Most Poodles need their ears cleaned at least once a week for maintenance. There is controversy over rather to pluck the hair or not. The argument against it is based on the theory that plucking irritates the ear and leaves it susceptible to infection. I respect that if that is what you so choose but personally, I have not had one dog in all my years of owning Poodles to actually get an ear infection from plucking. And if you don’t pluck the hair builds up and traps in yeast, which will cause an infection. I’ve seen scores of these infections. And yes, plucking is usually not pleasant, but an ear infection is much worse than temporary discomfort, which many dogs don’t seem to mind n the first place.

After plucking, put a generous amount of a good ear cleaner in each ear and work into the canal. Then, I like to wrap my finger in a piece of gauze and clean the ear with my finger. The gauze easily picks up wax. Do be sort of gentle with the young ar. ones because the gauze, being course, can irritate or even cut a young tender er. A Q-tip can then get the crevices your finger can’t get. If you find that your pup is prone to ear infections or yeast build-up, wash the ears regularly with either an ear cleaner or white vinegar to naturalize yeast in the ear.