I do the same as Ellie May...I use force. And I don't get the ear cleaner until I have them in my arms..so they don't get a chance to run and hide :D Bella is use to having her ear hairs plucked and cleaned so she doesn't fight me as much anymore...but Harley, woowee that boy fights until he has wore his self out but he is only 7 mos old so I'm hoping between the groomer & I working with him now he will settled down like Bella.

My dog Sarge (a pom) had an ear infection not too long ago. He would wiggle and didn't like the antibiotic put in his ear. I would distract him with a chew treat while my husband cradled him against his chest and put the ear goo in. Then I would give chew treat to sarge and rub his ear to ensure the goo got all the way down throughout the ear. If your dog doesn't fall for the chew treat "just outta reach"...I'd also say force may be needed. They are wiggle warts...:p

The scruff is the extra skin on the back of her neck. Its where the mother picks them up as puppies. When they are held this way calming endorphins are released and the puppy/dog usually settles down.

You can try holding the chin hair as well. I use this hold while grooming to keep the head still so i can scissor.

This is all such good info am filing away for future when Tibbe might go south on me and quit cooperating!

My sister says her dog is so savvy about when he is going to get his medicine, she can just start to walk into the kitchen where she keeps the bottle and she says her terrier starts slinking quietly out of the den and down the hall, winding up under her bed.

Good luck. I have to muzzle my yorkie when I put in her ear meds because she will bite. as soon as she sees the bottle she disappears and its a battle. It takes up to an hour just to give her the dose of ear drops.

yelp... that would be my crew also. If I even touch the bathing supplies they all run to dh and try to hide behind him. Nothing like hauling a 25 pound wiggling shih tuz up stairs for his bath :eek:

As for the ears... I have had problems with the floppy ear dogs.. it is hard. Sammy (lasha) will snap at you when you try to mess with his ears.
What I do is wrap them in a towel (start with cuddle time) and have them so tight they can't move much. Then I do the ears... I started that after bath one time and realized it worked for me. I do that when I have to pull the hair out of the ears too.

Now... advice on how to brush teeth???:p

Alice is good (she's only needed regular ear cleaner for some wax and a little dirt, so no soreness to add to it) but my Beagle has ear problems ever once in a while and she's a bugger if I don't really put my foot down and get her in the right position. She knows the bottle and tries to book it away from me too:rolleyes: so I hide it behind my back with one hand and give her a "chewy" (CET or whatever) with the other to bait her. Then it's all about coordination lol. What I do with her won't work for a smaller dog - but what I did working as a tech with the tiny dogs was - kind of tuck their body in the crook of your elbow and hold the dog close to your chest. Use that same hand to hold the head steady (wrapped around the side of their face) while kind of pressing the chin into your chest and useing that thumb (I know, one hand/arm doing all of that lol) to hold the top of the ear back. Then you have the other hand to squirt the medicine in.

I wish I could post a video instead, it's so hard to explain lol. It's like restraint 101 hahaha. If you are still having a hard time, see if you can take her into your vet office once so a good tech can demonstrate for you.

Just remember too that once it's in there, hold the ear kind of up so in can get it all the way down into the ear canal, then gently massage the base of the ear to work it in.

My beagle's RX when she needs it has to stay in there for a minute or two before I can let her shake it out, so for that I just keep a good hold of her ear (keeping it up and kind of closed on my hand) and head and give her kisses on her head and muzzle while we wait out the time:)

I used to be a tech too and tried writing out a description on how to restrain tiny dogs but it sounded confusing. I tried looking for pictures or a video but couldn't find any that demonstrated what I wanted.

I do kinda like you do when restraining them.

Seriously, I can't believe how tough it is to restrain little dogs! Marcel is 3 pounds, and he goes berserk when he gets his allergy shot :(. Me and hubby have a horrible time, and we feel more horrible for Marcel. Today, I took him to the vet for the shot bc I just could not do it.

I think we've been restraining the wrong way though - bc the way they did it today at the vet's is similar to what AlicetheYorkie described.

Ya, it's really one of those things that you have to see being done, explaining it in words is really hard. I'm asking the dh for a video camera for Christmas this year so maybe I'll make some how-to videos on restraint lol. I'm not working as a tech anymore now that I'm home with my son, so it would be something to do to still use my experience to help people:)(especially my YT people:D)

this video isn't too bad. Its for restraining a small dog for a front leg blood draw but it shows how to hold the head and body against your chest. In the beginning it shows how to restrain the dog on a table and at the end it shows how to restrain the dog in your arms. With the way your holding the head the dog won't be able to turn or wiggle away (or bite). To medicate the ears I'd just move my index finger in front of the ear and have the other three fingers behind the ear cupping the back skull while my thumb is under the back jaw bone. This way your holding on to the head more then the throat and you won't have to worry about cutting off the airway. My other hand is around the dogs chest with the arm pressing the dog's body tight to my chest.

That is exactly how I had to do many of my small rescues - and wild Tibbe when I first got him. He was wild as a hair, scared of all things in the house - well, life outside the crate period - and I would approach him with the ear meds and here was this feral little thing fighting for his very life looking at me as if you say, "You want to do what with that ear dropper?" But once I found his Achilles' heel - his dear love of performing tricks and conned him into thinking he's doing one - ha! - I had the little bugger. Tibbe would sell his soul to the devil to get to show off!!!

Hahaha, I just watched this same exact video on Youtube after reading this thread and was thinking about posting it here;) Yes, I agree, it's a very good video showing proper restraint of a very small dog.

I hope Bella feels better soon.