Charlotte Foster
Health and care are two things that belong together. This also includes shiny eyes and clean ears in the puppy. Young dogs usually don’t have too many problems with their eyes or ears. Nevertheless, you should take the time to check both senses regularly – it doesn’t take much time. And it has an advantage if you start caring for it early: Your young dog is still learning through play what can be important later.
Training the gentle way
Do you know the “medical training” that many zoos practice with wild animals? In small exercises, the animals learn to be looked at and examined calmly – initially only in a playful way and always with a reward. Then, in an emergency, the veterinarian can treat the animal quickly and relatively stress-free, since it is already used to being touched on certain parts of the body. You can do a similar thing with your puppy as you get them used to checking and caring for their eyes and ears. To do this, you briefly show your “tool”, such as the cotton ball you want to use to clean the floppy ears. Then let the dog sniff it and briefly touch it in a relaxed, playful situation on the affected part of the body, i.e. on the ears. You reward both immediately and repeat it a few times,
Eyes should be clear and without secretions
A dog’s eyes should always be clear with no discharge, stickiness, or redness. Eyecare is usually done quite quickly: for most dog breeds, wiping the corners of the eyes with a damp cloth is sufficient. You can use special eye care products and clothes for dog breeds that tend to have watery eyes anyway, or for light-haired breeds where the secretion leaves unsightly marks on the fur. These are intended for cleaning the corner of the eye and the hair in front of it.
Cleaning the puppy’s ears with soft cloths
There are also special cleaning wipes for the ears and lotions that cleanse safely and gently. Unfortunately, cotton swabs contribute to the fact that dirt or earwax is pushed even further into the ear and are therefore not suitable. They are also dangerous: if your little one starts to wriggle, you can injure him! If the dog has a lot of hair growth in its ears, it is worth checking regularly whether this hair is holding back dirt or is even matted. You can carefully pluck out thin strands of hair from the ears with your fingers, this is usually not very painful and reduces adhesions of the hair or ventilation problems. If the ears are clean and don’t smell bad, then regular checking is sufficient, which your dog will put up with the sooner and more gently you have trained him to do so.