Health
What is the earliest sign of an ear problem?
Smell. A yeasty or sour odour from the canal usually appears days before the head shaking, and checking takes five seconds when you lift the flap.
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Newfoundland Ear Infections: Why the Water You Both Love Causes This
Quick answer
What is the earliest sign of an ear problem?
Smell. A yeasty or sour odour from the canal usually appears days before the head shaking, and checking takes five seconds when you lift the flap.
This is the single most predictable health problem in the breed, and it is also the one most influenced by an owner's routine. Ten minutes after a swim changes the whole picture.
For owners on their third round of ear drops in a year, for anyone who has just discovered that a swim always seems to be followed by head shaking, and for owners whose dog now refuses to let anyone touch its ears.
Important reminder
This guide is not medical advice. If your dog shows pain, sudden behavior change, or worsening symptoms, consult a licensed veterinarian.
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What this problem looks like
Otitis externa, inflammation and infection of the outer ear canal, is the most predictable problem in a heavy-eared swimming breed. Moisture trapped below the bend of the canal under a hanging flap creates conditions bacteria and yeast exploit. A single episode is straightforward. Repeated episodes signal an underlying driver, most often allergy, and chronic untreated disease permanently thickens the canal, so early and complete treatment matters more than owners realise.
Common triggers
- Water retained in the canal after swimming, bathing or wet weather
- Underlying allergic inflammation of the ear canal lining
- A heavy drop ear covering the canal opening and preventing airflow
- Incomplete treatment courses that allow surviving organisms to rebound
- Warmth and humidity, including a dense coat holding heat around the ear base
Otitis externa is one of the most common reasons dogs are seen in general practice, and breeds with pendulous ears and a swimming habit are strongly over-represented. It does not appear on the Newfoundland's short list of documented inherited conditions, which covers hips, heart, urinary stones and bloat, but it is arguably the health issue an owner of this breed is most likely to deal with in practice, and repeatedly.
Why this happens
Breed factors
The Newfoundland was developed as a working water dog and every relevant feature follows from that. Heavy drop ears lie flat over the canal opening, which protects the ear from water entering while swimming but also prevents it drying afterwards. The heavy water-resistant double coat holds warmth and moisture around the base of the ear, and heavy year-round shedding means loose undercoat packs into the fur at the ear base. Body size means an enormous surface to dry and a dog too strong to restrain if it objects to handling. And the breed's calm, patient temperament means the discomfort of an early infection produces very little complaint.
Environment factors
Water access is the dominant factor, and it is not only lakes. Rain, wet grass, garden paddling pools and baths all wet the ear base. Humid indoor environments extend drying time. Households that towel the dog's back but never lift the ear flaps leave the canals wet for hours. Coat management matters too: a matted, packed coat around the ear base holds moisture directly against the skin. And the routine after swimming, which takes minutes and is entirely within an owner's control, is the difference between an occasional problem and a permanent one.
What you can do at home (once it is not an emergency)
When to talk to your vet
Book an appointment for head shaking, scratching at an ear, redness, discharge or a bad smell, and ask for a swab to be examined so treatment targets the right organism. Ask for the underlying cause to be investigated once you have had three episodes in a year. Seek urgent, same-day care for a head tilt, loss of balance, circling, flicking eye movements, facial droop or drooping of one side of the face, since these suggest middle or inner ear involvement. Also seek prompt care for an ear so painful the dog will not let you near it, for bleeding from the canal, or for a sudden soft swelling of the ear flap, which is a blood-filled haematoma caused by shaking and needs treating rather than waiting out.
At home, alongside your vet's plan
- Lift both ear flaps fully up and out for two minutes after every swim, bath or soaking, which does more than any product.
- Dry the visible part of the ear with a soft absorbent cloth, going no further than your finger reaches naturally.
- Smell both canals weekly. A sour or yeasty odour is the earliest reliable sign and precedes head shaking by days.
- Keep the coat around the ear base brushed out and free of packed undercoat so air can reach the skin.
- Ask your vet which drying ear cleaner is appropriate for your dog and how often to use it, rather than choosing one yourself.
- Finish every prescribed course completely, even after the dog seems comfortable, since stopping early is a leading cause of recurrence.
- Log the date of every episode, because a pattern across a year is what identifies an underlying driver.
More Newfoundland health & behavior issues
- Newfoundland ARVC: Is It a Real Risk, and What Causes Fainting?
- Newfoundland Heart Conditions: Screening & Warning Signs
- Newfoundland Heart Disease: Living With the Diagnosis
- Newfoundland Kidney Disease: Early Signs and Monitoring
- Newfoundland Kidney Stones: Cystinuria and Urinary Blockage
- Newfoundland Pancreatitis and Diabetes: The Senior Link
- Newfoundland Pancreatitis: Signs, Triggers and Bloat Confusion
- Newfoundland Allergic Reactions: Swelling, Hives & When to Rush In
- Newfoundland Brachycephalic Features: A Big Head Is Not a Flat Face
- Newfoundland Cherry Eye: Prolapsed Third Eyelid Gland Explained
- Newfoundland Eye Injuries: A Water Dog's Real Risk of Trauma
- Newfoundland Hip Dysplasia Prevalence: Reading the Numbers
- Newfoundland Obesity: Weight Control in a Giant Breed
- Newfoundland Patellar Luxation: Grades and the Differential
- Newfoundland Separation Anxiety: What Owners Actually Pay
EAR Infections in other breeds
- Jack Russell Terrier Ear Infections: Signs & What to Do
- Labradoodle Ear Infections: Signs, Causes & What to Do
- Maltese Ear Infections: Signs, Causes & What to Do
- Miniature Schnauzer Ear Infections: Signs & What to Do
- Poodle Ear Infections: Signs, Causes & What to Do
- Rottweiler Ear Infections: Signs, Causes & What to Do
- Standard Schnauzer Ear Infections: Signs & What to Do
- Yorkshire Terrier Ear Infections: Signs, Causes & What to Do
- Akita Ear Infections: Lower Risk Than Floppy-Eared Breeds
- Australian Shepherd Ear Infections: Why They Keep Coming Back
See all Newfoundland health problems, which breeds are prone to ear infections, or the full Newfoundland breed guide for temperament, exercise needs and ownership costs.
What to expect, and how you know it is working
A straightforward infection treated correctly usually resolves in one to three weeks, and the course should be finished rather than stopped when the shaking does. A recurrent case takes longer to sort out, because identifying an underlying allergic driver involves a food trial of eight to twelve weeks or a year of dated seasonal records. Chronic changes that have already thickened the canal do not reverse. Dogs with a good post-swim routine typically go from several episodes a year to none or one, which is a realistic and commonly achieved result.
Success is ears that are checked weekly, dried after every swim, and that stay pale pink and odourless between checks, with a dog who lifts its head willingly for the routine rather than backing away. It is not the absence of ever needing treatment again, particularly in an allergic dog, but it is catching an episode at the smell stage rather than at the head-shaking stage, and never again reaching the point where an ear canal is permanently narrowed.
How to Dry an Ear That Is Designed Not to Dry
The physics are stacked against you. Water sits in the horizontal part of the canal, below the bend, where evaporation is slow and airflow is essentially nil because a heavy flap lies over the opening. On top of that, the ear canal of a swimming dog is repeatedly wetted before it has dried from last time.
The routine that works is not complicated but it has to be consistent. After every swim and every bath, lift the flap fully upward and outward and hold it there for a couple of minutes, which alone allows more evaporation than anything else you do. Use a soft absorbent cloth or cotton pad to dry the visible part of the ear, going no further than your finger reaches naturally. Never push anything narrow into the canal, because you drive debris past the bend and can damage the eardrum.
Beyond drying, ask your vet whether a drying ear cleaner is appropriate for your dog and how often to use it. Products vary considerably and some are unsuitable if the eardrum is damaged, which is precisely why this is a veterinary question rather than an internet one.
The other half of the routine is looking. Lift the flap, look at the canal opening and smell it. A healthy Newfoundland ear is pale pink, has minimal wax and smells of essentially nothing. A yeasty or sour smell is the earliest reliable sign there is, and it precedes the head shaking by days.
Why It Keeps Coming Back, and What That Means
A single infection is a plumbing problem. Repeated infections are a message. If your Newfoundland has had three or more in a year, the useful question changes from which drops to what is driving this.
- Allergy is the most common underlying driver of recurring otitis in adult dogs, because allergic inflammation of the canal lining changes its environment before any organism arrives.
- Moisture from swimming is the obvious contributor in this breed and is the one most amenable to routine.
- Anatomy is fixed: a heavy drop ear over an L-shaped canal cannot be redesigned, only managed.
- Incomplete treatment is a genuinely common cause. Stopping drops when the dog stops shaking, rather than finishing the course, selects for the organisms that survive.
- Undiagnosed organism type matters. Bacteria and yeast need different treatment, and repeatedly treating the wrong one produces exactly this pattern. Ask whether a sample has been examined under a microscope.
- A ruptured eardrum or middle ear involvement changes everything about treatment and is a reason for a proper examination rather than another repeat prescription.
- Chronic changes eventually thicken and narrow the canal permanently, which is why repeatedly treating episodes without addressing the driver has a real long-term cost.
Four Rounds of Drops and One Question: Sorting Out Poppy's Ears
Poppy was four and swam in a canal near her home most days in summer. She had been treated for ear infections four times in eighteen months, each time successfully, each time briefly. Her owner Ade did what most owners do: towelled her back and legs, let her shake, and thought no more about it. Nobody had ever shown him the drying routine, and he had stopped the drops on the third occasion when she stopped shaking her head, which was four days into a fourteen-day course. At the fifth appointment his vet did two things differently. She examined a swab under the microscope and found yeast rather than the bacteria the previous treatments had targeted. And she asked Ade to describe exactly what he did after a swim. The new routine took four minutes. Ears lifted up and out and held there while he counted to a hundred and twenty, a soft pad on the visible part of the ear, and a drying cleaner twice a week that his vet had specified. He also finished the course this time, all of it. Poppy had one further episode the following spring, which Ade caught by smell before she had shaken her head once. Her vet added an allergy investigation after that, which turned up a seasonal pattern. Ade's summary is that he had been treating the same problem five times and managing it zero times.
Key takeaway: The canal cannot dry itself under a heavy flap, so drying is your job and it takes two minutes. Smell the ears weekly, finish every course, and after the third infection in a year ask what is driving it rather than what will treat it.
Frequently asked questions
Should I stop letting my Newfoundland swim?
For most dogs, no. Swimming is one of the best forms of exercise for a giant breed, particularly one with joint disease, and this breed genuinely enjoys it. What changes is what happens afterwards: a consistent lift-and-dry routine, and a veterinary-recommended drying cleaner if appropriate. Only in dogs with severe recurrent disease might your vet advise limiting water access.
Can I use cotton buds in the ear?
No. Anything narrow enough to enter the canal pushes debris past the bend where it cannot be retrieved and risks damaging the eardrum. Clean only what your finger reaches naturally under a soft cloth or pad, and leave the canal itself to flushing products used on veterinary advice.
Why does my vet want to look at a sample under the microscope?
Because bacteria and yeast look identical to an owner and require different treatment. Examining a swab identifies which organisms are present and in what proportion, which is why an infection treated blindly so often returns. It is a quick in-house test and it is worth asking for by name.
How do I know if it has become serious?
Head tilt, loss of balance, walking in circles, flicking eye movements, facial asymmetry, or an ear that is so painful the dog will not let you near the head are signs that the middle or inner ear may be involved. Those need urgent veterinary attention rather than another course of drops.
What is an aural haematoma?
It is a blood-filled swelling of the ear flap caused by violent head shaking rupturing vessels within it, and it looks like a firm pillow where the flap used to be. It is common in heavy-eared dogs with ear disease and needs veterinary treatment, and it is a good illustration of why head shaking is worth acting on early.
Is it my fault if the infections keep coming back?
Usually not. The routine matters, but recurrent otitis is most often driven by an underlying allergic tendency the owner did not cause and cannot remove. What you can control is drying, early detection and completing treatment courses, and asking for the underlying driver to be investigated after the third episode.
Quick answers
View more answersLiving
How do I dry the ears after swimming?
Lift the flap fully up and out and hold it for a couple of minutes, then dry the visible part with a soft cloth. Never push anything into the canal.
Health
How many infections is too many?
Three or more in a year means the question should change from which treatment to what is driving it, and allergy is the commonest answer in adult dogs.
Health
When is an ear an emergency?
Head tilt, circling, loss of balance, flicking eye movements, facial droop, or pain so severe the dog will not let you touch its head. Those need urgent attention.
Costs
What is the ongoing cost?
Repeated consultations, cytology, prescription drops and cleaners add up quickly in a recurrent case, and chronic untreated disease can eventually require surgery, which is far more expensive.
Related DogBreedCompass guides
- allergies in Newfoundlands – Allergy is the most common underlying driver of recurring ear disease in adult dogs.
- skin infections in this breed – Skin infection under a damp coat often accompanies ear disease from the same cause.
- skin allergies – Itchy skin and inflamed ears are two expressions of the same underlying process.
- Newfoundland head and ear anatomy – Heavy drop ears are part of the head anatomy that shapes this breed's real health issues.
- cost of owning a Newfoundland – Recurrent treatment and grooming are recurring costs specific to a heavily coated water breed.
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