ellz

Given his symptoms, I'd possibly look at his diet too. Some foods are notoriously bad for allergy type symptoms, meaning the weepy eyes and ears. I'm sure this has probably been discussed before if you did a search on the archives. Something else might be a digestive enzyme deficiency...an old American Cocker of mine came to Australia from the USA with disgustingly rotten ears, so bad that the constant infection had caused scar tissue build up and a narrowing of the ear canal. We had him tested for all kinds of things and it wasn't until he was put on an enzyme replacement that we were able to get on top of the problem in his ears. I'd give serious consideration to trying the Blue Power ear treatment. It is VERY effective and was the only thing that helped my poor old "Yank". http://www.itsfortheanimals.com/BLUE.HTM

Another useful ear cleaning regime is the Blue Power one. It has helped all MANNER of ear problems and is great for routine cleaning as well. I swear by it. http://www.itsfortheanimals.com/BLUE.HTM

Not much different to human doctors prescribing particular drugs because of the kick-backs they receive from the drug companies I'd imagine. Be that as it may, my vets actually DON'T endorse crappy dog foods, but they do have some interesting and refreshing things to say about the dog foods that we have been indoctrinated NOT to feed too. And one thing they do say, which I agree with wholeheartedly (and so do my dogs) is that price tag is not necessarily an indicator of overall quality....just wealth.

Yep, that's what my mentor meant by brED for, fED for and carED for! In all honesty, think about it in "human" terms. When you feel good, you look good as well!!! And don't Staffords STRUT when they feel good and KNOW that they're the antz pantz?

Interesting, thanks Erny....interestingly though...since posting I've been googling a heap of websites on the subject and the majority actually endorse what I have always been led to believe, times a-changing or not. I do stand corrected if I am wrong....but I will continue to recommend that my puppy people not overdo the raw egg white ... oh... and duck when I suggest to my vets (and I see a few for different things, some for vaccinations, some for surgeries etc etc) that they all go back to vet school to correct what they've told me!!

Um, actually it's only ok if the egg is cooked. Raw egg white in ANY quantity can be very bad. (One of the reasons egg white is often given as a way of making dogs vomit after having ingested poison or foreign bodies) It's fine to crack an egg, separate the yolk and throw the yolk AND the shell into the bowl (if your dog is happy to crunch at it anyway) but one of the first things I was told 20 years ago now is that raw egg white is a no-no even with the yolk!

Hate to be a wet blanket here but I hope you all know that you shouldn't feed dogs raw egg white?? Dogs cannot digest the proteins in egg white which destroy biotin. Cooked are ok, or just the raw yolks but egg white itself is a no-no. On the subject of coats, my old mentor used to say that good coats are BrED for, fED for and carED for!

Actually, at the risk of offending you...this could be a HUGE mistake! You are far better off doing what I suggested in my prior post and take the softly softly approach or you are STILL reinforcing his fear and in fact, giving him even MORE reason to resent it. You say he likes you playing with his ears...so do that....wearing cotton gloves with ear cleaner on the fingers. Just caress them as you normally would and just get deeper and deeper into his ear without actually making it obvious that you are cleaning them. It could well be that your body language is giving him the signals that it is time to start acting up. Or by whatever you do when you collect your ear cleaning paraphernalia. It's a bit like dogs with separation anxiety who start to show their behaviours the minute their human starts the hunt for the car keys. Because they can't understand what we say to them verbally, they are SO in tune with our body language and emotions that often they know what we are doing even before we are aware we are giving off the signals. But please, don't FORCE him to submit...there are better ways!

I think from what you are saying at the moment is that whilst you're trying hard NOT to hassle your boy, you are in fact rewarding him for struggling about having his ears cleaned by giving in and not persisting with what YOU want to achieve. So in effect, he is winning every time. Kind of reverse psychology is in order. Does he allow you to play with and caress his ears when you're cuddling? I'd be trying approach and retreat when you're both calm and relaxed and cuddling. Play with his ears, if he objects, retreat. Play with them some more, retreat. Play some more, retreat, etc etc. After a while you will probably find that he enjoys having his ears massaged. From there you could progress to having a Chux or facewasher stashed within easy reach and putting it over your finger and gently wiping around what you can reach without "digging". Again, approach and retreat. Lots of treats in between and smooches and "gooooood dooooooooogs" of course to reinforce the good behaviours. Then, I would also consider using an alcohol based ear cleaner which can be safely left in the ears because it is self-drying. Once you've got the smooch and ear rub technique down pat, you can clean out any residue very simply. It will take time of course. Sometimes it seems to take twice as long to correct a bad behaviour as it does to instill it in the first place. Persevere, be friendly and firm (but not aggressive or rough) and I'm sure you'll get there in the end.