[Honeytown]

Hi, I hope this is the right place for this post....please exuse me if not. I'm new here. Posted awhile back about getting my new pup and he's been here two weeks. I've been too busy to post since I got him.

Anyhow....Mickey came to me at 3 1/2 months old with tons of hair in his ears--couldn't even see the ear canal at all. I asked his breeder what to do and her reply was "you can pull it out". Well so I tried but didn't get too far so made an appointment with a groomer. It was so bad--It took 5 or 6 minutes and Mickey screamed the entire time. I felt bad for the groomers and bad for Mickey and my hands are still shaking. I made them stop after the one ear. Just couldn't handle any more today. They told me to bring him back tomorrow or Monday so they can do the other ear. But honestly I don't know if I can. They warned me Mickey will get ear infections if I leave the hair in there. But my gosh, he's a pup and I'm trying to teach him that the world is a good safe place...somehow being tortured on a grooming table doesn't seem to fit in with that. Is there any way to stop the hair from growing in the ears. I don't know if I can stand another round of this...my nerves are shot. Mickey's ear is all red inside and looks sore, poor boy.

Please help.

 

[flyingduster]

yeouch! Poor lil guy!

Firstly; yup ear hair is part of grooming, so you've got the right section to post!

Secondly, you can do it at home yourself. Have a collar and lead on him just so as he can't just run off on you, and you will need to be fairly firm, but just do a few hairs, maybe one or two lil plucks, and then give his ear a rub and leave it at that. In the next ad break, you can do a little more. etc etc. It will help it be less traumatic than having it all ripped out at once!!!

When plucking, take your time, hold the ear back and fiddle about in the ear a bit, make sure the hair you'r plucking is simply the hair that comes from down INSIDE the ear canal, not all the fuzzy stuff around the edges. The stuff from down in the canal shouldn't hurt coming out, though it feels really funny so most pups try yelping to make it stop! If you catch some of the hair that's around the edges of the canal then that's what'll hurt...

A lot of poodles are fine without having their ears plucked, BUT if it's so thick you can't see into the ear canal at all, I'm afraid he's 99% likely to *need* ear plucking to keep it clear. There isn't another way to keep it clear when it's so thick (if it's less thick you can just trim it short so the air can get down better, but when it's thick right downt he canal, trimming won't make a difference!) so it is likely he'll always need his ears plucked.

Just keep ontop of it, give a pluck or two and leave it at that, give his ears ltos of rubs and feeling about in his canal, so that he doesn't think that every time you're poking about in there that you're gonna pluck, and just keep working on it. It might take a while, and he might yelp a bit at times, but it won't be the screaming red raw ears at least.

FD

 

[Olie]

******Just keep ontop of it, give a pluck or two and leave it at that, give his ears ltos of rubs and feeling about in his canal, so that he doesn't think that every time you're poking about in there that you're gonna pluck, and just keep working on it. It might take a while, and he might yelp a bit at times, but it won't be the screaming red raw ears at least.*******
^^^I agree to the last post especially that^^part.

That experience sounded pretty painful for you too!!

There are powders you can also buy to make it easier on him. My BF does this part, but THEY WILL GET ear problems, smell etc if it is not taken care of.

 

[Mister]

Try putting ear powder in there and pulling out very SMALL chunks of hair at a time, the bigger the chunk of hair you pull out the more pressure and pain the dog will feel. I lucked out with Mister because he LOVES his ears to be plucked and cleaned (he's kind of a weirdo lol).
But with my experience being a dog groomer ive noticed that with dogs that cream or hate it to be done i just take it slow and do the smallest of chunks at a time.
I would have someone help you and hold him and always reassure him with "good dog", "good boys" or even the occassional treat after a few chunks have been pulled. He needs to learn that its not a punishment but just something that happens every month or so.
You can also do it every 2-4 weeks and that will minimize the amount of hair you have to pull each time making it much easier on the little guy. Your breeder should of started him on all of this a lot younger than 3.5 months.
Good luck and PM me if you have more questions....

 

[Fluffyspoos]

Just like anything your dog does, you have to get them used to it. There's adult dogs I do that still scream when they get their ear hair done (and have to be muzzled and retrained close to your body.)

I was watching a Cesar Millian show where a Lhasa FREAKED out when anything got near her ears because she hated getting her ear hair done so much. What Cesar did was when he was playing with the dog, getting her in a good, happy mood, he would hold her to his body, then lift her ear, and kinda pull gently/fluff up the ear hair inside her ear, let her go, and play with her some more.

He associated the ear plucking with playing, but he was consistant with it. It looked like when he was training her at the time he wasn't doing any initial plucking, just light pulling to let her know what he was doing. I imagine you can start pulling a little more at a time on your puppy.

It's something you can consider, considering this is something your dog will HAVE to have done throughout his lifetime.

 

[dbrazzil]

I was scared to pluck out the ear hair at first, but since a couple of my poodles have had ear infections, I decided the plucking was the least painful. I pinched some powder between my fingers and sprinkled some in one ear at a time. One of my dogs had alot of ear hair, so I did as much as he would let me do at one sitting, rested awhile then started again until I got most of it out. Then I would switch ears and start again. I think it took me a week to get most of the hair out, but once I did, I just stayed on top of it and it wasn't so bad the next time around.

 

[Honeytown]

Thank you so much everyone for all your replies. You've all helped and given me confidence that I can deal with this.

When I emailed my breeder she said the breeder of her poodle had been breeding poodles for 20 years and never pulled out the ear hair and that she herself had not pulled any hair out of her poodle's ears and the dog is two years old. Hmmmm...

But anyhow I've followed your advice about fooling with his ear hair alot and even pulled out a few tufts. He didn't seem to mind it all that much, didn't even yelp or anything! So I'll do as you all suggest and go slow and do some at a time till he gets used to it.

THANK YOU again for your help. I was so upset and it really helped to hear from you.

 

[frostfirestandards]

puppies scream when they don't like something, and alot of time they make it sound worse than it is.
Jamie, my white female used to scream and try to bite when she got her ears plucked and her feet shaved. Her breeder did not teach her to accept these things, so I had to.

I know it makes people feel bad when their baby cries, but to to pu it another way, if your child cries and throws a fit when he gets a shot- are you going to quit vaccinating him?

use ear powder, and pluck a little at a time.. dont stretch it out over a week or something, but over a few hours is fine.

have someone hold a kong stuffed with peanut butter or something to distract him, and give him a really great treat at the end.
Make a habit of playing in his ears even when you aren't going to pluck anything, that way he won't associate you being by his ears with pain everytime. :scared: