Final Advice for Dog's Ears....

If your dog's ears remain healthy and normal, do not over clean them..

If your dog's ears do not seem healthy, seek veterinary help  right away.

Left untreated, ear infections can lead to temporary or permanent hearing loss not to mention non stop pain and irritation.

Breeds Prone To Ear Problems

While veterinarians see dogs of all breeds with ear problems, often related to food or environmental allergies.  Some breed experience more infections and more severe infections.

For example some breeds have  particularly narrow ear canals which do not in it self cause ear infections but can lead to a more severe infection quickly.

.   French Bulldogs

.   Bulldogs

.   Pugs

.   Chinese Shar-Pei

These breeds also tend not to shake their heads in response to ear discomfort (a common 

symptoms in other breeds).  Due to the shape of their head they may simply get no relief from the shaking    - whereas other dogs might be able to shake ear gunk loose.

Dogs with floppy ears also tend to get more severe ear infections due to a more humid atmosphere under the ear flap. 

Cocker Spaniels are a special case.  Cocker Spaniels tend to develop more proliferative changes in the ears and that means when they have ottis (inflammation/ear infection).  They are more likely to get thickened tissue in their ears, at worse it might require surgical removal of the ear canal.

This happens more often in Cockers than any other breed.  

And most veterinarians do not know why.