Floppy Ears on German Shepherd Puppy

by Ray

Hello,

My name is Ray, my Pure Bred GSD is almost 5 months old and his ears are still floppy. I was wondering if some one could give me an answer to when his ears will erect? I met his dad, mom and grand dad, there ears are fully erect. Thank you


Total German Shepherd:


You still have some time left - normally, most German Shepherd puppies ears will come up before they are 6 or 7 months old - if they are going to come up. Now keep in mind, not all German Shepherd puppies ears will come up all the way sometimes. That's just the way it is.

Normally if a German Shepherd puppies ears do not come up before 6 to 7 months of age, then chances are high that they won't come up at all - and this might be just one or both ears. And this can be because of several different reasons such as heredity and genes, severe dietary and nutritional neglect, an injury or maybe some kind of abuse or neglect.

There are things you can do to try to get the ears to go up - think of it as braces for the ears (not for the teeth). You can give the GSD puppy calcium supplements (ask your vet for dosing suggestions) - just don't go overboard. There are also implants which can be very expensive and painful (not recommended by me), and then there is also ear taping.

Ear taping is not 100% effective but if the German Shepherd puppies ears are not up anyway, it really can't hurt to try as long as you do it correctly and supervise the German Shepherd puppy while his or her ears are taped. You can read more about German Shepherd ear taping here.

I have known a few cases of older German Shepherds (with 1 or both floppy ears) that's ears did go up eventually, several years later - but this is not the norm by any means. Lastly, it is not the end of the world if the ears don't go up on their own. Your German Shepherd is still a wonderful companion to you either way so enjoy it's uniqueness. And good luck with those ears.