"Yorkie eyes" question

[Emmaloo]

Hey there, all. Rose is a Yorkie, so she has teary eyes and little hardened bits of eye schmutz (as I believe it is scientifically called) but she HATES the eye-cleaner stuff. It may simply be that she doesn't want that nasty ol' cotton ball that close to her eyes-- I wouldn't blame her for that-- but the eye schmutz clearly bothers her so I'd like to know what you think about cleaning it away. She's got very mucky ears too, poor girl, but she is mostly okay with me cleaning those out. I'm weighing taking her to Maisie's groomer, but I'm hesitant, too, because she's still nervous after 5 years in the puppy mill. Anyone swear by a particular eye cleanser? The doggie-shampoo we got says to keep away from eyes, though just the water in her bath helped some-- just not enough. I would love to hear what you all think!

[bendog]

Don't know about Yorkies, but our old dog frequently got eye gunk, and my current boy does occasionally.
Usually I just use a little warm water on some cotton wool or kitchen roll paper and pull it away gently which does the trick.
They were never keen on it, but tolerated it well enough. Do it quickly and give lots of treats afterwards.

I'd stay away from the groomer if she's still nervous. She'd probably see it as a betrayal of trust and lose faith in you.

[Emmaloo]

Thanks Bendog! That totally confirms my thoughts about the groomer-- guess I just needed the validation. The warm water with cotton wool will probably do the trick later, but now our poor girl has 5 years's worth of dried gunk so I may need something more serious. (Sigh) She's a puppy farm rescue, so I guess one step at a time, right?

[bendog]

If it's attached to the fur can you trim any of it off?
Though I guess if she's still so nervous then it's not worth the risk.

Shove some treats (preferably something really stinky like cheese or liver or something) under her nose and just try and do a tiny bit each day with the cleaner then?

The groomer (however good) would probably just tie her to a table and hold her still and pull the eye gunk away whether she likes it or not. And muzzle if she snaps.

We picked my boyfriends parents dog (soon to be ours hopefully) up from the groomer once and she was shaking like a leaf and still shaking hours afterwards. It's not worth putting her through that stress.