# To pluck or not to pluck?



## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

I think it depends on the dog. Swizzle has gorilla hair in his ears. He never has had an ear infection but his ears were getting gunky so I had his ears plucked. Since then his ears have stayed clean and they continue to get plucked. If your dog's ears are not too hairy and do not have problems I would leave them alone.


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## kcp1227 (Jan 25, 2013)

I was taught to always pluck the hair. A lot of times I just use the ear powder and my fingers unless there are hairs that are too stubborn or I can't reach that i need hemostats for. I've had one customer who requested I not pluck her spoo's ears because he seemed to get more infections when they were plucked. I know vets differ on what they recommend, so I'd see what works best for you and do that. I do prefer a clean, hair free ear though.


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## Ellyisme (Jul 17, 2012)

I would never use blunt scissors in the ear. Chances would be very high that you could cut the inner ear. Hemostats are the safe way to go for the hair you cannot pull with your fingers.


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## Fluffyspoos (Aug 11, 2009)

I only pluck with my fingers, I'm too afraid to catch ear skin with the hemostats ): I only do ear hair once a season, and I NEVER clean after, always before and wait a few hours for the ear to be completely dry. Cleaning after puts alcohol or whatever cleaner straight into the open pores - ouch! Vegas always throws a fit after (perfect boy during) and always has to be coned for a day after because he'll scratch his ears raw.


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

I use hemostats to clean & pluck before bathing as cleaning with an astringent afterwards would sting! So far, in 6mths I only had to pluck her ears once!


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## Brenda-A (Jan 7, 2013)

I wasn't aware of plucking until my groomer brought to my attention that Teddy had an ear infection. I took him to the vet and he told me to pluck and gave a solution for his ear infection. At first Teddy hated it and would cry. I found that while on car rides hes already relaxed so its way easier to pluck. 

I don't use a powder, though i've heard about it. I just use my fingers sometimes clean the earwax with my fingers as well. On rare occasions when hes really really calm I use a q-tip only on the surface of the ear but be very careful. If your diligent with your cleaning you won't need the q-tip. I also use this solution my vet gave me but find I don't need it as much, if I pluck and keep the ears hair free.


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## Jacamar (Jun 2, 2012)

I tried using some blunt-end scissors to trim but it seemed way too easy to cut him, so I have just been trimming what I can with the clippers. So far, no infections, so I wont change if there arent problems.

I do clean out the ears with epi-otic ear cleaner. My vet told me to avoid the brands with alcohol and epi-otic is the only one I have found without it. I got it from Amazon.


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## Eclipse (Apr 26, 2010)

Hi LauraRose,

I pluck my girl's ears and have never had an issue. I have heard some people say they plucked and the the dog got an infection, but in many of those cases the ear was completely full of hair and wax and when large amounts are pulled at once, the ear canal will get irritated, the dog will scratch at the ears and shake their head and cause issues. I do all my own grooming, used to groom professionally at one time, now just do my own spoos. I use powder for grip and do a combination of hand plucking and hemostats (curved only). Once the hair is out, I do the outside of the leather with the cleaning solution and then take a cotton ball soaked in the solution to go down into the canal a bit. Once that is done I take a dry cotton ball and wipe the inside of the canal. I do ear cleaning/plucking on a routine basis so there is never a big buildup of hair/wax in the canal. If you are used to using hemostats that is fine, but if not, I would caution you to be careful with how far you go into the canal, how much you pull at once, etc.


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## Chagall's mom (Jan 9, 2010)

I pluck a few hairs at a time, using ear powder and my fingers. Chagall will be 4 in May and has never had an ear infection. His breeder showed me how to pluck his ears when he was 9 weeks old and I've been doing it periodically ever since. This is the advice offer on the* Versatility in Poodles *website.

Plucking
Some dogs seem to have very little ear canal hair, while others seem to have a lot. Plucking of ear hair is a matter of preference. There are people who don’t pluck ear hair and people who do, and both can be quite passionate that “their way” is the best way. You may not want to pluck ear hair at all unless there is a lot of it. You may choose to pluck just a little in order to thin it out, or you can pluck until every hair is gone. If you are not currently showing your Poodle in conformation, another option to open up the ear to allow for better air flow may be to simply trim all excess hair from the inside ear leather, or even the outside leather. You can also trim the hair inside the canal very carefully.

If you choose to pluck the ear hair use a well-lighted area. Place the dog on its side on a grooming table and carefully pull out the hair with a hemostat. These instruments can be obtained from most grooming supply services. Using a bit of ear powder will assist in being able to grasp the hair effectively. Be careful not to pinch the skin in the ear canal with the hemostat. If the dog has a significant amount of hair, pull out a small portion of the hair in several sessions over the period of a week, skipping a day or two between sessions. Heavy pulling of hair in a single session can cause inflammation of the ear canal. This creates an ideal environment for bacterial or fungal growth.
Poodle Ear Care Sept 2009
© Copyright 2009 by Versatility in Poodles, Inc.
Pa

ETA: Getting Chagall accustomed to light ear plucking as a pup paid off. He just lays on his side and lets me do it, no fuss at all.


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## Indiana (Sep 11, 2011)

I guess I've done both in the two years my two have been alive, because at first I thought we had to! But then I read on this forum that there actually is a strong feeling amongst some not to. So now I do it sometimes (with fingers only) and let it go other times. My dogs are frequent swimmers and Indy puts her whole head under the water to fetch, but they've never yet had an ear infection (knock on wood).


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## mom24doggies (Mar 28, 2011)

Lots of controversy on this topic amongst us groomers, but the general consensus most of the time is to not over do it. So if your dog is a hair bear that grows a forest in his ears, don't just pull it out all at once....do about half every couple of weeks. That will (hopefully) keep the ear from getting irritated as well as ensure enough airflow to the ear. If they grow only a few sprigs, I would just leave it. Not need to open up the pores for nothing. If it really bothers you, use some clippers to just skim over the ear opening with maybe a 10 or 15. That will keep the long stuff short and make it neater. I keep a close eye on my kids' ears, with regular flushing and occasional plucking. Raven grows more hair then Trev so he gets plucked more...I rarely pluck Trev's at all unless we are going to a competition or if I see his ear is getting that greasy, clumpy look that sometimes can indicate a brewing infection. The I pluck a bit and clean well. I like to use plain water for a flush during bath time (both the poodles love it, they lean in and close their eyes) then Mystic Ear for a cleaning. So far so good, the only dog who has gotten an infection was Dusty, and he tends to have allergies/yeast issues anyways. 

The key is to check...frequently. If you can catch a problem before it starts (slightly dirtier than normal or a different odor are a couple indicators) you won't necessarily need to take a trip to the vet.


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## LauraRose (Dec 26, 2012)

Thanks, Everyone!
We appreciate your sage advice. 


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## Dawnsohma (Jan 24, 2013)

i vote pluck for sure i check my poodles ear hair once a week when i wash her ive never had a ear infection in either of my dogs. if you keep up on it there should never be a problem.


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## Brenda-A (Jan 7, 2013)

I got home and checked and the solution I used to flush doesn't contain alcohol. The brand is called three green dogs and its an ear flush. If I see that he has yucky brown ear wax inside of his ear, I will use this solution.

Also when I puck most of the time the wax will come with the hair. Thats why I prefer plucking over trimming.


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## Lily's-Mom (May 31, 2012)

My vet suggested no plucking, so that's what I told my groomer. Lily has some hair in her ears, but not a lot and her ears are very clean. When we had a Pekingese/Poodle mix he had his ears plucked, but he still always had a lot of gunk in his ears.


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## msminnamouse (Nov 4, 2010)

I used to say no plucking because, before my grooming lessons, I've only seen what most groomers (the ones I've gone to and know, this isn't a reflection on anyone here since I have no idea what they do) used to do and the results. Ear infections or just irration in general. They were using hemostats and this pulls live hair and that's the problem. Not only that, but it's painful.

Ditch that. Use ear powder and pull gently on small amounts at a time, with your fingers ONLY. The dead hair is usually a dull and darker color than the live hair. This way, you're only pulling out the dead hair and while you're at it, you're not causing pain. Since the hair is dead and the hair bulb has shrunken, the pore surrounding it has also shrunken and you're not leaving a raw and vulnerable large pore behind for debris and bacteria to get in. 

But if your dog's ears don't have a lot of hair, it's not really worth removing any at all. Basically, you want some air flow and if there's not enough hair to impede that, then there's really no reason to remove any. Unless your dog has a lot of cerumen due to allergies or whatever and the dead hair is holding it and retaining moisture.


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## LauraRose (Dec 26, 2012)

Thank you, All!


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## vicky2200 (Feb 14, 2012)

With Foxy (my mini when I was a kid) we rarely had her professionally groomed and we didn't pluck them ourselves. The groomer may have, the couple of times she saw one. She had a moderate amount of hair ( I thought it was a lot) and NEVER had an ear infection. She lived to be 16.

Weegee has the most hair imaginable in his ears. It is rather ridiculous. However, I do not pluck. I will occasionally cut the hair, and I have not cut him yet. I just make sure I get the loose hairs that might fall into the ear canal. I have had him for a year and they are the second cleanest ears I have ever seen. The cleanest being Daisy's.


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## sarahmurphy (Mar 22, 2012)

We just pulled a huge plug of wax and hair from the ears of Mr. Spike. His ears looked clean, but smelled a little waxy. When we were groom training (the people), we went to ears, put in a little les pooches ear powder, and started cleaning out the ear. I guess we went a little deeper with our fingers than our usual groomer does, because a great gob of stuff started coming out - we pulled it slowly and added more powder and a 2-3 inch long plug of wax and hair came out of each ear. We left them alone entirely for about a week, and he seems to be hearing all sorts of new sounds... 

The groomer school of thought seems to have moved to "not too much plucking or messing around in there", while the breeders and owners who groom seem to take out more... 

If you are not comfortable getting that far into your dog's ears (I'm not sure I am, without supervision/assistance), have your vet run a scope in there and look around...


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