Do you pull out your dog's ear hair?

[Alissa Edwards]

At my puppy class tonight, the trainer said poodles, doodles and other non-shedders get inner ear hair and it needs to be pulled/plucked by hand (only what's deep in the ear). She demonstrated and my puppy yelped. She said we need to keep doing it and start now so he doesn't mind it. 
I have NEVER heard this - is it true? Do you do it?

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Not all Doodles need it. Too much hair in the ears causes bacteria to grow= ear infections.
Enzo has a very small amount, but she spends lots of time in our pool. So I " pluck" occasionally. One of the Breedefs on her told me about ear powder...it makes the ear hair very easy to grab hold of and easy to pull. Enzo doesn't even know I'm doing it.

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

http://www.amazon.com/Gold-Medal-Groomers-Powder-Grams/dp/B000P0SPX...

[Julie and Charlie]

Depends on the dog. I used to pull Charlie's on occasion, but it really perturbed him. So, we're back to trimming it when it gets long, and cleaning his ears weekly. No problems so far.

[Christine & Shelby]

I consulted with our vet after she caught an early ear infection during a check up. She said Shelby's ear hair wasn't bad... But suggested thinning it out periodically. I don't do that... The groomer does and I instruct her if it is bothering Shelby to stop! No ear infections since that first one.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I had poodles all my life, and yes, they all needed the hair pulled from their ears regularly to prevent ear infections. This is the downside to a non-shedding coat + floppy ears.

But it should not hurt if done correctly. My dogs never yelped or minded it a bit except when someone who didn;t know what they were doing pulled the hair. 

JD is a heavy shedder, doesn't have woolly hair in his ears (or anywhere else), and never gets ear infections. The upside to a shedding dog. :) 

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Tara has a wavy fleece coat and very fine hair/fur with very little growing in her ear canals.  I don't pluck the hair from her ears and she has never had an infection (5 years old now). So, I agree it depends on the coat type and the amount of ear hair of each individual dog.

[Emily, Bentley, & Maserati]

Bentley needs it monthly. If we don't keep on top of it he gets ear infections. We aren't sure what Maserati's ears will be like but as a preventive and with our experience w/ Bentley, we clean his ears out regularly also. We use the same powder that Rosemary posts. It really makes a difference!

[Kyoko]

Yes, mine get their hair pulled when they go to the groomers. I guess I am not good at doing it, Because Charlie will get mad and wont let me, and Pinot yelps. So, I let the groomer do it. Charlie - F1b has very curly coat, and Pinot is a standard poodle.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

The groomer does it once a month.

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

I pull my Sasha's ear hair with forceps - LOL it works !! She does not mind at all, she does not even flinch and from what I understand that they do not feel it being pulled out.  Now my Oliver is a different story, he does not have much ear hair at all and all I have to do is just wipe his ears.

[Ginny Nightingale]

I agree with these answers--as a doodle groomer, i see doodles with "poodle ears" that need to be plucked and some with no hair at all...poodle ears have small openings and lots of hair--I use a tweezer contraption that I bought in a drug store--it is designed for plucking eyebrows. It looks like a bent scissor with flat ends and grabs a clump of hairs at once--that is less painful than pulling out a few, but some dogs hate it and others do not mind. I also shave the area directly under the ear to allow more air flow. 

When your pup is sleepy and you are petting him, just rub his ears a bit and then put your fingers in and pull out a few hairs a few times a day--if you do that, then he will not only get used to it to some extent, but it will make it easier for the groomer to work on the rest of the hair in there. Putting some baby powder on your fingers helps with the grip. And clean them often too.

But again, it depends on the type of ear your doodle has--if the vet is concerned, then he probably has the smaller ear canals. 

[Angie]

So I tried responding to this earlier and looking back I guess it didn't go thru. I groom my own doodles, but had been taught by my previous vet to pull the hair out of the ears- when we had wheatons. When I got doodles I did the same thing, but by now I had a new vet. He told me not to do that. Trim down the hair but don't pull it out. The hair in the ears protect their ears from bugs and infection. Wax builds up a little on the hair deeper in the ear, much like it builds up in our-humans- ear canals to protect our ears from outside sources that don't belong there. My moms doodle, who has a lot of wax build up, had me concerned so I mentioned Ruby specifically, he replied to let it be. It's protecting the dog. So now I just clip it down. So there ya go, two vets with two different opinions. I have gone with my new vets opinion on not pulling the hair out, and we haven't had any issues, but I don't think there is a wrong answer.