I have an 8 year old German Shepard, male.  He is plagued with chronic ear infections.  Usually one ear more so than the other.  I have taken him to the vet many times for this and always come home with the same medication; ear drops of some type and a ten day perscription for an anti-inflammatory.  ( i can't tell you the name of these drugs as I am away from home).  Neither really cure the problem, it always returns.  What can we do?  The poor dog is now shaking his head all the time and yelps if his ears are touched.  I'm tired of my vet blowing this off as a minor infection.  The dog is miserable and so am I.  Help!

I have had scotties for years and all have suffered on-again off-again ear infections.  The only way I've found to keep it under control is to keep their ears cleaned out and use the antibiotic ear drops as needed.  It's a "space" problem, the space in the ear, not a systemic problem.  I've found if you keep the ears as clean as you can the infection rates drop and the animal does much better.  I use an over the counter ear cleaner.