Hello German shepherd puppies and dogs owners: This is Dr. Banfe of Banfe Haus German Shepherds. Below are some pointers on cleaning your dogs ears taken from an article I wrote on the k-9 college, with an important addition.  Caveat: If your dogs ears are flapped over and not yet erect, please make certain to get the ears dried out. Moisture is a great environment for yeast and other infections. Ear Cleaning Ear infections can be painful and uncomfortable for your German shepherd dog. Simply cleaning them can be a proactive way to minimize these problems that can not only cause discomfort and related illness, but hearing loss for your best friend. Here are some simple steps to mitigate any kind of repercussions from dirty ears:

  1. Check ears at least once a week looking for wax and dirt build up. If you see dark dried crust it might be a good idea to take your friend in to the vet for a look.
  2. Clean the ears at least once a month. Some do it every week. But I would say, barring filthy build up, once a month should be fine.
  3. To clean the ears:
    1. Get an ear solution from the vet or a pet store. I just use a diluted solution of alcohol, water and white vinegar.
    2. Get some cotton which can be rolled into 3 or 4 inch narrow tubes
    3. Saturate one tube with the solution.
    4. Twist the tube down into the ear, and keep twisting when it is down in to catch wax build up. Then grasp the ear at the base gently, pulling out the tube.
    5. Do this until the cotton tube you insert comes out fairly clean.
    6. Take a cotton pad and saturate it and wipe inside the ear making sure to clean the folds. Clean and wipe until the pad comes out clean.
    7. FINALLY: Saturate some cotton and squeeze a little liquid into the ear.
    8. Then quickly grab the base of the ear and squeeze and massage it. You should hear the squishy sound of the liquid. Do this for about 15 seconds.
    9. Step back and let your German Shepherd shake. And watch out. Sometimes he/she will shake wax out of the ear.

This process usually does a great job cleaning the ear. The rotated cotton tubes usually catch a lot of wax instead of just pushing it deeper, and the liquid massage loosens a lot of the wax. Also, the solution will change the PH balance of the ear making it hard for a yeast infection to set in. For German shepherd puppies, be very gentle when cleaning deep inside, and rub gentle on the folds. For significant build up, you may have to repeat this on consecutive days. But then the health of your friend is very important. I hope this has been helpful to all the German shepherd puppies and dogs friends that we have at Banffy Haus German Shepherds.