When my dog gets excited like when I come home after being away a long time, or when he is excited to go for a walk, or when doing some tug work, my dog will start to shake his head. Not always, but often enough for me to notice a pattern.
He kinda holds his head a bit crooked, one ear held down and then shakes his head occasionally like he has something in his ear.
This dog has good ears, never had an ear infection(knock on wood). Ears are always a good colour, don't stink. He doesn't scratch at them.
Is there something other than an ear infection that could make him shake his head like that, or is it just some neurotic Toller behavior? It really seems like he got a little something in his ear, but I never see anything.
I generally just ignore it and he stops doing it. Has anyone ever seen this before?
Melissa Thom Webboard User Reg: 12-04-2007
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I like to think of it as a ticklish moment and my lab and alot of other drop eared dogs I see do this. I like to equate it to a girl who tosses her hair when it rubs her neck a certain way.
Reg: 08-29-2006
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My floppy-eared dog started doing this about a month ago...exactly as you describe.
In his case it was the beginning of an allergy-induced ear infection which only developed the odor and redness when it got really bad.
I know people (like me) sometimes have issues with fluid in the ear canal...due to allergies or a very-low grade sinus problem... that can make the ears/head feel full and stuffy. It's irksome but never develops into anything major like an infection. No idea if it could happen to a dog.
Same here but my dog's behavior, I think, has much/everything to do with his allergies. I have a vet prescribed cleaning fluid that I put on a thin towel and wrap the cleanser-dampened portion of the towel around my finger and put it in the dog's ear and down the ear canal and sort of "scratch" his inner ear. The towel is never wet enough to be soaked and dripping. I do this very slowly and carefully. Really I'm cleaning it but he literaly moans when I do this. He's a bit apprehensive when he sees me take out the bottle but he stays very still for it once I've started. I then take a clean dry surface and do the same thing to dry it.
I have done this probably about five or six times and some dirt comes out (not much at all) but it seems to help him immensely.
Kodee was doing this not too long ago. He's hold one ear down lower than the other and kind of shake his head, and he'd also scratch inside that ear very carefully with his nails, like it was sore. After cleaning quite a bit of junk out of that ear twice in a week, I took him to the vet and he had a yeast infection. Our dogs would do this same thing when I was a kid, and it was ear mites usually, with them.
So if my dog does not have ear mites or a yeast infection (he has had his ears examined at yearly checkups the vet always says they look great) we are probably leaning towards neurosis?
The fact that a JRT does it too leads me to believe this could be the case
I like to think of it as a ticklish moment and my lab and alot of other drop eared dogs I see do this. I like to equate it to a girl who tosses her hair when it rubs her neck a certain way.
Interesting. Wonder why the dog may get ticklish only at those times? Half the time I have not even come close to touching his ears when it occurs.
It is a possibility. I just put my hair in a pony tail or under a hat when it is bugging me. Guess the dog doesn't have that option.
Melissa Thom Webboard User Reg: 12-04-2007
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Loc: Upper Left hand corner, USA
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Exactly. I know my lab tends to do it when she's on alert or just coming down from an alert. She holds her ear out funny, kinda gives me this weird look like "I'm going to sneeze." then gives a quick shake.
I've never seen associated scratching, that would be a huge red flag of infection. I had a lab gsd mix that used to do the same thing and his ears were always great so I just figure it's just a ticklish moment and the dog is readjusting their ears.
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Head shaking-ears or neurotic
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