase a can of skin bond, or I believe it's called "Osto Bond" now, you can usually find that at any medical supply store, some pharmacies also carry it, but you won't find it at the drug store (like Walgreens or CVS). You'll also want to have an exacto knife available. So, to begin with , you will want to take the foam and cut a piece the length of your dog's ear, making sure you cut it long enough to fit down into the base all the way to the tip of the ear. Coat the back of the foam with the skin bond, also coat the inside of the ear with the glue. Firmly press the foam into the ear, making sure you get it all the way into the base, smooth the ear around the foam. Now the tricky part, you'll want to cut the foam with the exacto knife to the shape of the ear, so when you're done, the dog will just have a piece of foam glued to the shape of his ear, not a big round piece hanging in there. (wish I had some pictures!!) Next, use the sports tape and wrap it around the ear to secure the foam, it will be itchy while the glue is setting, the tape will help secure it for a couple of days. I always like to do the other ear as well, even if it's standing, them brace them together while the glue sets up. So for the good ear, you can use the foam, cut an appropriate length, use the sports tape and run it down the foam, then turn the tape so it's sticky side out and wrap it back up the other way. Place that in the dog's good ear and wrap the ear with tape. Now you need to cut a longer length of tape, start at the base of one ear with it, go accross the top of the head and wrap the base of the other ear, back accross the top of the head to the 1st ear, this braces the ears together. Make sure you are careful with the set of the ears while bracing, don't pull them too tight together so they'll be overset, try and get them in a natural position. You can also add another strip of tape on top of the 1st piece that's at the base, just to make sure it holds. I will usually keep the tape on for a couple days, just to make sure the glue is set. You can then remove the tape and form from the good ear and the tape that you have around the bad ear, the foam will remain glued in the bad ear for several weeks. Just watch that he's holding the ear properly on the head, if he starts hanging the ear, you will want to brace them together again. Also, try and have someone available to help you, you will definitely need the extra set of hands!!! Good luck, I have been taping ears this way for over 20 years with good success.

I've been running around like a chicken with its head cut off, buying every product which sounds promising. Tape didn't come today. Will let you know.

I tried the Breathe Rite strips early on with no success, because Trappe's ears are so large and heavy. However, I didn't think to glue them in or to use multiplex in X patterns or whatever. I may also revisit that, perhaps in combination with the Dr. Scholl's molefoam padding, if the other doesn't work.
 
#32 ·
Haha I feel the same way, running around like crazy. I dont feel like I can do the foam pipe with tape goalposts because he goes to daycare 3-4x a week!! So thats a no go... Im not sure how to balance taping the ear and getting him to daycare... he wont be able to play with other dogs with a crazy ear setup.

I used to cut the breathe-rite strips in half and place each piece in the ear side by side along the crease. It would last overnight and then in the morning I'd take them off and he'd come home after daycare and I'd put new ones in.

Ward's ear STANDS, but not all the time. It's up when he's training, walking, (unless he's pinning them back) chewing, etc. If he's at rest in any way, down it goes, and down it stays!! If I dont reinforce the ear at night, I have a heck of time getting the ear to come back up in the morning.

I've been doing moleskin with card on top, and more moleskin to cover the card. Then I tape over the whole thing, with the tape being larger than the bottom moleskin layer. So the tape covers more ear and yet isnt so stiff and heavy that he scratches it out, but holds the moleskin-card rig in place. So far only doing this at night and all the time on weekends.

I'm honestly not sure what else to do because of his daycare schedule. Going to see what the vet says too.

SIGH!
 
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