I think I am caught in the difficult place between cleaning Rockwell's ears TOO much and not cleaning them at all. I found with Uma that when I cleaned her ears, the mere act of poking around in there would serve to irritate the ear canal and make matters worse. In the first few years, when her ears would get stinky from yeast, i would get in there and clean and then I'd have to administer the anti-yeast medication we got from the vet. Eventually, I just left the ears alone and after that, she never had a real problem. They might get dirty looking sometimes and smell a bit but they never flared up out of control.

With Rockwell, I was asked to clean his ears and since, you know, "he's not my dog!", I did as requested. Now I am going to water down the vinegar solution even more and try to stay away from the ears. Much to HIS relief I am sure. Boy, he just flings himself to the ground when he sees me coming with a cotton ball! Then he rolls on his back and twists his head so I can't get at the affected ear. Poor guy, but that's my job - to be his "mom". In fact, I remember when I was a kid and my own mother would clean my ears out. I was so relieved when I declared one day that I was old enough to clean them out myself and she agreed with me. Not that she didn't do a good job but it's a whole different thing when it's your own ear that you are poking with a swab.