There are three important things that you need to know about
dogs’ ears:
They’re sensitive, so they need regular maintenance to
prevent infections.
Dogs don’t want their ears cleaned, so you’re going to have
to work with them.
If you don’t do it the right way, you can cause serious
damage.
So how exactly do you go about cleaning your dog’s ears to
keep him or her healthy?
Make it positive
Unless you want a squirmy pooch that makes the process a lot
more difficult — and take a lot longer — it’s important to bring your dog along
slowly and associate ear-cleaning with something positive. One tried-and-true
method is to have a bag of treats ready to offer each time that your dog
cooperates during the process.
Get the right tools
Just like with human ears, you never want to use cotton
swabs because they can hurt your dog’s ears. Instead, have a bag of cotton
balls ready, or wrap your finger in gauze and use it. You might want to use
gloves for the cleaning, but it’s also okay to just wash your hands if no
gloves are available. Perhaps the most important tool, though, is the ear
rinse. You want one that’s completely safe for your dog but still able to get
the job done. Cesar recommends Vetericyn Ear Rinse, which contains no antibiotics,
steroids, alcohol, or toxic materials of any kind.
Put everything within reach
The last thing you want when trying to clean your dog’s ears
is to discover halfway through the process that you forgot something and have
to get up to find it. Do this and you’ll likely find yourself needing to
wrangle your dog back into position and possibly even having to start the whole
process over.
Follow the rules
To clean your dog’s ears without causing harm, you want to
start on the outside and work your way in — but only until you start to feel
resistance. If you try to push further in, you can damage your dog’s ear, so
err on the side of caution. Wet a cotton ball with ear rinse and wipe the part
of the ear that you can easily see, the outer flap. Then wet a new cotton ball
to clean the inner ear. Ideally, you want to do this about once a week.