Where are the ears??

[Carol and Banjo]

I have not had Banjo professionally groomed yet.   I have wanted to but chicken out each time....I'm so afraid he'll come home looking like a different dog.   I plan to wait til late spring/early summer and have him cut then.   In the mean time, I have cut his "bangs" and between his eyes so that he can see.  I love his "muppety" look!    The question I have is.....is there a way to trim along the sides of his face so that his ears are more visible?    The hair on his head, face, neck and ears all blends together and you can barely see that he was ears.    Maybe this is just the way he is??   Any help/tips would be appreciated!

[Donna K & Quincy]

Quincy is absolutely perfect for grooming, he will stand there for hours if needed, I usually give out before he does. The little container is the one we use for brushings, didn't quite hold it all this time. The table is a fold up that has telescopic legs that can be adjusted to 2 heights. He can climb up this height easily so that is the one we use. Grooming is not his favorite thing but he senses when it is about to happen and gets on the table and waits, of course the cheese he gets for being such a good boy doesn't hurt. :>)

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

Quincy looks great! I love the cowlick because my visual of Doodles is to have that stick up fur on the bridge of the nose between the eyes. Perfect Doodle!

[Lynda Kamrath]

My question about the ears is something a little different.  Puppies tend to take a toll on the ears of older siblings.  Hondo lost much of his ear hair when Groucho was a puppy and now Groucho has lost some of his hair from Harpo yanking on his ears during their wrestling. Since our standard poodle had lots of problems with his ears, I scissors cut the hair from the insides of the ears and pluck the inner ear hairs out with my fingers or a tweezers.  Thinning out the hair on the outer ear flap and sciccors cutting the inside seems to help.  Groucho is very cooperative and will let me work on him as long as it takes, but has anyone else had this problem with the ears?  What do you do about it?

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

When I groom Gracie Doodle I shave the curls under her ears on her neck closer than the rest of her body.  I don't take her to the skin but just keep it short so the ears can breath and dry out easier.  He has huge floppy ears anyway.  Some Doodles have short or small ears but not Gracie.  Hers are huge and long!!!  I then use the ear powder on my fingers and put a little in the ear and start plucking out the ear hair.  Not her favorite thing nor mine.  She tolerates it but if I take too big of a hunk she lets me know.  I also have hemostats that I use to go a little further down.  My vet said to never use scissors in the ear so I don't get any where near them.  Only on the outside.  Gracie has big healthy pink ears inside!!!

[Lynda Kamrath]

Why no scissors in the ears?  I wouldn't use scissors on Harpo, but Groucho is so cooperative and never jumps around.  What is the problem with using scissors on the hair on the inside of his floppy ears?

[F, Calla & Luca]

I think Nancie meant inside the ear canal so the hair doesn't fall in the canal and you don't injure the dog. The underside of the flap, should it need cutting, mine never do, wouldn't be a problem I think.

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

Yep, I think that is why you don't cut the hairs that are inside the ears.  Like F said, it falls down way inside and that is not good.  It might turn into a birds nest and block the ear canal.  It is OK to scissor outside the ear and make sure you don't let the hairs fall inside though.

[F, Calla & Luca]

My two often get mats toward the back of the ear flaps probably from chewing on each other. I just lop them out unless they're really easy to separate. Seems to look about the same anyway and I think just getting rid of some of the excess hair and certainly mats makes things more comfortable for the dogs.