PammiPoodle

How much, if at all, does your dog tear? I'd love to know what's common/normal for everyone! Did anyone notice a difference between puppyhood and adulthood? Does your pup have a short or long-haired face, and do you think that affects the tearing?

Lumi tears a lot, I think. She doesn't have tear stains or what I'd consider excessive boogies. But, she almost constantly has wet tear lines. They dry up when she sleeps so when she wakes up her face is white and bright (if only I looked my best first thing in the morning!), and in a few minutes she has these wet lines that stay there until she takes a nap again. I somehow feel like it's a "puppy thing" and will change when she gets older. My mom always tells me how when I was a kid my nose was always running! Haha

I've included a dry-eye and wet-eye picture. What do you all think?

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CT Girl

I would say it is normal puppy tearing. I think until she gets her permanent teeth she will tear more. That is what the vet told me when I asked her about Swizzle. Swizzle's tearing is much better now that he has his permanent teeth. I do have an issue with tear staining though. I have tried denatured water, good raw food and washing around his eyes with saline and when his fur grows out I can see some brown staining. I saw your tip about white vinegar and water (being careful not to let it wick into the eyes) and will try that. I have also heard 1/2 of a tums per day which I am going to try. If those don't work I am considering Angel Eyes Natural - that does not have antibiotics. His tearing and staining is not that bad but his face is so cute I hate to have anything marring it. I am glad you don't have a staining issue with Lumi. I have notice Swizzle's eyes do tear more if hair gets in them - I am sure that would be the same for any dog. I would not worry too much I think just growing up will take care of the wet eye issue. You probably will notice the tearing getting worse when she starts losing teeth.

Courtney_20_00

My spoo is almost 8 months old and has constant tear lines. She has a shaves face and she gets goobies also, Ive had her checked out numerous times as I am a Vet tech and she goes to work with me. And they can't find anything wrong with her, we have done the tear testing and everything. She just produces alot of tears. And if I let her face grow any at all its gets real bad.

tokipoke

I always wondered about tearing in other people's poodles. I read that standards don't get excessive tear stains like toys and minis do. My standard doesn't have brown stains down his face or anything but he gets a lot of eye boogies. It crusts in the inner corners of his eyes and I have to pick it off every morning. I've noticed the crusts have decreased since I've introduced raw food into his diet. In his case, his diet has a lot to do with how his eyes behave. Couple of months ago he had GREEN smelly discharge coming out of his eyes! It was mucous-like. I put antibiotic eyedrops in his eyes thinking it was an infection. It only lasted a week. One of his eyes is doing the same thing again, but just a little bit of green discharge, and it's happening right now during his transition onto raw food. Looking back, the weeklong "eye infection" happened when I was switching his kibble. I think this is body's way of "detoxing."

liljaker

When I was last in Paris, I saw this gorgeous white poodle -- I started speaking wtih the owner and she said she always used eye makeup remover on her little girl's eyes and it took any tear stains off, or kept them to a minimum. From a practical standpoint, I never thought about it, but since we used it on our eyes and it takes off makeup, it's probably a bit more effective than saline and still non-stinging. My sister uses on her bichon and said it works.

katbrat

Lexi is a white spoo and we did have some tear staining when she was young and we were switching over her food while we were in transition, but it was just while we were switching, not before or after. The last groomer we used did not get the corners of her eyes trimmed very well and I noticed the stray hair would cause her eyes to tear up and then she would get eye crusties. Every once in a while I will notice a bit of an eye crustie but I am able to just wipe it off. So far we don't have any stains and she will be eight months old on the first.

MamaTiff

Darby's left eye would tear all the time. It never stained, but there was always a wet streak there. But now that you posted this, it has slowly stopped and I can't remember the last time I saw it tear. So maybe it is a puppy thing? She just turned 9 months.

Rowan

Both Alex and Merlin have very little tearing (usually just a crusty nub at the corner of the eye when I wipe them down in the evening). Pippin's eyes will run in the summer when there's a lot of pollen, but stop during the winter. It looks like a clear liquid "tear trail," and I wipe his face with a warm washcloth. So I think it's normal. If she had an infection, it would smell (I know a poodle who has this issue and yuck)!

PammiPoodle

Thanks for all the helpful comments! : ) It's so nice to hear that some of you saw a decrease as your dog grew up, or got through teething. As a groomer, it's really important to me that she has a stain free face, which she does, to reassure my clients that I know what I'm doing. : P *But* with the runny eyes, they always look like pink lines anyway! Crossing my fingers that grown-up Lumi won't be so teary. : )

LEUllman

Beau has never had a tear staining problem, thank heaven! He does get sometime have mucus in the corners, and an eye booger every once in while. Nothing that can't be wiped away -- if he holds still!