No matter if the ears on your dog are short and catlike or long and droopy they require special attention to make ensure that they stay clean and free of any problems.

Ears naturally produce wax, grow hair, trap dirt, retain moisture and can easily develop infections when they are neglected. It is a good idea to make it a practice to check your dog’s ears every day. Your dog is probably used to you touching their ears and should be more comfortable than when your groomer or vet examines them. You also want to spend a little time making sure your dog’s ears are clean while you are grooming them.

Here are eight things you can do to make sure your dog’s ears are problem free:

Examine your dog’s ears checking the outside for tangles and parasites which tend to gather around the ears. Check the inside of the ears for dirt and excessive wax buildup. The insides should be fairly clean with a little ear wax buildup being normal but if there are large amounts of ear wax with a reddish brown look or if the wax is streaky or smells strange you should have it checked by your vet.

Check for any hair growing inside the ear as small ear hair can trap bacteria, dirt and moisture inside the ear canal possibly causing an infection. For a neater appearance you may trim the hair inside your dog’s ears but be careful doing so.

The easiest way to trim ear hair is to pull the ear back over your dog’s head so it lays flat against the skull. This will help shut off the sensitive parts of the ear canal and not bother your pet as much.

If your dog has long ear hair pluck out each hair individually gently using your fingers. If you find this too difficult to do try dipping your fingers in a little ear powder, this should make it easier for you to grasp the hairs. Try not to pluck out more than two ear hairs at a time because this could be painful to your dog. If you have to use ear hair forceps which are small tweezers made especially for plucking ear hair but remember to only pluck one or two hairs at a time.

If the hair is too short to pluck, or if you prefer to cut the hair, you can carefully clip each hair with a small blunt tipped scissors.

When you are finished dust the ears with some medicated ear powder if they are prone to infection. Most ear powders sold in pet stores will work just fine and will not cause any adverse reactions.

If the ears are extremely dirty gently pull the ear out and away from the skull to open up the ear canal more and place a few drops of ear wash or mineral oil inside. Gently massage the base of the ear to work the oil down the canal. Hold the ear down for a minute or so to let the wash enter the ear canal then release your dog and let them shake their head a few times to loosen up the ear wax. Check their ears again and clear out loose wax with a cotton ball or swab dipped in ear wash or mineral oil.

If you have a droopy-eared dog try to keep all the hair under the ear opening and on the inside flap of the ear trimmed short as this will increase air flow to the ear and reduce the chance of infection.

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