A few days after I got Mr. Layne home, we were sitting next to each other & I caught a whiff of something stinky. It was his ears. I washed his ears until all was clean. 24 hours later... stinky. What the heck???? I was using an ear cleaning solution made for dogs. I cleaned until everything came out clean. I went online & started researching. Oh boy.
So I went online & ordered another cleaner of a different variety & a drying lotion (both made for dogs of course). But in the meantime I gotta deal with these ears while we're awaiting delivery. Clean, clean... lots of gunk. Nothing smelled yeasty. He wasn't scratching like it was ear mites. He hasn't been swimming & at that point I hadn't given him a bath so... mixed vinegar & alcohol with water. Cleaned the ear out using that.
Next, I used a method I picked up after talking to several of the hound people. I went to forums like ours but for hound dogs. When searching for ear problems, I learned a lot of hound people tie up the ears for an hour per day (or whatever rate seems to work for the dogs) & it allows air to circulate & keeps the ears drier. Cool, I can do that. So sometimes while I have Mr. Layne up on the groom table, I'll use a hair scrunchie & pull the ears gently up through it & he's adorable while I brush & the ears get air. Mr. Layne is not fond of his ears being out of place so I have to keep putting them back up. Other times I can flop an ear over his head & he'll just leave it. I also have panty hose which I can fold his ears as I like & put it onto his head so it holds his ears back & still allows air flow. I shared this with the hound folk & a basset breeder was over the moon. My imagination keeps me in stitches thinking about those big ol bassets with panty hose over their heads to keep their long floppies back
I also keep gentian violet on hand if all of the above didn't work.
By the time my stuff was delivered, we had Poodle ears under control. Then I added the drying lotion & he's been fine ever since. I do an ear sniff test once a day. I used the drying lotion once a week for about 3 weeks & haven't had to use it since.
In Mr. Layne's case, I don't think it was anything more than something was trying to get started & I nipped it before it could manifest into infection. The Giant Schnauzer people swear by the Gentian Violet. I got two bottles online at Walmart for under $10. I keep it on hand in case nothing else works but they do get a purple ear from it
