Has anyone's dog had ear surgery?

Jake has constant ear infections. We have tried extra cleaning, ear drop meds, and shots of antibiotics. I even tried cutting out the swimming (poor Jake). Jake just keeps getting ear infections. His big floppy golden retriever ears just seem to trap dirt and moisture.

Supposedly, an abundance of ear infections causes calcification of the ear canal. Besides, pain, he could suffer from hearing loss. He is only a year and a half old, so the problems are going to catch up with him at some point.

The vet told me that Jake may need to eventually have ear surgery. This means cutting out a portion of the ear canal and straightening it, so there is not that "elbow" to catch stuff that causes infection. The situation sounds scary and I don't understand why a dogs ear could be designed in a way that seems so "wrong". The surgery is obviously expensive ($600), which is a worry for a low-income gal like me to pay all at once. I'm sure I have already paid more than that in Jake's previous treatments. The whole situation of cutting out Jake's ear is really scary. I could barely handle it when my pups were fixed.

I am concerned with this surgery, that sounds painful, and a life without surgery, which sounds painful. Has anyone else been through this with their pet?

My mom had a springer who had to have this surgery done . He had it on one ear only, the other seemed to be unafected. He seemed to do just fine after, of course it was painful just after the surjury was done (as any will) The only thing was after a swim we had to make sure it was dry, buy just taking a towel and wiping it off. That helps also before surjury.
I was thought a while ago that Merlin was going to have to have it done but we bought Opti-clean and used it daily for a week now just weekly and he seens to be fine. No more red ears or eyes stopped the lose eye that springers get alot. Hope this helps you .

I have never had a pet that has had to have surgery on his/her ears. Good luck!

Sadie had extensive ear infections last summer. we worked from August until December to get it cleared up! We tried drops, anitbiotics, est. nothing the vet gave us seemed to work. Finally they knocked her out and cleaned them really good. Seems she had a huge ball of wax in there that was trapping the bacteria and causing the infections. Once that was taken careof she has nto had any more problems ( knock on wood!) we clean her ears 1-2 per week and everytime she goes swimming to keep them clean

Good luck! Hopefully thigns wiil work out for Jake without surgery