Ear cleaning - how do you do it?

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

Hello!  I am really looking for advice on how to clean Hunter's ears.  I am not sure about the "plucking" the hair from the inside...  I use an ear cleaner that you just put in their ears but I am unsure about what and how to do anything else.  I have had such bad grooming experiences the more I can do the better :-)

[Barb @ Gemstone Labradoodles]

Pluck first.
Use a rosin powder designed for dogs to help grip the hair. It can be done by fingers or grippers. I use the ones from the mechanic's store because they are not sharp.
Put a few drops of dog ear cleaning fluid in the dog's ear and rub the side of the head to work it down. Gently remove dirt with a gauze square and then Qtips for the curves. If you can see into the ear, you can clean there. Don't clean past where you can see. But, you can see pretty far down a dog's ear.

Ear cleaning during a bath. Pluck first. My vet uses antibacterial hand soap to flush ears, so I decided to wash ears in the bath with it. I get a thin washcloth, wet it and put the soap on it, make suds and then wash my dog's ears like they were kids ears. Gently, but cleaning the inside as far down as I can reach with the cloth. This does a really good job of getting grease and grime out. I rinse my cloth and rinse the soap out. At the end of the bath, dry the ear inside with a soft cloth or gauze and Qtips.

Ears can also be cleaned with a solution of vinegar and water. then dried.

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

Barb, just to make sure I am understanding correctly - you put the rosin powder in their ears? Do they sell that at pet stores? When you say grippers do you mean something like tweezers or mechanics pliers? LOL I am sorry if I am sounding clueless - for somereason I have visions of this being similar to human eyebrow tweezing.

[Sally loves Maple & Lucky]

Barb, I did too at first but they really are not affected by the plucking. The hair is on the surface and it doesn't take any real pulling to remove it. Using a tweezers or pliers gets the job done quickly by eliminating trial error of hair slipping from your fingers.

[Sandie & Matilda]

Hi. I use Natural Ear Wash by Canon Meadow for Matilda. It does not contain alcohol. I do not pluck, but when I see hair in her ears, I gently take the scissors and cut it out. Matilda is 2 1/2 and knock on wood, she has never had an ear infection.
I can understand about bad grooming experiences. Good luck to you and Hunter.

[Holly Doodle]

I use a simple ear cleaning solution. I drench a cotton ball with it, put it in her ear, put the flap down and rub it in. Then I do a more detailed cleaning with another damp cotton ball. Q tips might work better for the second part though....I've never plucked her hairs but she doesn't really have many. She does get ear infections so maybe I should find a new way too :).

[Tammy & Gracie]

Gracie had an ear infection as a puppy and I started this schedule. No more infections in the two years since. I clean about once a week with a solution from the vet, usually after weekend swimming. I squeeze a little into her ears and rub for a minute. Let her shake her head, then take a dry cottonball and rub as far as you can see. I have the groomer pluck her ears. I also pluck myself from time to time. I just reach in with my thumb and forefinger, grab a few hairs and pull. The hairs come out real easily and it does not seem to bother Gracie at all.

[Drue and Chaana]

On one of the other discussions, I followed this link that I found very helpful:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mi3Aouu3e4

I tried plucking my labradoodle's ears this morning, with my fingers and without any powder, and it worked incredibly well. I was absolutely amazed.

[Sarah and Joplin]

I'm sorry I'm a little confused still on the ear hair plucking. There is hair all over the inside of Joplin's little puppy ears. I am assuming I am not supposed to pluck the hundreds of hairs... do I need to pluck hair in a certain area? Sorry I am new to this and saw that this discussion could possibly help in my confusion! Thanks so much :)

[Drue and Chaana]

I'm not an expert, but from the video I saw, we're supposed to pluck the hundreds of hairs that grow inside their ears. I grabbed little clumps (like 5 hairs) from the same area at one time. We don't need to pluck each one individually. It took me about 15 minutes to do one ear for the first time.

[Barb @ Gemstone Labradoodles]

Trim all the hair on the ear base, just outside the ear with scissors or a shaver. This gives more airflow to the ear.
It also helps you see the hair the hair to pluck because you don't want to catch any of the outside hair that is well rooted and would be painful to pull. You only want to pull the barely rooted hair right in the ear. Using a rosin powder makes it easier to do. You can purchase it at any grooming supply store. I buy my grooming supplies on line.
I use a hemostat that is available in the mechanic's supply store. They are designed to pick up small parts. They are about 7 inches long, tip to tip and are not as sharp at the dog ones.

[Sarah and Joplin]

Thank you!!

[F, Calla & Luca]

I do not pluck my dogs ears and I'm the only groomer. I think regular cleaning is the most important thing. I put a lot of fluid in the ear, squish the ear at the base, it makes a distinctive sound. Then I clean and wipe with cotton makeup squares. My dogs do not get ear infections, KOW but they also don't swim.