Yucky mini poodle ears

Question
My sweet 3-year-old boy poodle has terrible problems with his ears.  He constantly has dark brown, granular, waxy yucky stuff in his ears.  It sometimes gets hard and lumpy.  He doesn't scratch often, and the only time it seems to really bother him is after grooming.  The groomer does the best she can, and he has had to have deep cleaning by the vet in the past, but nothing so far keeps it from coming back.  It's been diagnosed by the vet as yeast.  We recently started him on a low grain diet.  His meals are grain-free; his treats are not.  Any suggestions you could offer would be really appreciated.

Answer
Hello Robin,
Oh the precious Poodle ears.  The ear of the Poodle sure is nice to look at on the outside, but with those long hanging down ears, the inside can sometimes be a hazard in themselves.  
Routine cleaning will help keep the ears clean, but you have to watch over-cleaning because that can change the enviroment of the ear which disrupts the healthy bacteria in the ear.  

Your Vet should have ear wash that you can purchase to clean the ears with on a more frequent basis than every time your dog sees the Groomer.  
While your groomer can do the tough part (the removing of the hair from the ear canal), you can go ahead and put the cleaner in the ear, let the dog shake it out and then just wipe the ear with a cotton ball to remove any debris that the shaking brought up.  

If the yeast becomes bad, you can use the same Over The Counter products that women use for vaginal yeast infections.  Use the 7 day dose because it is more mild than the 3 or 1 day doses.  
Apply to the ears once a day for the 7 days.  

I hope this helps you some.  If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask.

Thanks for using AllExperts.com,
Kim