# Non Pluckers please...



## outwest (May 1, 2011)

I am a nonplucker now. Bonnie developed painfully red and raw ears when her ears were plucked, so I stopped. I never plucked Jazz' ears. Cooper, the mini, has a lot of hair in his ears. The vet plucked a bunch and said I had to get it out of there so I pulled out a little every few days. Bonnie and Jazz I trim carefully with blunt tipped small scissors and it works great. Neither of them has hair way down into the canal, though. Cooper has more hair in there. The only time Bonnie had an ear infection was after everything was pulled out. My sister in law's moyen has more hair in his ears than any of them. His is also trimmed out, not plucked because he has a tendency to ear infections if it is plucked. He also has the underside of his ears shaved for more air flow.

It is important to allow air into the canal and not leave a bunch of hair in the ear, but trimming it out works for us. I did pull Cooper's ear hair out some, but he is so tiny I didn't want to cut him with scissors.


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

I do not pluck ears and whenever I take my dogs to be groomed by someone other than me I also request that their ears not be plucked. My dogs do not get ear infections at all and the times that their ears have been plucked they turned raw and painful. I have had ONE experience with ear infections and it was caused by ear plucking. I clip the hair at the entrance to the ear and I use an ear rinse after each bath.


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## Countryboy (May 16, 2011)

I don't believe u can make a hard and fast rule for dog's ears. Altho they're Poodles, their size is not uniform, their personalities are not uniform, their eating habits are not uniform, the physical issues they are prone to are not uniform... and neither are their ears.

But it's just great when u find out what works for your dog!


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## PoodlePaws (May 28, 2013)

No plucking here!! Every time my girls are plucked, they get ear infections. Bad ones!! I also DON'T irrigate or wash the ears. It's been a year of leaving the ears absolutely alone, and no problems whatsoever. 


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## PoodlePaws (May 28, 2013)

Btw, my dogs are toys. 


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## Quossum (Mar 18, 2011)

I'm trying not to pluck, even though Sugarfoot has pretty hairy ears. I have this stuff: [ame]http://www.amazon.com/For-Animals-Solutions-Liquid-Health/dp/B000OUY5L6[/ame] and use it regularly, as well as trimming with rounded scissors and pullng out just a little hair at a time if things look out of hand.

Twenty-plus years ago I worked at a grooming salon, and our default poodle-ear behavior was the ol' clamp-down-the-hemostats, twist-and-yank treatment. I was lucky that my dog didn't develop infections from this, but some dogs did!

--Q


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## N2Mischief (Dec 3, 2012)

Where I worked grooming the woman who owned it was a master groomer and her groomers were to do it her way. She did the old hemostat ALL of the hair at once and twist and twist till a big "carrot" of hair came out. Poor dogs would just scream! Anyways, I got Misha and her groomer pulled the hair and she would come home with bright red ears and shaking her head. She kept getting ear infections which I treated with Zymox. The last time it cleared up I told the groomer no more plucking and she hasn't had an infection since. I use the blunt scissors and trim and occasionally pluck very lightly a tiny bit. Seems to be working for us.


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## Manxcat (May 6, 2013)

I don't pluck, or irrigate or wash.

Pippin had hers yanked by a dubious vet one time and we had infection after that, as well as a snarly head shy pup... so I stopped. 

I DO do ear care though!!

When I'm grooming them I give the ears a check (and a sniff!) and about one a week or so I use a cosmetic cotton pad with a little bit of ear cleaner on it and gently pull the hairs in her ears. Then I use an eyebow/eyelash comb like this Eyebrow Brush,Eye pencils,Eyes: Yves Rocher to comb the hair very gently. This removes any wax or detritus and most importantly dead hairs so they don't get clogged.

When I shave her face I always do right up to the tragus (bit before the ear entrance) and below the ear so she gets lots of air flow through. 

Now Pushkin has the hairiest ears I've ever seen - worse than my husband's lol - so I also trim inside a little bit, but he's got head issues so it's a bit of a struggle.

Pippin doesn't mind the wipe and comb thing at all 

You need to be careful when you're bathing that you don't get water inside the ear if they're hairy - I always try to avoid the area with soap and water, although sometimes I just put my thumb there to stop any water going in.


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

I actually do allow water to get inside the ear while bathing. I always use a nice ear rinse after the bath as well.


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## cookieface (Jul 5, 2011)

Stupid question, but how would I know if Katie's groomer plucks her ears? (I'm not the one who takes her and I know my husband would forget to ask.)

Her ears are definitely less furry when she comes home, but it almost looks as though the fur has been trimmed. The only issue she's had with her ears was in conjunction with a URI that she had about a month after she came home (and before she was groomed by her current groomer). Whatever her groomer is doing seems to work and if it's good enough for her dogs, it's good enough for Katie.


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## Beaches (Jan 25, 2014)

That liquid is similar to what I am using. thanks. Do you put some in the canal?


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## Quossum (Mar 18, 2011)

Yes. We do this outside on a nice day. I squirt a liberal amount in and let him run around shaking his head. Sometimes I'll use a cotton ball to swab around the excess, but it dries pretty quickly (which is the point, I guess).


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## cliffdweller (Jan 31, 2011)

No plucking; no problems. I do trim a little and make sure the hair in Rain's ears ( --and she has a lot of it --) is not "balled up" in the opening. I use an ear cleaning solution occasionally.


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## kcp1227 (Jan 25, 2013)

I asked my vet what she thought about plucking, and she didn't care either way. She thinks most ear problems come from diet, and so that's her main focus. I doubt I will pluck Dash's ear hair unless he just has an insane amount of hair, then I'll just pluck a little at a time. 


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## Beaches (Jan 25, 2014)

Interesting Katie. Thanks.


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## Manxcat (May 6, 2013)

Quossum said:


> Yes. We do this outside on a nice day. I squirt a liberal amount in and let him run around shaking his head. Sometimes I'll use a cotton ball to swab around the excess, but it dries pretty quickly (which is the point, I guess).


Oh that's interesting, and that CharismaticMillie does it too.

I have a grooming DVD that specifically mentioned not getting water in the ear canal if they've got hairy ears, which is why I've never done it.

Will have to do some more research on this!


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## DreamAgility (Sep 2, 2013)

I have always plucked. Dreamer has hairy ears and never has had ear problems. My tpoo Rollie formed matts in his ears less than a week after plucking, and he always had an infection going.


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## JudyD (Feb 3, 2013)

I posted to the op's question in the introduction thread before I saw that there was a new thread here, so at the risk of being repetitious, I'll repeat.

Jazz gat a terrible ear infection in both ears last May, after she was groomed and her ears plucked. (I've since read that cross-infection can occur in a grooming salon if the groomers don't wash their hands and tools, or if they don't clean up after a dog who shakes its head and flings water from an infected ear all over the place.) In any event, I stopped having her ears plucked after that. For a while, I did clean her ears with Epi-Otic Advanced--I soaked a cotton ball (a clean one for each ear) in the solution, tucked it into her ear canal, held the ear closed and massaged the base of the ear for 15 or 20 seconds, then removed the cotton and let her shake her head to get the liquid out. I fell off that wagon months ago and haven't been doing anything other than checking them occasionally. The groomer does trim the hair she can reach easily but without doing any pulling or plucking that could irritate the skin. So far, her ears are clean and sweet-smelling.

As for diet, our old Lab had recurrent ear infections all his life, until a new vet suggested grain-free kibble in the fall of 2012. Jazz came to us in November of 2012 on Puppy Chow. We changed her to a grain-free kibble, and in May of last year, I switched both dogs to a raw diet. Luke hasn't had an ear infection since we started the grain-free diet, and Jazz hasn't had one since we stopped plucking her ears. 

This routine might not work for every dog, but it works well for ours.


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## percysmom (Sep 28, 2013)

After doing a lot of research in here and other places I made the decision not to pluck, Percy's ears. I think I have washed them once with an all natural ear rinse only because the breeder told me too. 
His ears have always been perfectly sweet smelling. I do make sure not to get water in them. His are very hairy! When he gets wax I gently brush it out. This past time at the groomer after telling them to leave his ears alone they trimmed them...told me they didn't pluck, just trimmed. Well, he shook his head for 2 days after that and I was seriously annoyed. 
Anyway, from what I have read I feel that plucking can cause more harm than good so I choose not to do it. 

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## Beaches (Jan 25, 2014)

You folks are amazing with all your help and it is so much appreciated. The consensus seems to be trimming the ear hair and cleaning ( or not! ). I guess I just wanted reassurance that plucking is not done by everyone, for which I am grateful. In terms of reducing leather hair on the inside - wouldn't you burn the ears with clippers??


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## kcp1227 (Jan 25, 2013)

I shave the insides of ears all the time. I've never had one get clipper burn there. Just make sure your blade isn't hot. 


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## Manxcat (May 6, 2013)

I scissor trim the underneath of the ear leathers - I have a little pair of round-ended scissors, the blades are about 3cm long I'd guess which I use for delicate areas. I also keep the other side of the ears short but not shaved - no long feathery ears for my two mucky pups - just kind of layered, which also helps keep the weight off the leathers so they get better air flow.


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## Carley's Mom (Oct 30, 2011)

I don't do but just a tiny bit with my fingers every once in a while. I had Carley groomed and the groomer plucked after being told not to... she had some ear issues after that, but not too bad. She has had one ear infection in the almost 3 years that I have owned her. The first owner make a point of telling what to get for her ear infections... showed me how to aggressively get all the hairs out ect. She told me Carley was very prone to ear infections. After doing my own research I went the other way and Carley is better because of it. Stella has not been plucked since I got her .


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## JudyD (Feb 3, 2013)

I do keep Jazz's ears shaved on both sides to allow for more air flow, but that means no fancy ear bows. I miss them.


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## Luce (Mar 4, 2013)

Luce had an ear infection shortly after I got her. Getting the meds in was not easy!! I had no idea what I was doing LOL. The groomer plucked when she went in, and I started doing it myself with my fingers - a few here and a few there. She hasn't had an infection in a year so it looks like this is working for her!


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## Michelle (Nov 16, 2009)

Atticus doesn't get much hair in his ears and I just pluck it out every once in a while and he lets me. He has never had an ear infection or dirty ears...and to be honest I can't remember the last time I cleaned them with a cotton ball and ear cleaner and they perfectly clean and pink with absolutely no odor. I do keep his ears shaved too so I'm sure that helps as well.

At the salon we get a few poodles (of all sizes), and a lot of poodle mixes, and we pluck all of their ears. Many owner's just let us do whatever and if we cant get them plucked because they are fighting us, we let the owners know and they couldn't care less. Some dogs are awful for it, others don't care and let you pluck it all out and actually seem to kind of enjoy it...they lean into your hand and let you do it and are all happy with tail wagging once it is done. If the dogs are fighting me I just trim it down and let the owners know. And for the dogs with very fluffy heavy ears I shave the entrance of their ear for air flow (and depending on the dog, the underside of their leather too)...especially if I notice their ears are kind of moist or were very dirty, just to help air it out.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

If Lily's ears are very hairy when we are at the vet they will pluck, but by hand. In between I also do tiny bits by hand. She has never had an ear infection and she swims more days than not in the summer.

Peeves had some inflammatory ear issues when he was younger, but our vet thought it was probably food related (allergy). Not all bad looking ears are actually infected. If you have chronic ear problems think about diet as a factor. For Peeves, when we took cheese (vet's suggestion out of the things we told him the dogs ate) out of his diet his ears cleared up.


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