# Ear Hair Pulling?



## Crash440 (Jan 21, 2013)

So as a groomer I have faced this many times. I have one vet in town who is totally against pulling any and all ear hair, another who says get rid of every strand, and several others that say it depends on the dog.

I have been blamed for causing an ear infection; the ear was clearly infected before I pulled out the ear hair and told them to go to the vet because of the infection. The vet still blamed me for the infection though.

I am frustrated about this and just wanted to know your opinions on the matter. 

Thank you in advance.


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

We have three different Vets at our Vet Hospital. I took my three month old puppy in as she was scratching at one ear. She pulled every hair out of her ears and said she had ear mites. She put the stuff in for the ear mites. Another time, Remmy started scratching at one of his ears so I took him in. Got a different Vet and he never pulled any of the hair out and he had a yeast infection in his one ear that I had to treat. It is all cleared up now even with the hair in his ear.

So, even the Vets have differing opinions on whether to leave the hair or not.


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## ThoseWordsAtBest (Mar 18, 2009)

When I was grooming I just never really loved doing it. I'd powder their ear and most wouldn't particularly mind it, just didn't like pulling it. You hear this sort of thing about hair on the human body as well. At my PEOPLE salon we'd wax nose hair. Some people would argue the hair is there to serve various purposes and it removing it is bad, others would have it removed. I let individual people make the choice.


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## Crash440 (Jan 21, 2013)

I have tried asking people if they want me to or not, and they all just shrug their shoulders and tell me to do whatever is best. The way I was trained was to pull it and keep it clean. Seasonal allergies are terrible which usually means ear infections are common, and the hair offers a good environment for the bacteria to grow. I don't like doing it because I am sure that it does not feel great, but usually dogs put up with it. It was just one client, one time, but I want to offer the best services possible. 

Thank you for your input though.


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## animalcraker (Nov 9, 2006)

My opinion is that if it ain't broke don't fix it. However I would recommend that if your going to run a grooming business you may want to CYA. If I were in your shoes I would take pictures when if possible and call the owner before doing anything with the ear or even bathing the dog. You may also want to get into the habit of doing a quick once over with on any pets before the owner leaves. Take a quick peek in the ears and at the skin so you can address any issues right away and help prevent the owner/vet from blaming you.


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## Fade (Feb 24, 2012)

WE have seen ear hair cause infections . ( it can collect mass amounts of dirt ) Saying that pulling it causes infections is difficult because there could have been a problem already however small. We send some dogs back to have ear hair pulled by our groomer at the clinic because of the mass amounts of filth and bacteria the hair collects. I would recommend putting some anti bacterial / antifungal cleaner in afterwards really thoroughly and do not pluck them if it is infected. I would recommend not to touch the ears you suspect are infected and tell them to go to the vet and have them take care of it.

the root of the problem is owners not cleaning the dogs ears plucked or not.


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

I pull most of the hair, unless the client says leave it. Some vets want it pulled, some dont. Its a very controversial thing lately. If the ear looks infected, I dont pull hair or clean them, and send client to the vet. If you pull hair from an infected ear, it can cause more inflamation, and if you clean it, the vet cant get the crud to culture it. Infected ear is a vets problem, IMO. I dont try to get every last hair when I pull, but just enough to clear the canal for air.


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## GottaLuvMutts (Jun 1, 2009)

My vet said not to even clean the ears, let alone pulling hair. I leave well enough alone, and have never had any issue.


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## Crash440 (Jan 21, 2013)

Thank you all! One reason I hesitate to leave the ear hair is that some of the owners will not go to the vet, or if they do it take them a couple of weeks to go in. 

Animalcracker: I really need to get better at doing that...  I usually ask about their personality on the table and what they would like their dog to look like. I address matting immediately, but I should do as you advise. Thank you

Fade, I TOTALLY agree with that last statement! I have thought about putting Zymox in the ears afterwards, any other products you (or anyone else) could recommend? I work at a pet supplies store so my boss will order anything I would like. 

Graco22 - I hate leaving some of those ears, when I really should. Some are soooo bad I feel bad for the dog. I will restrain from doing this though. 

Thank you everyone else as well!


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## JulieK1967 (May 29, 2011)

I just have to ask since I've never heard of this before. Are you all talking about pulling the ear hair out to the roots? That's sounds incredibly painful.


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## Selah Cowgirl (Nov 14, 2009)

I strip as well as I can my boy LOVES water and would live in it if he could figure out how to breath through his eyeballs. He also has super hairy ears. He has never had an infection and I plan to keep it that way. Many griff breeders commend stripping the ears, Luke loves it, he groans and has big old sighs when I start.


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

JulieK1967 said:


> I just have to ask since I've never heard of this before. Are you all talking about pulling the ear hair out to the roots? That's sounds incredibly painful.


The hair in the ear canal, yes. Honestly, I do Kylie's and will likely do Thud's. K's never reacted to it at all, and she screams and screams and SCREAMS when she gets a vaccination and has basically no pain tolerance to speak of (talk to me of the drama the one time I stepped on her paw), so I'm assuming it's not bad.


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## JulieK1967 (May 29, 2011)

CptJack said:


> The hair in the ear canal, yes. Honestly, I do Kylie's and will likely do Thud's. K's never reacted to it at all, and she screams and screams and SCREAMS when she gets a vaccination and has basically no pain tolerance to speak of (talk to me of the drama the one time I stepped on her paw), so I'm assuming it's not bad.


Wow. That's amazing. Sounds like it would hurt like heck. Don't think I could do it. Glad again Molly is short haired, lol.


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

JulieK1967 said:


> Wow. That's amazing. Sounds like it would hurt like heck. Don't think I could do it. Glad again Molly is short haired, lol.


It's really kind of strange. I get the feeling that for a lot of dogs, either the hair isn't very firmly rooted (I could never yank that much hair out of my head that easily, for instance), and/or they just don't have great pain receptors there, but she doesn't even blink. Just kind of leans in slightly and acts like it itches a bit.


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## Rescued (Jan 8, 2012)

CptJack said:


> The hair in the ear canal, yes. Honestly, I do Kylie's and will likely do Thud's. K's never reacted to it at all, and she screams and screams and SCREAMS when she gets a vaccination and has basically no pain tolerance to speak of (talk to me of the drama the one time I stepped on her paw), so I'm assuming it's not bad.


Sounds like toby. When the dog got a microchip, I stepped outside the building because I knew he was a wuss. Granted this was the office of the service dog org he came from, so I just stepped outside the glass door onto the patio, but you would have thought that someone had cut off his tail. 

He's my little baby. I've had five week old fosters that made less of a fuss getting chipped/ shots.


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## Crash440 (Jan 21, 2013)

Sorry, I have not been on for a while!



> I just have to ask since I've never heard of this before. Are you all talking about pulling the ear hair out to the roots? That's sounds incredibly painful.


It can be for some dogs that have not had it done for a while. When it is kept up with the dogs get used to it and it does not hurt. 



> The hair in the ear canal, yes. Honestly, I do Kylie's and will likely do Thud's. K's never reacted to it at all, and she screams and screams and SCREAMS when she gets a vaccination and has basically no pain tolerance to speak of (talk to me of the drama the one time I stepped on her paw), so I'm assuming it's not bad.


Are you a groomer? Or just an awesomely, amazing owner that I wish all of my clients were?!?! Lol. I like you CptJack! Very much so


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

Crash440 said:


> Are you a groomer? Or just an awesomely, amazing owner that I wish all of my clients were?!?! Lol. I like you CptJack! Very much so


Not a groomer - but a long time ago I had a really frail, elderly toy poodle for the last couple of years of her life and had an awesome, amazing groomer at my vet teach me to do ear hair pulling (she had issues with ear infections, big time, and super-fuzzy ears) and a decent paw, face, and sanitary trim so the poor old thing didn't have to come in to have it done. 

Now I own this: 









Honestly, the picture doesn't really do justice for the sheer amount of hair that dog has growing out of her ears. If I didn't pull it, I suspect she'd end up deaf from wax and fur being matted in there. (Which was EXACTLY how my poodle was when we got her. So, not happening.  (And she really, really doesn't mind at all.)


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## Crash440 (Jan 21, 2013)

I saw your recent pics of Kylie and the snow. She reminds my of a papillon/corgi mix, but with the ear hair she must have something different. I remember you saying a guy called saying that was one of his puppies and that she is a Chi mix of sorts possibly.

That is wonderful that the groomer did that for you. It also helps for future fluffy pets  Less money spent on grooming visits for sure. It is crazy how much hair and wax comes out of those little ears! It never ceases to amaze me.


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

It was absolutely heartwarming, especially at the time. That poor little dog was blind, deaf, had no teeth and was FRAIL, but she was the sweetest, happiest, lovingest little dog in the world while we had her and not having to haul her in to be groomed really contributed to that. Not that grooming and professionals are bad, but she was old and sick and completely unused to the whole thing and it just made her miserable. At her age there didn't seem much point in trying to get her accostomed to it, instead of just making her comfortable, you know?

Yeah, and this point I've decided she's the product of something small that looked vaguely chi like (her body shape is... kind of right) mixed with something a little bigger. That's about all I've got. She's CUTE, but if you break her down she's a weird little dog - and weirder if you start looking at behavior. I call her a chi-mix and am done with it, most of the time.


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## Crash440 (Jan 21, 2013)

When dogs get to a certain point, like yours did, it is not worth the stress of going out to a groomer. It is much more comforting to a dog to have mum or dad do the cares in their own home. Especially being blind and deaf. So glad you could make her comfortable. A groomer or professional could never do it like you can.

Kylie has to be weird to level out her cuteness! If she wasn't weird she would probably be destructive.... hehehe. Thanks for the chat! Thank you everyone else for the information as well!


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

I do not every mess with ear hair. You will get shot by the papillon people if you pull it (lol just kidding slightly). But really, my dogs have about as hairy of ears you can imagine, as do all the other paps I know. Nobody pulls any hair. I have never had a dog with any ear problems at all.


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