I Win

I learned after our first visit to the vet a day or two after getting Radar that both cocker spaniels and poodles are prone to getting ear infections. I learned this because Radar had a raging ear infection in his right ear, and only a moderately bad ear infection in his left ear. It would have been nice to know that at the time of adoption, but I digress. The vet told us to keep his ears clean and to keep the hair cleaned out once the infection went away. Getting the infection to go away meant daily ear drops, and after a week with only minor improvement, twice daily drops for another week, which the vet had wanted us to start with anyway, and his assistant had changed without telling him. But I digress again.

The point is that Radar really did not like having his ears handled AT ALL. It took two of us to get the drops in: one to bear-hug him and keep his head still and the other to move as fast as possible to squirt in the medicine. We were never so thankful as the day morning we didn't have to wrestle the dog. Still, wanting to be a good owner, I bought wipes to give his ears regular cleanings and a special powder to use before using also specially bought hemostats to pull ear hair out with.

I've been moderately successful with the wipes, if I spend a great deal of time beforehand petting and soothing. He struggles, but eventually the job gets done.

Tonight, I just wanted to get his right ear clean. Instead of having him lay down on the floor like I usually do, where he can get up and run, I pulled him against me, half in my lap. He fought me. He swung his head, jaw open to catch whatever might land in it. He (unintentionally, I assume) landed a very nice head-butt to my lower lip. But I held on. And all of a sudden, he stopped. I started cleaning his ear, and when I had to stop to rearrange the wipe and start again, he didn't even flinch. It feels good to win.

Next step, hemostat hair-pulling!