Hi. I used to be on a obedience training forum but this is the first time I have posted here. My problem is with my seven year old male Labrador, Leo. He is a beAutiful boy and has a lovely nature but he freaks out in certain situations. He can be jumpy at an unexpected touch, but Thunder doesn't worry him. Other silly things do though and the one thing that concerns me is he hates his ears being touched as I have had to use drops and clean them due to infection in the past. He carries on like jumping backward and crying loudly, anyone would think I am hurting him, but never would of course. Last time he had an ear infection we had to take him to the vet for them to put a cream in his ears at $130 a pop as he wouldn't let us near them. He just has to see me get the bottle from the cupboard and he starts going crazy. It would be much nicer for us both if he would let me near his ears to clean them and hopefully avoid another infection. Even stranger behavior, when my other Lab needed to have eye ointment twice a day Leo was getting very excitable and only calmed down when we pretended to put ointment in his eye also!!!! I know this sounds crazy and we do indulge him at times but Any tips would be much appreciated. Thanks
Hi , my late Labrador Sam also hated having ear drop put in , he would hide his head , dip his head, anything rather than suffer the indignity ! He also got quite frequent ear infections due to swimming in the river most days , bitsof debris stuck and then causing infection . Sam was a gentle soul who never once growled , he suffered cancer surgery like a true soldier but his ears were his ears ! What I did was to sit and stroke his ears on the outside , then slowly turn them inside out and stroke the inner flap until he felt comfortable with this . I never did get him completely out of his dislike, but it became a tolerance to him .
I do the same as @kateincornwall with Quinn's ears, eyes and paws. Several times a week, I stroke, move, touch all the areas that require drops/vet touching and say each by name. We can now do ear drops much easier, I say "ears" and show the bottle. If she runs, I wait a bit and try again. Sometimes she will come back over to me, which means she's ready (but not thrilled, she also just tolerates it). Lots of treats and stroking her ear before and after. She is worse with her eyes after she had to have them flushed at the vet's one time. It took more work, but we have made a lot of progress - I did another training method for the eye drops with the clicker for many months (I forget what it's called but there is a thread somewhere with videos; @snowbunny might know what I'm talking about). She is still very nervous about eye drops, but is much calmer and will now allow drops.
Tuppence is head-shy and hates me looking at her teeth or ears. The only time I can do so is when she's dozing in the evenings. Fortunately she doesn't seem to be prone to infections, though. Wispa has just got over an ear infection in one ear, but she is much more tolerant of investigations and drops, although she's very nervous when being examined by the vet. This time she had a different treatment when cleaning alone didn't clear up the excess wax. As it wasn't a nasty infection, but bacterial, she was able to have two one-off treatments given by the vet, each one week apart, with no other intervention - no daily cleaning, no more drops. It made life much easier and is worth asking whether it's suitable for the type of infection if a dog has ear problems.
Thanks Granca, my partner took Leo to the vet yesterday where the vet used some ear gel and he was a pussycat (don’t tell him I said so). So well behaved for them just not us. It wasn’t serious, just uncomfortable and we go back in a week for a check up. I would prefer to be able to maintain healthy ears at home it this is a good option.
Hi Katie. I too had a beautiful black Lab called Sam who was also taken by cancer at 10. He too was a very gentle soul, I used to say he was an old soul, like he has been here before, he seemed so wise and serene. His cancer was so aggressive that he was diagnosed, Had immediate surgery and put up with tubing and vet visits and emergency stays, all to no avail as it came back in a matter of weeks. He has the most special place in my heart and I still cry over him years later. Your story about your Sam was very moving. I will definitely try your ear stroking on our Leo. Thank you.
Thank you Quinn, I will definitely begin the ear stroking. Don’t know why I haven’t done it already as I do a similar thing with his paws. He needs one of his nails clipped quite regularly and used to go crazy with that too, but now I just say give me your paw! Like you say, not thrilled, looking sideways at me as he does but he does! Thanks
