[ridgerachel]

Hi All! We have our 10 month old goldendoodle (seems mostly poodle) who has an ear infection. The groomer was plucking her ears for the first time last month (at 9 months old) and found black goo in her ears. She decided to call me and tell me that she needed to quit plucking, let our girl recover and see her the next week to finish the plucking. We took her to the vet the next day instead of waiting and learned she has a yeast infection in both ears. Now giving her antibiotics in each ear once per day and starting to clean her ears once per week or every 2 weeks per doctor.
This is our first doodle/poodle and we only learned about the possible need to have ears plucked after getting her. We read online that some people have ears plucked,, some don't. When we started with the groomer we asked about that. She said she checks it and decides if it seems necessary. This recent grooming was the fourth month of seeing this groomer but the first time ears were plucked. I am not looking for judgement to the groomer. I plan to discuss the incident with her from the point of view of lets move forward keeping this incident in mind and that I need her (the groomer) to pluck ears as needed (vet told us they expect the groomer to perform this task as part of grooming) and we will clean her ears regularly. The plucking will make the cleaning easier since the hair will not be thick in our dog's ears. The hair the vet found when they plucked the ears while dealing with the infection formed virtual ear plugs.
I would like any comments that people experienced with doodles/poodles have that might help us take care of our dog properly in the future to avoid ear infections and anything else we should know about. I remember reading a reply from a person here experienced with poodles and regarding poodles being "very empathetic adults" but "demon spawn puppies" and if that person feels they can help us, it would be appreciated. (We really identified with the "demon spawn" description as related to our little girl. She is an F1b golden doodle with a goldendoodle mother and a standard poodle father. She is settling down gradually as she ages but takes a lot of patience under certain circumstances. We are retired and we have had a Great Dane puppy, a Golden Retriever puppy, a German Shepherd puppy and the next 2 we rescued as adult dogs, just to give you an idea of our dog experience level.
Thanks for any assistance you can give us.

 

[JoanneF]

I'm pretty sure ear plucking is something you could do yourself. @Schnauzaluv is that something you do, can you help?

 

[Schnauzaluv]

I think the quote "poodles being "very empathetic adults" but "demon spawn puppies" was @Curls.

I have definitely heard of plucking the ears, but I personally never have. I do scissor the hair out though and around the inner ear to keep it clear and give it more air. I have schnauzers (with very hairy ears) and although I don't purposely pluck the hairs in the ear, I have noticed sometimes i'll get some loose hairs out. So I do think some level of maintenance there helps, but for the bulk, I just scissor.

 

[Kyllobernese]

Pixie is a Parti-color and gets really hairy ears. I usually clip her myself and do not pull the hair from her ears but have them done by the groomer when she clips her. I do keep the hair around the entrance to her ears as short as I can. She is 2 years old and has had one case of yeast infection and since then I routinely put Epi-Otic in her ears and check them for any smell.

 

[Curls]

You definitely do not want to pluck the ears if the dog has an active infection. Yanking out the hair shaft leaves an opening for the nasty yeast and bacteria to get into the bottom of the hair follicle, and the infection will get much worse. You should treat the infection before messing around with the hair.

There is disagreement about whether poodles need their ears plucked. There's also some variation in how much hair poodles get in their ear canals, and how they react to plucking. Some poodles definitely do have amazingly thick ear hair, and it forms hairy wax plugs unless you thin it out. Other poodles, and one of mine was like this, will get really awful ear infections if you pluck. I always instructed the groomer to trim his hair as best they could and refrain from plucking. My current pair both get plucked at the groomer and do fine with it.

A lot of people pluck the hair themselves. You can buy special ear plucking powder that makes the task easier for you and more comfortable for the dog. It helps you get a good grip on the hair, so you can remove it more easily. Some kinds of powder are also medicated. Do a few hairs at a time; don't grab a big clump.

 

[ridgerachel]

You definitely do not want to pluck the ears if the dog has an active infection. Yanking out the hair shaft leaves an opening for the nasty yeast and bacteria to get into the bottom of the hair follicle, and the infection will get much worse. You should treat the infection before messing around with the hair.

There is disagreement about whether poodles need their ears plucked. There's also some variation in how much hair poodles get in their ear canals, and how they react to plucking. Some poodles definitely do have amazingly thick ear hair, and it forms hairy wax plugs unless you thin it out. Other poodles, and one of mine was like this, will get really awful ear infections if you pluck. I always instructed the groomer to trim his hair as best they could and refrain from plucking. My current pair both get plucked at the groomer and do fine with it.

A lot of people pluck the hair themselves. You can buy special ear plucking powder that makes the task easier for you and more comfortable for the dog. It helps you get a good grip on the hair, so you can remove it more easily. Some kinds of powder are also medicated. Do a few hairs at a time; don't grab a big clump.

You definitely do not want to pluck the ears if the dog has an active infection. Yanking out the hair shaft leaves an opening for the nasty yeast and bacteria to get into the bottom of the hair follicle, and the infection will get much worse. You should treat the infection before messing around with the hair.

There is disagreement about whether poodles need their ears plucked. There's also some variation in how much hair poodles get in their ear canals, and how they react to plucking. Some poodles definitely do have amazingly thick ear hair, and it forms hairy wax plugs unless you thin it out. Other poodles, and one of mine was like this, will get really awful ear infections if you pluck. I always instructed the groomer to trim his hair as best they could and refrain from plucking. My current pair both get plucked at the groomer and do fine with it.

A lot of people pluck the hair themselves. You can buy special ear plucking powder that makes the task easier for you and more comfortable for the dog. It helps you get a good grip on the hair, so you can remove it more easily. Some kinds of powder are also medicated. Do a few hairs at a time; don't grab a big clump.

 

[ridgerachel]

You definitely do not want to pluck the ears if the dog has an active infection. Yanking out the hair shaft leaves an opening for the nasty yeast and bacteria to get into the bottom of the hair follicle, and the infection will get much worse. You should treat the infection before messing around with the hair.

There is disagreement about whether poodles need their ears plucked. There's also some variation in how much hair poodles get in their ear canals, and how they react to plucking. Some poodles definitely do have amazingly thick ear hair, and it forms hairy wax plugs unless you thin it out. Other poodles, and one of mine was like this, will get really awful ear infections if you pluck. I always instructed the groomer to trim his hair as best they could and refrain from plucking. My current pair both get plucked at the groomer and do fine with it.

A lot of people pluck the hair themselves. You can buy special ear plucking powder that makes the task easier for you and more comfortable for the dog. It helps you get a good grip on the hair, so you can remove it more easily. Some kinds of powder are also medicated. Do a few hairs at a time; don't grab a big clump.

Thanks for the information. No we won't attempt plucking until the infection is gone, definitely! From what you have said otherwise, it appears it would be best to trim the ear hair first and keep the ears clean. I appreciate the guidance.