Ears Hair-pluck or not?
Took my puppy to the groomer fr the first time and she plucked out mthe hair and after being up all night with him shanking his head and being so uncomfortable all night, I took him to the Vet this morning. Vet said he now had an "oozing" out of his ear and we are now putting drops in. But it seems there are two schools of thought in grooming ears...one says yes, pluck the hair t get all the dirt, etc out and the other says don't pluck to keep the dirt , etc out...so what do you all do??? Thanks, Diane |
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I pluck my own dog's ears. I do it whenever I happen to think of it, and I have a dog's head in my hands 
I just use my hands, reach in as far as I can, pinch any hairs I can and give a sharp little tug. It doesn't really bother them at all....Well, Bosley sometimes cries as I am reaching in, but he is a drama king  Dixie will lean right into me as I do it...I think it feels like a scratching of an itch to her
So I just get out a few hairs at a time, and I do it maybe 2/3 times a week...without a schedule or whatever. I am concerned about using tweezers, or something like that, because I am afraid to pull out haris that aren't ready to come out yet. |
| They do need to be plucked otherwise too much dirt, debris etc gets caught in there and can lead to infection.
Each dog is different though, some don't have as much hair in their ears or not as deep down. |
| Too much of a chance to have ear infections set up. My vet does it and so does my groomer. I think it hurts me more than Lucy.
Salley |
| I've watched grooomers grab a bunch of hair at one time and yank. Dog yelped and got scolded! I wanted to crash through the window and yank a handful of her hair out!! Then she cleaned the ear!!!! YIPES!!!!
Some dogs are very, very sensitive. Fox's ears actually bleed if I pull too many...poor bably. You can get drying powder you put into the ear...or better on your finger tips, take a very few hairs and twist them around each other until they let go. The powder help you hang onto the hairs. I quit using forceps after the Fox bleed. Then a few days later I clean......or a few days before. Never at same time. Each dog is different about ear infections. Due to nature of ear shape and development, some are quite wet and others are drier. You can help keep them dry by keeping the hair at the bottom of the ear and onto the neck a bit, clipped short.....lets in more air. Flop ear dogs are more prone to infections, keep the ears clean. |
Yes, I think I will either do it myself frm now on or let the Vet do it. His ears were hurting him so much, the Vet couldn't even get near them t look in. It took three of us and a muzzle to get the drops in...and this is a sweet puppy. I have t take him back tomorrow fr more drops becayse there is no way I can get them in alone..I feel so guilty I took him to the groomer!  |
| Definately pluck! |
| Ashely,
I have replied to your direct e-mail with several comments specific to your situation. If you check my ear cleaning photo essay thread, the second "stickied" thread in this forum, you'll be able to link to a fairly complete demonstration of how to care for your Bobtail's ears including plucking the ear flap and ear canal. Embedded in that thread are a number of links to other threads relating to Bobtail ear care. There are also a few posts on how to introduce your dog to ear plucking in the main thread. Please give them a read through and I think you will have all the information you need to care for your dog's ears yourself once a competent professional shows you how deep you can Q-tip into the ear canal. I will re-iterate my one word of caution on this topic though, please don't experiment with the Q-tip for yourself, get your vet or a good groomer to show you how far and teach you what you should be "feeling" when this is done correctly. My photo essay does not show this detail because it is just too easy to injure the eardrum without the personal coaching. As always if you need further help or information than the referenced thread provides don't hesitate to post for further help. Thanks and Cheers Carl |
| When Bingley was young he was a wimp about getting his ears plucked, but now after consistent plucking over the months he is immune to it. I don't pluck very much at a time, but pluck whenever I think about it. Right now there is very little hair inside his ears and they are much healthier because of it. |
| In my opinion, it really needs to be done and I do pluck all of my sheepies' ears.
I remember the first time I had to do this- I thought it was a terrible thing to do to a dog. My vet showed me that it didn't hurt them. He told me to start with just a few hairs and do a couple of quick plucks from one ear with just my fingers... do a little brushing/combing... then a couple of plucks from the other... then quit. The next day I'd do it again and keep repeating this until they were finally clear. Later you'll probably find it's no big deal and you can simply pluck them clean. The key is NOT to try to take too many hairs at one time or it can hurt.
Then it's all about maintenance and not letting them get too hairy ever again. Kaytee actually had the hairiest little ears I'd ever seen  ... and the hair grows from deeper into the ear canal (one reason I stick with fingers only). Thankfully all of mine are very tolerant of the procedure. |
| It needs to be done, just a gradual pull a few hairs at a time till they get use to it.
I find an ear powder the easiest as it helps there to puck those hairs. Mine groan with delight when I do it.
None of them are too keen at first, but just a bit by bit approach and they come to accept it as part of the routine.  |
| I feel for you! The groomer plucks the ears completely clean. Annie usually doesn't have a problem; however, Fozzie gets ear infections. The vet suggested that they only do a "complete" pluck of Fozzie's ears every other time he goes to the groomer. This would be only every 8-10 weeks. She also suggested that after each time to put drops in his ears for about 2 days. This would keep the ears from getting a bad infection. |
Stacy wrote: She also suggested that after each time to put drops in his ears for about 2 days. This would keep the ears from getting a bad infection.
Hmm...good idea 
What type of drops? Diane |
| It's amazing how different dogs can be. I seldom clean Harley's ears beacuse they are never dirty. I don't even have to clean once a month. I check, but nothing there to do. However, Winston the foster needed a cleaning once or twice a week-- his ears got gross fast! It just depends on the dog, I suppose. Humans produce wax at different rates as well, so I guess dogs are the same. |
| I vote for plucking too. My groomer told me to do it. I do only a few at at a time maybe once every 2 weeks. It grows back slow (if the root comes out as with plucking any hair like your eyebrows, it usually takes a while to grow back vs. just trimming a hair). When I give him a bath, I use only baby shampoo on his head. With some light suds and water on my fingers I lightly rub his inner ear. I never need swabs or solutions. He's never had any ear problems and has clean smelling ears unlike when they were long, stinky and greasy inside. Yuck! It takes only a split second to do - I can't imagine paying someone for this unless your dog really freaks about it. I bathe him about every 10 days. |
Stacy wrote: I feel for you! The groomer plucks the ears completely clean. Annie usually doesn't have a problem; however, Fozzie gets ear infections. The vet suggested that they only do a "complete" pluck of Fozzie's ears every other time he goes to the groomer. This would be only every 8-10 weeks. She also suggested that after each time to put drops in his ears for about 2 days. This would keep the ears from getting a bad infection.
I'm so glad you posted this. Poor Beauford ended up with a horrible ear infection the second time he had his ears cleaned at the groomers. I'm going to check with the vet and see if this could help him too. I'm so afraid to get his ears done again and I'm too much of a wimp to do it myself. Our groomer is very gentle with him but it still seems so uncomfortable with him. |
| As a follow up to my original question...My Vet seems to think the ear infection was sort of festering and the groomer did us a favor by plucking the hair out and letting the infection display itself so we could treat it. We did, with drops and antibiotic...He got another ear infection shortly there after...its a yeast ear infection and yes, he seems to get alot of wax. He went back to the groomer and things went okay this time. She did say the ears looked "moist" inside so the Vet gave us some drops to dry the ears out and he is fine now.
Of course, sticking his head in the sprinkler the way he does is not helping keep the ears dry! I attempted to mix that recipe posted on this site but cannot find the boric acid powder or the gentian violet solution. Anyone know where to find these things? Thanks, Diane |
| We're pluckers........I was told they don't really feel it in that area, too (I saw in someone's post on this thread).
We use antiseptic powder to prep (as we were shown). I can't do it....It looks too painful, so Arthur does it. |
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