Ear Hair

[Breanna]

I read on here that when grooming, "pull ear hair." Crush has grown some ear hair and I've gently pulled at it when cleaning her ears but it didn't come out. Am I supposed to pull it all out? It seems painful...

[Teresa Joyce]

Hi Breanna,  All dogs that have "hair" instead of "fur" grow hair in the ear canal and it should be removed.  Many people use hemostats to remove it.  However, I have found the easiest way for me and the most comfortable for the dog is to use my fingers.  When you pull the hair, pull more than one but not a bunch.  It's kind of like pulling a hair from your head, one hurts and too many hurts but a few is not too bad.  I use my fingers and then a little rub in the ear to make it something the dog comes to look forward to.  Although your dog may not have an ear infection and some dogs never get them, the hair makes it more likely that there will be odor or  infection.  Dogs that have a lot of ear hair removed will shake their heads for a while after the hair is removed.  This is not an indication of a problem or pain - it feels funny to the dog.  Good luck!

[Wanda Klomp]

Never pull out ear hair without ear powder! You will hurt your Doodle, make little wounds and make your Doodle never want to have his ears plucked again! The ear powder will losen the hair, so it comes out naturally, without much pulling, it gives you more grip and it will remove ear odours. I have made professional Doodle grooming video's that I still need to translate in English, but they will be on my Doodle Comfort website when they are ready. Pulling ear hair in a harmless, professional way is one of the titles. 

[Amy Galvin]

My doodle keeps getting ear infections and I hadn't thought of her diet being the issue. What foods should I avoid?

[Trudy Harlow]

Amy, there's been a LOT of discussion (and disagreement) on this board about ear infections/allergies and diet. You can search for those discussions, and you can also peruse the raw feeding forum, which might provide some useful information for you.

[Amy Galvin]

Thank you I'm new to this group.

[Trudy Harlow]

There's a wealth of information here, Amy. Some of it is scientifically indisputable and some of it is based on opinion/perspective, while some of it is anecdotal, and some of it is probably rubbish. You'll have to educate yourself so you can wade through it all. A lot of strongly held positions, so read, read, read! If you want to know more about my dog's raw diet, PM me - although I did post a lengthy retrospective on my page about switching him over.

[Trudy Harlow]

The hair absolutely does not have to be removed unless it is causing a problem. My GD has dense hair deep into both ears. As a small puppy, he came home from the breeder with a yeast infection in one ear, which caused us to have to remove the hair in that one ear so we could treat the infection. The infection was recurrent for a couple of years, and during that time, we kept that ear's hair cleaned out.

We finally switched him over to a raw diet. Now he rarely gets ear infections and I don't pull the ear hair unless he gets an infection.

So we have one ear that has never had the hair removed, and it is perfectly healthy. The other ear had about 2 years of hair-pulling, but it now is pretty healthy and hairy.

My vet is supportive and agrees with me that pulling the hair can actually irritate the ear and in some cases cause a more hospitable environment for yeasts and other infections. Of course, hair in the ear can also do the same if your dog is frequently in the water and has wet ears. So that is worth considering.