Is it Necessary to Pluck my Dog’s Ears?
When grooming a dog. Should you pluck the hair,
out of the ears of a dog, just because????
Valerie
Farmington Hills, MI
Excessive hair in dogs’ ears can sometimes trap moisture in the ear canal. This moisture can lead to ear infections as naturally occurring bacteria and yeast proliferate exuberantly.
Dogs that suffer from chronic ear infections may benefit from regular ear plucking.
However, I generally don’t recommend routine ear plucking in dogs that don’t have problems with ear infections. Plucking the ears can be painful and unpleasant for dogs. It also can lead to irritation of the ears, which may trigger the very ear infections that plucking is supposed to prevent.
I recommend that regular ear plucking be reserved for dogs with histories of recurrent ear problems.
Photo: Roxanne’s ear looks fine.
You have questions. 
I have seen this done and it is painful. I am not a vet but I would recommend to shave the hair from their ears rather than plucking. Having Cockers all my life I am well aware of chronic ear infections but absolutely refuse to put them through ear hair plucking.
I can tell when Sassy is getting an infection before her wonderful vet can by the signs she gives me, the smell and so on. Very disappointed in your suggestions.
I am a Shepherd person and thier upright ears don’t seem to have problems with ear infections. On the other hand, my sister’s longcoated Duchshund has recurring ear infections that accompany horrible odor.
What helped was a medicated ear wipes to keep them clean and her groomer trims overgrown hair inside (very carefully)
I too agree that plucking is too painful as dog ears are so sensitive to touch.
I am a dog groomer and there is a less painful way of plucking the ears. Whenever we do it at work, we use a an ear powder that has almost like an aspirin/pain relieving/numbing agent in it. We let the powder sit for a minute and then roll the hair between our thumb and forefinger, and the dogs never seem upset or cry. We only pluck hair on dogs with excessive ear hair where it is blocking the canal.
I have always had a longhaired breed. I use the powder and only one dog ever seemed to be bothered.She yelps and I beleive dogs, like people, are individuals and have different sensitivities. Because I KEEP them regularly cleaned, there is very little plucking and even my ear infection prone dog, hasn’t had one, in ages.
I have one sheltie that has seasonal allergies and it often affects her tulip ears. I use a trimmer to shave them a bit. I too think it looks very painful and wouldn’t want to put mine thru that.
My two collies have prick ears and arent’ bothered by moisture problems.
I remember when I was a teenager and started to pluck my eye brows how very painful it was! I had to stop several times becasue I couldn’t see through the tears. Sure, I don’t even feel it anymore now that I’m in my 40’s. But I think it’s the same with an animal even though they don’t always show their pain.
I too KEEP my dogs ears cleaned on a regular basis. They are cleaned every evening. She has Cushings Disease which makes them even more prone to ear infections. She has been to an ear specialist years ago and they are against plucking as well. BTW they also mentioned that plucking disturbs the follicles in many dogs ears and can cause more problems that your standard ear infections. There is NOTHING I wouldn’t do for my dog and her well being and comfort. This is why I do so much research and reading on various conditions.
my pug has lots of ear infections, and we got her medicine for it instead of putting her through pain.