Ear plucking

[Ohmymg]

Anyone have any experience of this?

Took my year old poodle to a new groomers today(current groomer is poorly so hopefully temporary) who said “your groomer clearly hadn’t plucked his ears for a while”. I responded that my vet states not to pluck.As when ddog was a pup I queried ear plucking with my vet who said, if he has no issues then don’t. Same stance from my usual groomer.

New groomer went onto day she disagreed with my vet and the hair has made his ears “filthy”. I have an appointment for ddogs booster soon so vet nurse is going to take a look but wanted to gather opinions.

They’ve made me feel rather neglectful!

[BiteyShark]

I would only want my dogs ear plucked if they caused a medical problem.

[GetTheSprinkles]

I'm a vet.
Only pluck them if they cause infections or irritation. Plucking can lead to issues in previously healthy ears. And it hurts them! (I suppose akin to us plucking out eyebrows but its more hair and in their ear canal : / )

[Ohmymg]

Thank you. I’m a bit peeved about other things too(2.5 hours for a full groom and even then I had to insist they hand him over because I was running late for the school run).

Should I be using fluid to clean ear regularly? Again this is not something I do, do I need to introduce it? I know of some dogs who suffer terribly with their ears so I am eager not to cause problems!

[Girlintheframe]

Our dog has terrible ear problems and twice yearly has to be sedated and have his inner ears shaved by the vet. Vet advised us NOT to clean his ears. Basically his ears are so hairy that fluid just sits in his ear canal which exacerbated the problem.

[BiteyShark]

I wouldn't use anything in my dogs ears unless he was having problems and the vet had advised it.

I have a cocker and they are known for ear issues but until he does I won't be doing anything to them as I think you can make things worse if they are fine. If a dog has ear problems then yes cleaning them and plucking can help but to me that's managing the problem and again I would only do that if advised to medically.

[Stellaris22]

Agree about leaving ears alone. I've got a basset and I have been told to clean them twice weekly. I rarely do that and we've had no problems, occasionally use Thornits powder but that's it. Can't imagine ever plucking ear hairs, sounds like a horrible thing to do to your dog.

[ACoupleofPeaches]

Plucking question aside I don't think 2.5 hours is especially excessive for a poodle. Especially a year old - I would hope the groomer is going at the dog's pace and giving them little beaks to help them relax in a new grooming environment. That will also add time.

[Ohmymg]

To be fair my usual groomer only works alone. This was a large place with 4 staff members but they were all doing different jobs- one washing/drying/nail clipping.

His cut is lovely as it happens, I keep him short and they’ve done a grand job