My dog gets groomed every 1-2 months. The first time we brought her to the groomer, she came home all pretty but she was shaking her head an awful lot. We brought her to the vet’s and it turns out she had an ear infection in either ear. They gave her a shot of a steroid to reduce swelling, an ear cream and an antibiotic pill. She recovered quickly and after the vet cleared her I went back to regularly cleaning her ears with a cleaner I’ve purchased regularly from Cherrybrook dog supplies.
We got her groomed again, and almost right after the same thing happened again. The vet repeated with the exact same treatment as above and told us to tell the groomer to not pluck the hair in the ears and not to clean them as the cleaner I was using in her ears was working fine on its own.
We just got her groomed again and specified not to pluck hair or clean ears, just to trim the hair around her ears and cut the loose hair off the tips of her ears. The groomer was chill about it and agreed. We got her home yesterday after the grooming, and she’s beginning to favor her ears (rubbing against carpets, scratching) and she’s shaking her head again. If the groomer didn’t pluck her ears, how is it that she got an infection again?
I use R7 ear cleaning solution and powder. My dog has never had a problem with her ears before she started going to this groomer. Besides the ears the groomer has no problems with her and my dog always comes home beautiful. Should I start looking for another groomer?
My vet doesn’t offer grooming 
This groomer is the best in the area…the woman knows her stuff. The rest of the groomers in my area look cheap and I don’t trust my dog there.
being a dog groomer my self im inclined to think that the groomer may have gotten water and or soap down her ears threw either careless bathing or because your dog is giddy and jumps around alot . you haven’t specified you girls breed but if she was a breed that have drooping ears like the spaniels 5then try tying her ears up with a soft scrunchy style bobble to allow the air to circulate around her ear canals . if you are happy with the way the groomer styles your dog don’t change your groomer . try asking her to bathe your dog from the neck down . i often suggest to clients that if their dog has repeated ear infections particularly worse after grooming to avoid bathing the head area at all just to see if that is the case. i am not saying that your groomer is a poor groomer but that it could be a possible cause for all the infections.
the groomer could be accidentally getting water in the ears, and that would cause irritation. if your vet offers grooming you should get them to groom her and see if that causes an ear infection
There could just be another product being used during the grooming, that she has developed an allergy to. It would be unfortunate that you have to switch groomers, considering for the most part your dog is well taken care of there, and comes home beautiful.. Either you sit with your groomer and figure out whats causing the problem, to take the products she uses for the grooming, and use it on your dog, and see the reaction. If your dogs ears react after a certain product, take that out of the routine..
OR you can find another groomer to do the job, because there are plenty out there. There’s also the last option, you groom yourself, where at least you KNOW the products being used for your dog. Plus its far less expensive to do the job yourself
dont groo mit then
Their is always a small amount of yeast fungus present in the dogs ears. When you don’t keep the hair pulled out of the ear and you get water in the canal during bathing, it holds the moisture in longer and allows the yeast to grow out of control, hence the itching and head shaking. This doesn’t happen over night. Some dogs as they get older or their immune system is failing, tend to get constant ear infections no matter what you do. You can try another groomer its probably not her fault.