Ear Sensitivity

[Piper]

Is this typical with greys? Piper has had her ears checked by the vet and seems to be fine. However, she sometimes yelps when her ears are gently rubbed. She loves petting and scratching on the head and around her ears. She will sometimes-not always- yelp if an ear is wiggled or scratched more than a few seconds, then lean in for more petting. Any thoughts?

[JohnF]

My last one did that, never could work out why. She mostly loved her ears being rubbed. Perhaps it was an recollection from puppy days of being surprised.

[smurfette]

Sometimes they are sensitive with their ears because of the treatment on the tracks when they get their tattoos checked before the race.

It is more the anticipation of getting hurt than real sensivity. Paddy always yelped when I touched his ears when he was new. With building trust it got better and now he can't get enough ear rubs.

[DesiRayMom]

Desi is that way, too. I have learned how much is good, and when to stop. Some folks meeting him for the first time are a little too

enthusiastic & he'll squawk at them. I have to explain that he's pretty sensitive about his ears. I wondered myself if that came from

having them tattooed.

[teri_d]

Bleu had ear sensitivity - we wondered if it was something to do with muzzling at the track - hadn't thought about the checking of tattoos

[ramonaghan]

Desi is that way, too. I have learned how much is good, and when to stop. Some folks meeting him for the first time are a little too

enthusiastic & he'll squawk at them. I have to explain that he's pretty sensitive about his ears. I wondered myself if that came from

having them tattooed.

 

Same with Sweep. She generally loves us rubbing her ears but has yelped with strangers a few times.

[buddibear]

My foster had 1 ear super sensitive. We checked for infection, mites etc. ointments and ear washes never helped. Meets and Greets were always a chance for a nip when he loved to rub up on kids and give kisses. When he went down for a dental I asked the tech to scope the ear. She came up with a stringy thing that looked like floss way down in the canal. He was a return from a family with a 2yo boy who bopped him on the head with plastic toys, hence a nip to the fore head and returned.

[Piper]

Interesting. The muzzle never seems to bother her ears. She ran in quite a few races, though. Are their ears sometimes yanked or pulled roughly to verify tatoos before each race?

[Feisty49]

Annie doesn't like her ears touched. She doesn't yelp or get snarky, but she turns her head away or ducks and if someone does get an ear to rub, she tries to flatten them. She did have an ear infection 3 years ago which drops cured and the vet checks her ears thoroughly every time we visit.

 

I think that not liking her ears touched is just one of those things just as some dogs don't like their feet touched.

[LaFlaca]

I hate to put negative thoughts out in the universe, but I feel I have the moral responsibility to share this with you. Years ago, I had a Rhodesian Ridgeback who suddenly developed ear sensitivity. If you so much as touched his right ear, he would yelp. The vet could never find anything wrong. In the end, it turned out to be a brain tumor. Eventually, we had to put Champion to sleep. The chances of winning the Power Ball are probably greater than your Piper having a similar tumor, so don't obsess, just tuck the information into your doggie databank. Knowledge is power. Love and light to you and pretty Piper.

[GeorgeofNE]

Please don't assume that dogs have their ears yanked or otherwise roughly handled at the track.

 

I have lived with many non greyhounds in my life, all of whom behave in the exact same manner regarding the occasional ear yelp.

 

Don't read too much into it.

[Guest bernadette]

Vinnie has always been sensitive in the ears. He LOVES ear rubs and always comes back for me, but also will cry, whine or yelp as described. Had them checked- no issues as far as we can tell.

[krissn333]

My mom's boy Sunny is super sensitive about one of his ears. The vet has checked it to death and can't find anything wrong with him.

 

Ozzie actually LOVES for his ears to be pulled on kind of hard...like upside down milking of a cow The problem is when I forget that Sunny's ears are sensitive and go to massage his ears the way I do with Ozzie

[Sundrop]

Our newest adoptee, Finn, is sensitive about his ears, too. In fact, he had to be muzzled at the vet when they cleaned his ears because he was not happy about it. DH gives him big old ear rubs, and he seems to really love it - but he has yelped a few times (he can be a bit rough). I give very gentle ear rubs, and check his ears periodically just to make sure I don't see any redness or irritation. He has also displayed signs of allergies, which is why the vet was checking/cleaning his ears. Maybe that's it? Not sure - we just have to warn the vet that he doesn't like it.

[MattB]

I've experienced this with all four of our hounds. They love their ears rubbed but will yelp sometimes even with very little pressure. They also push their ears hard against me when I'm rubbing. Charlie also likes the milking action. I've found all of the hounds get a fair bit of wax in their ears which they have all loved to have cleaned with cotton buds and wet wipes.

[Jerilyn]

My Lila once scared me half to death. I had just fallen asleep and I hear her scream out in the living room. I was trying to hurry and get out of bed and put on my glasses so I can see what I expect to be a dog bleeding or with a broken leg. But there she was rolling around on the floor scratching her ears with her front paws. I can only assume she got poked with her dewclaw. Moral of the story, it only takes a small wrong move to hurt a sensitive ear.

[racindog]

My first houndie Ivy (Dream Irish) was like that. If you attempted to lift her earsies no matter how super gentle you were she would squeal loudly. It was very endearing-not to mention a great conversation piece

[tuff]

One of my three is like this. It's more if you gently "squeeze" his flaps he yelps and will even growl. He loves the base of his ears massaged, however. I have to warn people to not pet his ears. Top was a racing school drop out, so I doubt it has anything to do with racing. I think he just is super sensitive there. He does have extremely thin ears that don't stand up.

[sobesmom]

My Diana was very sensitive about her ears. She liked gentle rubbing of the base of them, but GOOD LUCK trying to un-clench them to to look inside at her tattoos, or check for cleanliness. She'd SCREAM like you were killing her, and wow - could she clench those ears shut! Of course, I assumed they were infected, or she had mites. The poor vet had to go through the screaming - trying to un-clench several times. He managed, took samples on several occasions, and she never had an infection, or mites, or any ear issue, and she had the cleanest ears through her whole life.

 

Her ears were FINE. She just liked to keep them tucked in, and not messed with. Greys are quirky. Don't over-think it.

 

For the record - I don't think it has anything to do with prior life at the track. I think that's an urban myth. Diana never raced but she was ear-sensitive, and I've had LOTS of racer fosters that loved their earsies messed with.