Ear Training -- Or How I Mutilated My Dog

The ears do not rise up on every GSD. They are generally expected to be in the fully up position by the end of teething. While Knuckles is at the very end of teething (found a molar and incisor in the carpet this week), his ears show no sign of the proper position at all. During our last medical appointment, the vet commented on the fact that Knuckles cartilage appeared to be broken, perhaps from rough play. Unfortunately, he thinks that if I’m not showing Knuckles, I should just ignore his ears. We disagree.

There are a large enough percentage of GSD with this problem that they have coined a term for it – “friendly ears”. I want Knuckles to look intimidating, especially since he has such a happy temperament and appearance. Raised ears also hear better than down ears. For many reasons, I want his ears up and it really bothers that they have not responded on their own.

Amongst GSD owners, there is a well known trick to raise stubborn ears - gluing a foam roller to the interior of the ear. This allows the cartilage to grow stronger in the correct position. Since my vet didn’t think it was necessary, I was sure that Knuckles’ trainer would object and she’s a very scary person! It just so happened that a GSD come in for a private lesson after Obedience class last week. My friends noticed before I did that its ears were glued and tried to signal me across the room. The dog was larger than Knuckles (1 year female) and I had a great conversation with her and Nurse Ratchet (the trainer). Surprisingly (to me), she endorses gluing and urged me to start now since the other dog had started too late and it still has them in at this late age. They gave me specific directions and 2 days later I had the supplies and Youngest to help out.

I had trouble finding Goody Rollers as Conair seems to have taken over the market. They are not the same length which is the root of all the rest of the problems – plus my inexperience. Knuckles sat very calmly as Youngest fed him hotdog bits and I handled the operation. It quickly became apparent that by placing the smaller sized roller in the middle of the ear that it did not support the ear as they stuck out to the side. I decided to cut and glue leftover rollers to the proper size and replace. What I didn’t count on was the speed with which the glue set. What started as a pleasant experience quickly degraded to a debacle. I did get one roller out but the flap closed shut and Knuckles’ ear was now glued to itself. Horrors – I’d made the situation worse! I don’t want to train it in the wrong position. To make matters worse, the other roller was stuck tight and in the wrong position resulting in his ear sticking out to the side like an airplane wing. By this time, Knuckles was in no mood to continue as it caused him pain for me to pull it out (stuck to some hair). With good intensions, I had made a total mess and really irritated my boy. I decided to wait until the glue fell apart and I’d try it again with really expensive glue that also comes with its own dissolving agent. I had 2 assembled rollers cut pasted sitting on the counter in anticipation. And I was able to get the one ear free of itself.

This morning I finally realized that all I really needed to do was stick in a separate cut piece on the lower part of the ear to hold the rest correctly. I was so crazed about doing it wrong originally and worried about the risk of deforming Knuckles that I couldn’t see the obvious. Instead of pulling a roller out, I could have just stuck in the extra piece at the base without making a second Frankenstein roller. Duh. This morning, after our chores (feeding the pigs, dishes, laundry – he’s a willing helper), I cut a piece of the foam and glued it in the ear where he had the partial piece. It worked! Now, instead of pointing out to the side, it is up and he’s cute as the devil with one erect ear. He was, however, not having it with any more work today (getting the stuck together ear to separate was not fun at all) so I will wait to put the other piece in until Monday when Youngest is able to help again.

There is no pain associated with having this gluing procedure done but working the glued ear apart did bother him quite a bit. Once everything is in, I will let it disintegrate on its own. He doesn’t act like there is anything in there at all so no digging, itching – nothing. I hope after we get the second one in, that it will work and he’ll be the most handsome GSD ever!