ear concerns

Question
i am a groomer/breeder of standard poodles. spent alot of years working in vet clinics and been around the block so to speak with all different ear treatments for common ear infections in the prone dogs such as poodles, spaniels etc.  what other advice do you suggest besides cleaning, keeping ears dry and antibiotics?  do you suggest antibiotics for long term use such as 6 months?  what about the effectiveness of plucking?  is it valuable or an over estimation of value?  thanks i look forward to hearing your idea's.

Answer
Normal ears should not have the hair plucked.  It creates inflammation and actually increases the incidence of otitis. Keeping the ear canals dry is the best advice there is.  I love to use boric acid for that.  It is in Malacetic Otic (see www.dermapet.com).  As far as antibiotics, there is no reason to use one unless there is an infection with a bacteria that is sensitive to that particular antibiotic.  Most dogs that I see have yeasts in their ears, which does not respond to antibiotics.