Problem grooming and ears

[Suddenstorm]

I’ve regularly groomed my young long haired dog since a pup. All good, she settles with a bone and I checked her teeth and ears.

She recently got a build up of wax. I tried to gently massage in some ear cleaning drops - she hated which surprised me based on how she was generally. I thought she may be in pain so got her vet checked - vet a nightmare. She’s been fine in the vets before.

Now, she is ok if I stroke, rub, groom her ear flaps. But she goes wild if she thinks I’m trying to put drops in, including showing aggression.

I am worried that this episode has damaged all the nice grooming and vet visits and generally her knowing that she will be ‘inspected’. And that she’s quickly become reactive to going near her ears. Or face generally.

Can anyone share any practical advice please? I dont want to make things worse. I’ve never had this problem with any of my previous dogs.

Is it the drops going down her ear that she particularly doesn’t like?
You could try Thornit instead. I’ve used it for years to prevent any ear trouble. It’s a powder, you just pick up a tiny bit on a small make up brush & dust it under the ear flap & round the outside of the hole, not letting it go down into the ear ( easier than I’m making it sound) Brilliant stuff. It may be the sensation of drops in the ear she hates, they can sting.
You can buy it at most of the online pet pharmacies without prescription, like VetUk, Animed, Viovet etc

https://www.thornitearpowder.com/

Thank you @Darklane. I think it was the feeling but then me or the vet clearly making a move to do something behind her ears. She seems to have got spooked by it.

I will have a look at Thornit, does it have to be a brush or could a finger work? She’ll let me brush her outer ears, it’s the inside that’s become the problem. She was always so good so I think she’s taken an immediate aversion to being touched around the ears and face more generally.

It sounds like you caused her pain and now she's reacting in anticipation of it happening again. Have you considered muzzle training her for safety while you work on it?

@fieldsofbutterflies I was gentle when I first used the drops, I’ve done so many times with various dogs over the years, this is my first experience of a problem. Perhaps she was already hurting and I didn’t know. Thanks for the muzzle suggestion, I think I may try that.

Dogs are really good at masking pain so it's very likely she was already hurting, bless her. Or, it could just be really hated the sensation and it freaked her out - dogs can be weird animals!

@fieldsofbutterflies freaked me out too as I didn’t expect that reaction! You live and learn I guess.

Try not to worry! My dog hates ear drops too - he will run and hide in the corner 😂

He's fine with all other kinds of handling as well as medication etc. so I assume he must not like the feeling!

@Suddenstorm thank you, that’s made me feel better! They are too clever sometimes.