inner ear hair

Good question!  I haven't had ear infection problems (yet) but Winston's ear hairs are growing fast!  Any advice would be great!  Did you say you pluck them???  Doesn't that hurt?  Do you use tweezers?

If you use an ear powder first, it helps you to get a better grip so you can pluck the hair out...

Plucking is necessary. Clipping it will not get the hair out of the ear canal, which is where the infection begins. Get some medicated ear powder from any pet store, put it on the hair, and pull out what you can with your fingers. Then, you'll need a pair of hemostats to get what you can't reach with your fingers.

Yeah right.  There is NO way my dog would let me PLUCK ear hairs!  I have a hard enough time brushing him!

Yeah right. There is NO way my dog would let me PLUCK ear hairs! I have a hard enough time brushing him!

Do you take your dog to the groomer? What kind of dog is it?

Plucking ear hair is *required* for healthy ears in breeds that have it.

Gee, I wonder how many times I hear the phrase "he won't let me ..."
What is sad, is the dog has put itself in charge and now can't be handled to be groomed properly. We have dogs come into the salon that are so unmanageable, they have to be sedated and still are hard to do, but they HAVE to be groomed.
If it's too hard for the owner, then I guess they just figure they can take it to the groomer. Guess what, it's not any easier for the groomer and ALOT harder on the dog! You have to start with these things when they are pups, not wait until they are 1+ years old to decide it's time to take them to get their first "hair cut". It's SO stressful for the dog and since we use human handling techniques and methods, we can't always get the job completed in one visit. We do what we can do (with the dog in mind) and that's all we can promise. We advise they come back once a month from that point forward to get the dog accustomed to the situation, but you don't hear from them again for 4 or 5 months, then the dog is matted and OUTTA CONTROL!
So sad!

ORIGINAL: kennel_keeper

Gee, I wonder how many times I hear the phrase "he won't let me ..."
What is sad, is the dog has put itself in charge and now can't be handled to be groomed properly. We have dogs come into the salon that are so unmanageable, they have to be sedated and still are hard to do, but they HAVE to be groomed.
If it's too hard for the owner, then I guess they just figure they can take it to the groomer. Guess what, it's not any easier for the groomer and ALOT harder on the dog! You have to start with these things when they are pups, not wait until they are 1+ years old to decide it's time to take them to get their first "hair cut". It's SO stressful for the dog and since we use human handling techniques and methods, we can't always get the job completed in one visit. We do what we can do (with the dog in mind) and that's all we can promise. We advise they come back once a month from that point forward to get the dog accustomed to the situation, but you don't hear from them again for 4 or 5 months, then the dog is matted and OUTTA CONTROL!
So sad!

 
Alright, don't yell at me.
 
I have a 9 month old pomeranian.  I say "he won't let me" loosely with some humor assumed.   I've never tried to pluck ear hair.  I'm assuming it wouldn't be fun.  I've been taking him to a groomer once a month since he was 4 months old.  Every time I take him I ask for a bath, brush and blow dry, nail trim, and ear cleaning.  At home, he is brushed every other day, and I trim his nails as needed.  He's been to puppy classes, and is on NILF with much success, imo.
 
This is my first dog, so if you've got suggestions, let me know.
 
He's hyper, but not unmanageable.  I'm sorry if I saddened you with my comment.
 

Poms don't have ear hair. Even if he did, the groomer would pluck it.

Tyler will let me mess with his ears all I want - rubbing, scratching, etc. But... get near the ear canal and whoo boy - that's a completely different story. I am guessing it is from the really bad ear infections he had when we rescued him. About all I can do is squirt ear cleaner in there.
I usually groom at home, but once in a while he visits the groomer for a treat or when I am unable to groom him myself (like right now while I have a bum leg).
They had shaved them in the past, but he shook his head like mad for 2-3 days. I think he may have gotten some hair that fell down into the canal.
So - how would I go about plucking? I am willing to slowly introduce him to this concept by doing just a bit at a time.

In the breeds that require ear hair plucking, the hair is not deeply rooted and pulls out quite easily. The dogs don't even seem to notice.

However, I do not pluck ear hair as part of my grooming package. Other groomers told me they had many complaints about ear infections after grooming appointments. I followed up with my vet who explained to me that when the ear hair is pulled it leaves small openings in the skin where bacteria gathers and leads to ear infections. She advised only plucking ear hair for clients who had antibiotic ear ointment on hand and would agree to follow up with it for a couple days after the plucking to prevent the ear infections from occurring.

Sounds logical to me, therefore, I do not offer ear hair plucking and recommend that my clients have it done by their vet.

duh- now why didn't I think to ask the vet to do it? Must have had a brain fart...
I'll have to call tom a.m. to ask if they do it. I think plucking is (for us) the way to go, since the shaving thing must be a nightmare for the groomer, and something I am just to nervous to do at home. They always comment "Tyler was a really good boy today, but he doesn't like his ears done." Thus, we tip well for their trouble. (and we usually bring treats for the groomers)
Heck, I can't even shave my own legs without a nicks. I can only guess what a clipper motor sounds like in the ear, to him.

That's what my vet did to Sophie, my Shih Tzu. It looked painful when he did it, but he did it so quick, that it was over before she realized what he had done. He took a pair of sissors with a blunt tip and put it in her ears and twisted it and PULLED...OUCH....but then they gave me an antibiotic to use at home.
So I think your vet is your best bet, and then you don't have to be the bad guy at home... LOL  Good Luck!!!

Just so no one tries to do this at home by sticking a pair of scissors in their dogs ears, I would like to mention that the instrument your vet used was a pair of hemostats rather than scissors. They look alike but hemostats do not cut hair, they just hold on real tight.

Yeah, it's really NOT that awful for them. The hairs are not firmly rooted (if you grab a hair that's attached to the ear, and not the canal, it won't come out), so it's not like you're yanking the hair off of their bodies. Some do have fits about it, but some have fits about brushing and nail trimming and general handling.

If there's infection in there, that DEFINITELY helps a lot. Lots of gook clings to the hair, and stays down in there.