Clean-Dry Cocker Ears

_Firewhiskey

New Member
Hi Everyone!
I'm new to the forum. I have a 3 year old Cocker named Anakin. I want to know if anyone knows how the groomer gets the cocker ear so dry after a cleaning? Anakin always seems to have an infection in his left ear. He is on meds again. Recently I took him to the groomer, even though he has an ear infection, he came home with clean and super dry ears that smelled decent despite the infection. My question is how do they dry the ears so well? Vet's instructions are to flush the ears with the solution given twice a week. When I flush the ears, they smell okay but the ear remains pretty moist even after drying them with the cotton balls. The solution was given by the vet so it does have a drying agent and its not like leaving water in the ear BUT I want to know how the groomer gets the ear so dry. I am teaching myself how to groom Anakin so I only take him to the groomer every once and a while and the rest of the time I attempt the grooming. So I do want to learn what the secret is to nice dry clean ears.

Thanks!
 
When I flush ears I use cotton balls and do the best job cleaning out the ears that I can and then let the rest dry naturally. In a very little time they are completely dry. Maybe your groomer cleaned his ears earlier and they completely dried before you picked him up. Also she might have used the blow dryer with the air on the cool setting. The third thing she might have done is to clean his ears and then dry him. That would also dry out his ears.

How long are your dog's ears wet after you clean them?
 
Hello. Groomers don't normally clean ears. You'll have to ask her what she did. As Karen says, your groomer most likely used a cage dryer drying his ears in the process.
 
Hi Everyone!
I'm new to the forum. I have a 3 year old Cocker named Anakin. I want to know if anyone knows how the groomer gets the cocker ear so dry after a cleaning? Anakin always seems to have an infection in his left ear. He is on meds again. Recently I took him to the groomer, even though he has an ear infection, he came home with clean and super dry ears that smelled decent despite the infection. My question is how do they dry the ears so well? Vet's instructions are to flush the ears with the solution given twice a week. When I flush the ears, they smell okay but the ear remains pretty moist even after drying them with the cotton balls. The solution was given by the vet so it does have a drying agent and its not like leaving water in the ear BUT I want to know how the groomer gets the ear so dry. I am teaching myself how to groom Anakin so I only take him to the groomer every once and a while and the rest of the time I attempt the grooming. So I do want to learn what the secret is to nice dry clean ears.

Thanks!
There is a thread here somewhere on cocker ear management. You didn't say whether it is a yeast infection or a bacterial infection. I read it and posted in it and it really helped me in managing my dog's ears. I will be forever grateful to the members here for their input on the subject. My cocker puppy developed a stubborn yeast infection that didn't seem to improve. By following the advice in the forum, we managed to nix the yeast infection and the issue has never since reappeared.
 
Ask your groomer how it was done. One tip is to make sure the ears are shaved down on the inside as much as you can. I use the blue ear powder treatment and their ears dry pretty quickly but if I have a dog w/heavy leathers, I take the ears and put them in a sort of 'pony tail' on top of their head with a loose scrunchy for a few minutes. I also routinely flip them inside out when we're hanging out on the couch and I'm petting them.

For me, getting rid of kibble and carbs has been the key to getting rid of ear infections. Teddy's ears get a little gunky when I feed turkey so I keep that to a minimum but I havent had a dog w/an ear infection in nearly 10 yrs. (knock on wood!!!!!)

Just a quick warning if you're going to use a scrunchie like I do, be sure its not too tight and dont leave it on for any length of time.
 
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I use many of those same tactics w/ Fiona and she hasn't had a repeat, either. She even went swimming in the summer a couple of times and seemed just fine. I tied the ears back until they were dry. I even bought an "ear harness" from etsy which is a clever gizmo that can be sized to the dog to hold the ears back. My vet took one look at my cocker and said something to the effect that I will be back to visit him frequently about the ear infections. When I told him that I was going to use management, he just chuckled and said, "Nope." My experience so far has been that this doesn't necessarily have to be the rule---again, thanks to this forum.
When she goes in to get spayed, however, they will still be giving taking the sample from each ear and giving me the yeast counts per slide, just so I know where we stand with regards to the management. I then write that information down on a piece of paper that is keep in her health file, just because it allows for better tracking....like do they elevate in the summer months?
 
Multi Versatile Ear Harness for Long Ear Dogs or Long Hair Dogs has 2in1 Features built in and 2in1 Designs built in.
Amazon.com : ChaunChaun Multi Versatile Ear Harness : Pet Supplies

For anyone else who was dying to see what an 'ear harness' is here are some links. When you do a search on etsy be aware that the results are in some cases things you may not want to explain to your child!!! .....

Mel, I'm impressed at the lengths you go through! I'm dying to know how you even found out about that
 
How clever those ear harness' are!
I have found that as the cocker ages, sometimes ear troubles do seem to be more frequent. My Pogo developed a growth at the top of one ear canal. I had it removed, but that ear seems to need more attention than his other ear now.

His ear troubles started when he discovered he loved swimming in my sisters pool.
 
My reasoning was that if the creative people of the world came up with the idea of snoods, then some clever soul must have figured out a way to tie the ears back. It was a good hunch. We had been using a butterfly clip that wouldn't stay in because we keep her hair too short. The goal was to increase air flow to the ears. I shave her ears every other week (it grows like the wind)....I do it when I trim her feet which has to be done every other week as well otherwise, I can't find the nails in all the black fur on her feet to use the dremel. I tend to this every Sunday morning like clockwork for both of my dogs---(my beagle hates toes and teeth and ears....lol). It was a real hatchet job the first couple of times but I have improved with practice. My sister still does the furnishings and torso and tail and trims the length and outside of the ears but I need to learn to figure out how to do some of this stuff, too. How can I ask my dog to look at me without looking away for long periods of time in obedience when the itching in ears is driving her mad? That would be kind of mean, I think.
 
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