Plucking ear hair?

[Laura & Chewie]

I was talking to a local groomer recommended by a neighbor and she said Chewie would need all the hair plucked out of his ears as it is an infection waiting to happen...he's 4 months. She said obviously it is uncomfortable...like the first time you pluck your eyebrows, but over time it gets easier.

I really want to hear info/opinions/other options on this as it sounds kind of cruel to me, but I really know nothing about it.

Thanks!

[Margaret Erwin]

If Chewie seems to be alot of poodle, I would have his ear hair plucked - avoid an infection

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I saw an earlier posting (a few weeks ago) that said it's fine to cut the hair versus plucking it. That's what I've been doing, and Guinness doesn't seem to mind it as much as the plucking. I just have to be real careful. Are others also doing this?

[HANNAH 8/2/07 & HONEY 7/2/08]

at first I did try it, but sorry I would never cut in a dogs ears..one quick move and the injury for me is not worth it, plucking is not that bad and once your dog gets use to it and you do it right...they really do not feel anything...if you use the ear powder it is really easy.

[Margaret Becker]

We were told and shown how to do this by our vet when our labradoodle was a puppy. Cleaning Snickers' ears is one thing, plucking is another - not something we want to do. But just the other day we asked the vets to check his ears and they said they looked good but should be plucked. So we agreed to let them do it. I noticed that when I brushed him over the next day or so he didn't like me touching his ears, so I think the plucking stayed with him. He's almost 6 now - maybe if we'd done it all these years it'd be different but I don't know.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Samantha's ears don't get too hairy now at 18 months but as a puppy they were. After the first time they were plucked it seems the hair didn't grow back as much. She is more lab like than poodle so maybe that helps.

Charli on the other hand, has an entire cotton grove in her ears! I have plucked a little at a time but she screams. Not that I am hurting her she just is a brat! But I do it anyway. Saturday, we were at a sidewalk sale a couple of towns over. We went to this adorable grooming shop that has toys, collars and leashes. I asked the woman who seemed to own the store if she would pluck Charli's ears for me. Charli was in the back with her for a good 15 minutes - WITHOUT MAKING A PEEP !! She obviously was not angry with this woman since she kept going behind the counter to hang out her. So I guess if you know what you are doing it doesn't hurt.

Sidebar:
Turns out they had a 50% off the entire store that day!!! As I was shopping in this little store with both my girls and my human daughter, Suzanne, I heard an employee say "Olivia, how does this fit?" Turns out I was in Olivia's Dog Parlor! Olivia is the groomer that donates lots of her time and skill to groom the doodles that The DRC rescues!!! What a coincidence!!

[Kyoko]

I also have my groomer do it, too. Simply because I am afraid to do it.....

[Lorraine Bromley]

I thought na I don't need to do that. Neely's ears were nice and clean not alot of hair. Then bam over night he grew a thick forest in there. I TRYED other methods to remove the hair. Plucking seemed so much work. Lets just say doing it while it isn't that thick and keeping ahead of it is the best bet. At first I had to do several sittings over days to get theem both done. The powder helps. I hold a flashlight in my mouth, wary of sudden head movements so as to keep my teeth. Then I hold the ear up and open. Go into the canal with the tweezers and just pluck. I do it quickly and don't take it out of the canal each time, just kind of pluck until the tweezer is full and then remove swipe with finger the loose hairs. I use his own fur to drag the tweezer through to empty the tweezer of hair between insertions. After this type of action, I go in for a more specifiic target area. Usually he gets the really long ones in the deepest part of the canal and you can barely see the tip of the cluster. This stuff takes the most work to get ahold of but seemed to give Neely the most trouble almost clogging the canal.
Everyone in my family thought it was cruel. Neely doesn't mind it at all. He just gets tired of his head being shifted and held. He needs a good shake every few minutes while your doing it too.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I use Epi-Otic, for cleaning, too.

[F, Calla & Luca]

My son used to pluck the poodle's ears and he screamed. I've never plucked the doodles ears but I do clean them regularly and so far so good.

[Chris & Boys]

Fozzy Bear is 10 months old. His ears are pretty hairy. I have occasionally tried to pull hairs out without any luck. So, I have decided not to pluck them unless he develops ear infections. So far he has not had any ear problems even though he likes to swim.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

We are hopefully clear of infections now and have been for a week at least! Believe it or not, THAT's good for us. I am frustrated as I have been doing EVERYTHING the vet has told me. He even says he should be able to swim but weather he is swimming or not his infections are almost chronic. As for food....he eats better than I do! I think after probably $1000.00 in vet bill for his ears alone, the one thing that knocked it out this time is Vinegar/Water flushes and adding 500mg Vitamin C to his diet. That is the only thing I have done differently in months and the result was apparant within 36 hours!

I have an alcohol based drying / cleaning solution from the vet so I used that after the vinegar and water, but next time I think I'll put some alcohol in the vinegar mix like I used to do for my children when they swam thier whole lives in fla. No ear infections ever!

Anyway, I think plucking is a must with Murphy and yes, i agree that infections are painful and when he already was getting them so often, I couldn't afford NOT to keep the hair out. It really isn't hard to do, once you do it you see they really don't mind. The hair closest to the outside of the canal really can just be pulled with your fingers. The powder is very helpful for that tho. I'm sure there are ways to do harm if not done right, but if done gently and under vet supervison, I'd think anyone can do it for thier own dog. Just my thought tho.

[Mona Haight]

Boston gets a lot of ear infections and my vet said I should pluck the fur out, do you just pull it? I have done it somewhat but not thoroughly