[Spottytoes]

Just out of curiosity, are poodles prone to eye goobers more so than other breeds? Curious to know if you all deal with this. We have a daily eye goober clean. Joey I do daily, Bobby every other day. It’s our routine and it’s not a big deal but I never had to do this with such regularity with previous dogs. My poodle boys don’t tear up and have tear stains but they do get the goobers that would definitely get yucky if I didn’t clean them regularly.

 

[Asta's Mom]

Asta gets goobers in allergy season - not so much other times

 

[Pavie]

Pavie had that as a puppy, but not as an adult.

 

[LaurieCody]

I have to clean Laurie's once a day she has them pretty bad.

 

[SteveS55]

I think they are pretty normal in Poodles. It depends on allergies, the environment, etc. Rhonda will get them about once a week. They don't seem to be a problem.

 

[94Magna_Tom]

I call them Eye Boogers. Elroy gets them all the time. It's much better than when he was little, but it's still at least a couple of times a day. He's used to his eye booger cleaning routine.

 

[94Magna_Tom]

Haha! I just realized Goober and Boogers are anagrams!

 

[Meisha]

Meisha used to get huge gluey/rubbery blobs during allergy season but she seems to have outgrown them.

 

[Happy'sDad]

Happy gets the occasional tearing, but no goobers.

 

[Minie]

Both our dogs gets a goober clean daily. They have tears if they are feeling underthe weather. But goobers is a natural way of flushing dust etc out of the eyes. Since both dogs seem to enjoy dust baths they have more goobers when it isn't raining.

 

[Christine.G]

Daisy also gets eye goop during the summer allergy season - which is happening right now in Louisiana. So, we wipe out goop a couple of times a day and I try not to gag

 

[Starla]

I’m right there with you @Christine.G ! 🤢

Phoebe’s aren’t as bad now as when she was younger. I assume it is like people, where as they grow, the tubes that drain away tears get larger, so the accumulation is less. Phoebe gets nasty red eye boogers only once a week or less now. I am quick to wipe any that I see asap after one got on my arm. 😩 Mind you, this is the dog that had pooped and walked all through it in her expen in the 3 mins she’d been in there alone when I was picking her up at the breeder, that I readily scooped up and loved on. There’s just something about boogers that turns my stomach over!

I do think they get them more than other breeds. I always assumed hairy dogs had them more because they had more irritation from their hairs getting in their eyes? So even long coated furred dogs wouldn’t have the same issue because their hair grows back instead of just out? But those are just guesses!

 

[94Magna_Tom]

@Minie "But goobers is a natural way of flushing dust etc out of the eyes"

If I pull back Elroy's eyelid and look in the outside corner, there's almost always goop in there just waiting to be shed as an eye booger. I tend to agree with the dust cleaning theory.

 

[I_love_dogs]

I brought it up with the vet. He said it can be an issue with the eye lashes or irritants/allergies. He checked to make sure there wasn't an issue with the lashes. Loki doesn't have any other signs of allergies, so cleaning with wet gauze is the recommendation.

 

[Tulsi]

Rusty has sleepy dust in the corners of his eyes most days. It was worse when he was a small puppy. He is 16 months old now.

 

[Raindrops]

Misha has small amounts of goop that I clean daily. Translucent gray goop seems to be normal and healthy. The goop turns yellow if there are allergies or conjunctivitis or infection. When he was young Misha had more frequent yellow goop. Now that is rare.

 

[PeggyTheParti]

Peggy gets little eye goops. I think that’s totally normal. With my fingers, once or twice a day, I give them a quick swipe (for “goopers”) or a gentle pluck (for “crunchers”), and let Peggy eat them as a reward. She knows the routine.

If she had a steady stream of tears, or sticky yellow or green discharge, I would be concerned. But these are greyish black and gelatinous. I think of them as the doggy equivalent of human eye crusties (aka “sleep”).

 

[Looniesense]

Luka also had lots more as a pup. Nowadays I clean his eyes about once a day. I think the goobers also get stuck because of the type of hair they have. Unless you do face shaves weekly, the goobers can get caught in the hair compared to a “regular dog” like a lab where the goober would not get stuck.

 

[Miki]

Bruddeh Ty is a very minor-league gooberer, and it always dries out quickly, turning into tiny crunchy bits that I remove and give to him to eat (long story).

Mini Sully (RIP) was also not much of a gooberer.

My Spoo Mike (RIP) was a huge gooberer - my walls were in constant need of cleaning. Spoo Tucker (RIP), otoh, never goobered.

I do think it's related to the specific curliness around the eyes of the individual poodle (kind of an angle-of-the-dangle thing). But it's never been a deal breaker on the breed for me, just another part of grooming.

 

[Footprints&pawmarks]

I know it sounds disgusting, but I've always thought that letting the dog eat them is a reward for holding still enough for me to get them out of their eyes.