Cavalier Ears

[arlaede]

Suddenly I've become the area Cavalier groomer - I'm grooming at least 4-6 of them a week and new ones keep calling. (side note, probably not charging enough on these!)

I'm having a horrible time trying to get their ears dry! They are always so thick and it seems nearly impossible to get them totally dry! I hand dry everything, use a HV and a towel and just dry and dry and dry on their ears!

Any tips or suggestions?

[itsgot2bme]

Windyway will probably be the best one on here to answer that question since she breeds Cavs. If she doesn't respond to this I suggest you PM her, she is incredibly helpful.

[shepherdmom]

I feel your pain. The first thing I would say is make sure the ear hair is squeeky clean. I use les poochs F & T and no conditioner of any kind. Make sure they are thoroughly rinsed and then gently squeeze the water out with towels. Since Cavs seem to love to hydroplane around after their baths I usually put down some towels and let them have at it in a big crate and they do a good job shaking and wiping off those ears. Then I dry the body first and end with the ears. I take the condenser off the hv and keeping the hose opening close to the leather work the hair from one end to the other and side to side, then flip over the ear and do the same. Then brush out the ear to seperate the hair and repeat. It usually takes me 3 times of doing that on each ear but they are thoroughly dry by the last time. Drying the entire dog from start to finish takes me from 45 minutes to an hour depending on whether I let them hydroplane first or just went straight to the table.

This is my dog Karma. As you can see, we've had lots of practice

[Smart-n-Pretty]

Brush wet ears well, comb, wrap in blue shop paper towels, roll up & hold on w/ happy hoodie or hair clips, dry the rest of the dog, go back & dry the ears a few minutes.

[shepherdmom]

correction

After I posted I realized I made a mistake. I said it takes me 45 minutes to an hour to dry him but that is the total time it takes for his groom from start to finish including the bath. I shouldn't try to post when I'm this tired

[DBT]

i do tons & tons of CKCS . I HV ears till nearly dry and then finish with the stand dryer,brushing at the same time. Works beautifully...

[arlaede]

Thanks for the responses so far! I will try it all! I used to think golden ears were hard to dry - geesh!

[windywaycavaliers]

Shepherdmom is right- good tips! If they are squeaky clean and not heavily conditioned, they will dry faster. And SmartN's tip for wrapping I also do. On both my long eared client dogs and my own dogs I will squeeze dry, pin brush them thru completely, then use a med. tooth comb to stretch them some, then wrap the ears lengthwise with paper towelling and dry the rest of them with the HV. By the time I get to their ears they are already mostly dry. I will need to flip them back and brush down the hair under the ears and then just lightly HV them the rest of the way. Cream conditioners will cause hair to dry more slowly, so I only use these or protein treatments on my dogs once in awhile to address any breakage or to help with growth before a show, the rest of the time I stick with a light spray conditioner. My favorite at this very moment happens to be Ice On Ice.

[OntheBRINKofDisaster]

I don't cage dry either, and here's something that I've started doing on certain breeds...during the bath, I'll shampoo, scrub, and rinse the face first. I stop mid-rinse and towel dry (chamois work better than regular towels) the head and ears thoroughly. Then, I'll finish rinsing the butt area, apply conditioner to body only, clean the ears, brush the teeth, and rinse condit out. All that time the head/ears are air drying. Then I'll towel dry the whole dog including the head again, let it shake, etc. If the dog will let me I try to HV even more of the wet off the ears. Then, I apply a Happy Hoodie and start drying the body.

By the time I get to the head, it takes me no time at all to finish.

[Smart-n-Pretty]

That's not really my tip. It's just an adaptation of somebody else's tip. I think Daryl Conner?

[Debbiedogs]

How to dry ears faster -

Shave them with a #10???? LOL, just kidding, I love the beautiful Cavs AND their ears. However, I will shave the inside of the flap/leather with a #10 if I think the ear hair is plenty thick. Also, I like to use a comb when I use my stand dryer because a brush blocks more of the nice warm air that is useful for drying that hair!

What about Speed Dry spray?? I haven't used it much yet, but other people here have recommended it and some other products to help hair dry faster.

[Mitch73]

The first thing is they must be clean! When I'm drying a dog that has a lot of hair on the ears I use a towel to get as much moisture out as possible before I begin drying. I then brush the ear out and as I'm drying, use a towel and rub with my and fingers. For me, this gets ears dry in no time.

[mylady]

I do a lot of Cavs myself. I use Show Seasons shampoos and always mix some speed dry shampoo with whatever I am using, unless it's a specialty shampoo like the soothe or oatmeal. Then I use the Results Rinse which also helps them dry faster. Take out, wrap, spray with the speed dry spray and then I HV them. At the end, since I don't have room for a stand dryer in the mobile, I have a hand held dryer I use on the parts they don't like the HV on. Like their ears. Of course I use a lot of the tips already mentioned above, but the products I use make a HUGE difference.

[SCGroomer]

Hello, I'm in pinellas co too! Anyway, I hand dry everyone as well. First I take the HV and hold the ear starting at the top and work my way down the ear a few times. The I take my hand dryer and flip the ear over and dry while brushing and repeat on the outter ear. I dont do a lot of the because of time. When I worked at a shop we did a ton of them this way.