Hates ear cleaning......help!

[Pipster]

 Our two year old orange roan was spayed last week and has done brilliantly. Our problem is that the vet found that she had an ear infection and we came home with tablets, ear wash and ear drops. She absolutely HATES us doing anything with her ears and tries to bite if we touch them. We bought a muzzle on advice and she then became terrified of the muzzle and it was, quite literally, impossible to get it on. For the past 24 hours we have managed to get the drops in when she is sleeping by lifting up her ear and popping it in but obviously ahve not been able to clean them. Does anyone have any ideas of how we can overcome this - I feel as though we must be missing a trick as other people seem able to manage it. She is such a sweetie and we both hate upsetting her but it has to be done...... 

[Ninasmum]

Poor love has been through a lot recently    her ears may still be sore with the infection too 
Have you tried lifting her onto a table to adminster the ear drops/wash?    Perhaps also have a tasty treat ready to give her straight afterwards. 

My boy Alfie suffers from ear infections & i clean them twice a week now which does keep the infections at bay for most of the time....i find the best way is just lift him on the grooming table & clean the ears very quickly, then wipe them out with cotton wool.  He is absolutely fine with this now but previously if i tried doing this on the ground it was very difficult.

[praia]

The muzzle is probably a negative experience for her since you've associated with the ear cleaning.  Have you tried introducing it to her without an ear cleaning following it?  You want to make the muzzle a pleasant experience so that she'll look forward to it coming it.  When it comes out, praise her, feed her, take her out, so that she'll only associate it with good things and only every once in a while do you actually clean her eyes while she has it on.

As for the ear cleaning, my own pup had terrible ears after he came out of the shelter.  6 months of no ear trimming and no ear cleaning had made for a lot of gross wax buildup. He didn't like getting the ear drops either, and I suppose it's because having an infection in your ear hurts.  My own dog never acts out aggressively, but he always tried to squirm away as he wasn't really used to anyone handling his ears and he probably didn't want anyone handling it because of the pain. 

Instead of fighting with him, we made it a pleasant experience by spending a good amount of every day just massaging the leather of his ears and also the external ear canal, which in the end made him very willing to have his ears handled.  We then moved on to using a cotton ball soaked in ear cleaning solution to massage and clean the external ear canal and eventually got to the point where he accepted having the ear drops nozzle placed in his ear.  Administering the drops was always done quickly and was always following by a blissful massage session, which for him always made up for the 2 seconds of discomfort he felt from the ear drops.

Keep ear infections at bay by always keeping the hair around the external ear canal trimmed short to promote air flow and by routinely cleaning the ears, if the dog is prone to ear infections.

[ladylola]

You could try one of you feeding tasty treats whilst the other one does it.

Do you warm the ear wash before putting it in. I always stand my bottle in some warm water to bring it up to body temperature.
[test on your wrist] Mine object strongly to cold stuff being put in their ears.

I would start off just stroking [touching] her ears and treating her. when she is happy with that go onto lifting the ear flap and giving her treats. My Paisley was a B for letting us do his ears and we did get bitten quite badly on occasions, Patience is the key and lots of treats.

[Mel]

I'd ditch the muzzle and drip feed lovely treats while getting her used to the ear cleaning. Muzzle just makes a frightened dog more so.

[lindseyp]

Like others, I used tasty treats on my three to get them used to having ear/eye care....a tube of primula cheese being a particular favourite     (not the whole tube at once though  )
I started  when mine were little but no harm trying now, to see if it helps with yours. It helps if you have someone else to assist, then you can concentrate on the job in hand - in the end they get used to it being done, the treat won't be needed any more 
I too, find that if they sit on a chair/breakfast stool they sit much better than if on the floor 
Good luck & hope you manage to get your little one to relax more when doing her ears 

[Top Barks]

As well as feeding treats just touch the ears and get her used to that, keep it as brief as possible and use really high value food, something your dog would not normally get.

[Carol09]

I feel for you.... Jay is the same and on his yearly check we asked the vet to check his ears as they were a bit stinky, but he was not playing and kicked up a right stink about it.  The vet suggested that we keep playing with his ears and try to keep washing them so that he gets used to his ears being touched.

I have to say if he needs drops we do use a soft muzzle from Pets@Home and he doesn't actually mind having it on, it actually keeps him quite calm.

I hope you find a solution

[BabyB]

I can only echo what's been said already tbh.

When Morgan was alive, he had awful ears - and I mean AWFUL!!!! 
He was use to ear cleaning from a pup, but due to his pyoderma and small ear canals, he'd still get infections.

We found that having my dad knelt in front of him with a high value treat (black pudding or cheese) and drip feeding little pieces, with me sorting his ears out usually did the trick.

Also just by touching her ears, without meddling with them should help to desensitise her from having them looked at too.

Poor little love 

[clairep4]

Bella's not keen on her ears being done either as she had lots of infections when she was younger. So what I'm doing with her at the moment (along with TTouch) is some clicker training which I've done in steps as follows:

1. As she gets nervous as soon as she sees the ear cleaner, I clicked for her just looking at it.

2. Click when lifting the ear cleaner up.

3. Click for holding her earflap up whilst cleaner is in my other hand.

4. Click for the nozzle of the ear cleaner touching the bottom of her earflap (so nowhere near the ear canal)

5. Gradually move the nozzle up so that it's at the entrance of her ear

6. Finally, click for a squirt of cleaner going in


I did this the other night for the first time and she let me clean both ears without the usual performance of her keeping on turning away or positioning her head so I can't get to her ears. And of course then she got lots of fuss and a nice ear massage.

I have a theory that really anyone with a spaniel (or any breed for that matter) should clicker train their pups from the start to allow the nozzle of an earcleaner to be put into their ears (obviously without squirting stuff in every time  ).  Think how much easier it would be for vets to look down them and for them to accept eardrops...

It's similar to what they do with gorillas in some zoos, they clicker them to have a syringe placed on their arm (no needle) so that when they come to have to give them an injection, it's no big deal. 

[john51]

Lenny went to the vets yesterday with ear problems. He has a minor infection in one ear, for which he's been given Canaural drops, but the other has wax and needs some deep cleaning.  The vet recommended a squirt of Sancerum followed by massage. As a re-homed dog he is not as cooperative as he could be when liquids are put in his ear, and has threatened to bite a number of times.

In the short term the key, as others have said, seems to be the quality of the treat. A really high value treat - leftover fresh chicken in our case offered by a partner while the deed is done - takes his mind off it enough to get through. An everyday treat just doesn't hack it.

Hope you find something that works!