# Ear Question



## jacqui (Aug 7, 2007)

My vet said today I should pluck the hair from inside my puppy's ears...that they could lead to infections. I have never plucked Phoebe's ears (she's almost three) and she has never had an ear infection.

Does anyone know about this practice? It sounds so painful for the dog.


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## Kathie (Jul 31, 2008)

There are different opinions on this. We do pluck the hair since we have always had long-haired dogs and we were told it was necessary. I guess it depends on how much hair is in the ears - some have more than others.


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## michi715 (Apr 8, 2008)

I have never plucked Guapo's and he has never had an ear infection. Also my vet has never mentioned plucking the hairs, but I am a little bit of a clean/health freak (or I try to be) so I clean his ears at least 1x/wk.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

I've heard people on both sides of the fence here. I do pluck Kodi's ears occasionally on the advice of our vet. But he doesn't grow a ton of hair inside his ears, so it's not that often. It doesn't seem to hurt him at all. He's a HUGE baby about getting his nails clipped, and just lies there and lets me pull the hair out of his ears without a whimper or a movement.

It LOOKS like it would hurt, but it doesn't seem to.


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## Leslie (Feb 28, 2007)

krandall said:


> I've heard people on both sides of the fence here. I do pluck Kodi's ears occasionally on the advice of our vet. But he doesn't grow a ton of hair inside his ears, so it's not that often. It doesn't seem to hurt him at all. He's a HUGE baby about getting his nails clipped, and just lies there and lets me pull the hair out of his ears without a whimper or a movement.
> 
> It LOOKS like it would hurt, but it doesn't seem to.


Sounds like Kodi and Tori have gone to the same "school of pain". Like him, she could care less about having the hair plucked from her ears (unfortunately she grows a ton of it in both ears, ugh!) But, heaven forbid you try to do anything to her front feet, especially clipping/grinding nails


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## hartman studio (Feb 14, 2008)

My vet also suggests plucking hair from the ears- he assured me that it didn't hurt them. My dogs don't mind it at all. Mindy gets very little hair growth in her ears- Cocotini is a different story. When I first got her her little ears looked like Sasquatch!! (spelling?). Once they were initially cleared (my vet said they really needed to be as all that hair would harbor bacteria), I only on rare occasions need to pluck a few. So maybe some dogs need it and some don't


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## Lele (Nov 15, 2007)

I do pluck the hair and it does not seem to be painful at all. He let me doing it without giving any sign of stress or pain. My vet also suggests to often smell the ear; in case of infections, it's easy to notice that something is wrong.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Leslie said:


> Sounds like Kodi and Tori have gone to the same "school of pain". Like him, she could care less about having the hair plucked from her ears (unfortunately she grows a ton of it in both ears, ugh!) But, heaven forbid you try to do anything to her front feet, especially clipping/grinding nails


Yep! They must be related!<g>

I have to tell you a funny story. I take Kodi to our training center to have his nails trimmed and is "hair around the edges" trimmed. They have a grooming set-up in the back room, and the gal who does the grooming is also does many of the puppy and per training classes, so she is very gentle and good with him. We work together on his feet, with me stuffing Charlie Bears in his mouth while she works on his feet. There are usually still some histrionics involved, however, even though I continue to try to get him used to it regularly.

It was the early evening, and the owner/head trainer was teaching a puppy class in the ring when I came in, so she didn't know we were there. Her dogs are often crated in that room while she is teaching. We started working on Kodi's nails and he started his usual screeching. The trainer came charging through the door with a look of panic on her face. She had thought something terrible must be happening to one of her crated dogs! I think we almost gave her a heart attack!:redface:

The good news is that he IS slowly getting better. Now he screeches when we start, but s long as I keep shoveling in the cookies, he settles down to just a moderate amount of fussing for the rest of his nails being cut.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Lele said:


> I do pluck the hair and it does not seem to be painful at all. He let me doing it without giving any sign of stress or pain. My vet also suggests to often smell the ear; in case of infections, it's easy to notice that something is wrong.


Yes, after we were on vacation last summer, and Kodi had been in the water a lot, he got a yeast infection. His ears definitely smelled funny. Sort of mushroom-y. The vet gave me drops which cleared up the infection quickly. He also suggested that I out just a couple of crops in each ear any time his ears got wet. Doing that, we haven't had any further problems.


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## SMARTY (Apr 19, 2007)

I only pluck what I can get very easily and not on any regular schedule.


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## ama0722 (Nov 28, 2006)

None here and Dora is turning 6 and Dasher 3. My grooming friend said plucking hair is like doing anal glands, once you start you have to keep it up otherwise you have problems.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

I thought you only did anal glands IF you had a problem, no?


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## mintchip (Apr 19, 2007)

SMARTY said:


> *I only pluck what I can get very easily* and not on any regular schedule.


I do the same with Oliver and Comet


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## Leslie (Feb 28, 2007)

SMARTY said:


> I only pluck what I can get very easily and not on any regular schedule.


This is how I do Tori's, too. Although she grows a ton of it, I only use my fingers and pluck what I can easily reach and only when it appears to be getting out of control.


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## mellowbo (Aug 12, 2007)

Evidently all is not what it appears! I had always pulled the hair from my Vinny's ears because it is very thick. I neglected it for awhile, gave him a bath, and within a week he had an ear infection. Then I was reading the thread on the havhealth forum about this and this thread and got the same mixed reviews both places.

I checked my females as they had a few tiny hairs in their ears. I pulled them. Lulu was fine. I pulled them slowly from Gabby and behold. She sat there so good and one slow pull from each ear produced this! You can see the hairs at the top and those were all that was showing that I could see. How could she even hear?? She was all set for an infection! OMG, can you imagine how good she must feel?

Moral of the story, you just really don't know what's in there. Only having a few hairs showing is meaningless!

In case you can't see that is a dime between them.


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## lfung5 (Jun 30, 2007)

I don't pluck any of my guys ears. Scudder has the hairiest ears too! They have never had a problem with infections.


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## jacqui (Aug 7, 2007)

Think I"m going to hold off on plucking Max or Phoebe's ears. Hopefully they will be fine. Kind of a balancing act...to pluck or not to pluck!


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## ama0722 (Nov 28, 2006)

krandall said:


> I thought you only did anal glands IF you had a problem, no?


Most groomers do them automatically (just like plucking ear hair). I tend to follow the if it ain't broke don't fix it rule for both. No plucking and no glands done on any of my dogs.


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