How often you clean your dog’s ears depends on your dog. Dogs that have large ears, like Bassett Hounds typically need their ears cleaned more often because of the limited air flow and warmer temps in the ear. Dogs that are in the water a lot will also need ear cleanings more often. Luckily, it’s easy for you to determine yourself by examining your dogs ear once a month. Sometimes you can smell when it’s time for an ear cleaning, or your dog will start shaking its head more often than usual. The cleaning itself can be relatively easy for many owners and you can save a lot of money, by just getting a few cheap supplies and doing the cleaning yourself. Here’s a link to a helpful video, though I think they could have picked a dog with less hair around its ears! Overall, an excellent video to get you started. I’ve also included a link to an informative article about the causes and treatments for dog ear discharge. As with all health related subjects, I encourage you to educate yourself and then talk to your vet and ask for some guidance on the subject.
