Ear question. - Page 2

Does Gunther have any digestion issues?  Is he eating any special diet?  Has he had any problems with loose stool?  If he gets stressed out or if he eats anything different, does he get diarrhea?

How about his pasterns.  Are they straight up like a Malinois, lightly angled like the GSD standard or is he "down on his pasterns"?

Michele

Hi,
A few year's ago I had a Malinois with both ear's down.  His ear's were up until he started teething. 
I tried everything.  From personal experiences I will give you a list of what finally worked for my boy. 
I also would evaluate how his feet  they should be tight between the toes.  Rule out any food or allergy issues. 
I did use unflavored pack's of gelatin 1/2 a pack mixed with food daily.
Ester C 500 mg. a day with food. C help's set collogen and connective tissues.
MSM supplement can also be added.  A friend also reccomended a Produt called PSD Complex 2 that I had purchased from K V Vet before.  It is a calcium supplement that is formulated for large pup's and cropped patient's.  I am told that it is formulated not to be an overdose of Cal/ Phos ratio which can be harmful.
As for taping and forming ear's I am sending a link with a video for that.  I wish that was available when I had the issue.

I hope this help's !
Please let me know if you have any question's, Beth

http://www.thedoghousellc.com/floppyears.htm

Thanks for all the great replies. Many folks have told us to wait it out, as he is teething in earnest (lost 2 more today).  I have been massaging his soft ear daily, and when I whistle for him the ear does come up but it goes right back down.

ATARTHS- thanks for the detailed explanation.

BethA- thanks for the video link.

Pharaoh-No digestive issues, no changes in stool. He is eating regularly and has not demonstrated any issues with his food (Royal Canin). Pasterns are lightly angled.  We have not fed Gunther anything but his dog food and some training treats (Natures Food). He has not had any raw meat, bones, etc. I didn't know we could feed him raw chicken drumsticks, I figured that would be dangerous for him (bones breaking, choking, etc)

I will be disappointed if his ear does not come up, however, we love him and try not to stress out in front of him about his "floppy" ear.  We want him to be within the breed standard, however, we aren't going to dump him if things don't turn out perfectly. He will just be the floppied eared dog that is hell on the sleeve.

For those that own (have owned) larger GSD's, do the larger dogs develop slower ? Gunthers Sire (Karats Ulko) is a big boy, and his dam (Braveheart Hilary) is a larger female.

I wonder if Gunther is just taking longer to develop ? 

He is now 42 lbs as of his vet visit on 5 February. (5 months old)

Thanks again for all the responses.

Regards,

Vinegarjoe

My GSD was 70 lbs @ 6 months.  His ears were fully up @ 4 months and they never went back down during teething.  I haven't (nor has the vet) noticed any development issues.