IMHO ears are the most difficult part of grooming the Golden Retriever. I'm going to try to explain some of the procedures and steps you take to get the ear groomed, but I can assure you it takes practice to get them to look decent and even more practice to get them to look good. I can however get you started in the right direction and hopefully you can avoid some of the mistakes I made on my early attempts. I can not stress enough, trim a little then check and trim more if needed. I made some awful mistakes by not doing this when I first started.
Any discussion of grooming seems to generate tons of questions about how to groom ears. It appears to be the bane of many owners/handlers/breeders pre-show grooming routine. While your first attempts at trimming the Golden ear may be less then perfect I can assure you that you will get better with time. A lot of the outcome depends on the amount and type of fur that is on your dogs ear. Heavy coat and fine fluff are especially difficult to tame.
The things you will need to do ears is a good pair of thinning shears, a pair of straight shears and a medium blade terrier stripper. You can use a small shear (4 inch) if you are more comfortable with these or a conventional sized 7 or 8 inch shear if you are adept. I have a pair of small scissors with ball tips that I use.
I start by combing the fur on the ear, then behind the ear (where it always sticks out like horns) and finally under the ear. Comb in direction of the hair growth. This will give you some idea of how much fluff needs to be removed and you will find any mats that need to be worked on before you start trimming. Next I pick up the ear and start with the area directly under the ear that is covered by the ear flap when it's down. Take your stripper and start by removing some of the undercoat with the stripper. Make three or four passes with the stripper and STOP. Do this with a gentle action, you have already combed through so there should be no mats or tangles. Comb the fur in the direction of growth and see how things look, if the are looks good and the fur is more manageable and the ear lays close to the face, leave well enough alone. If not comb the fur upward so it stands out from the skin, take your thinning shears and with the tips of the blades facing up toward the top of the dogs skull and angled in toward and against the dogs face make a cut, remove the shears and make another cut at another point. STOP. Comb the fur down in the direction of growth and see how things look. If they look good leave it alone, if not repeat the above but only make one or two passes with the stripper. With ears as with all grooming better to take out too little then too much. Once this area is nice and close to the face, I take my straight shears and trim the hair that grows around the ear canal area. You know the things that make your dog look like Yoda from Star Wars when his ears are back. This little wispy stuff that grows near the opening of the ear can be cut close to the skin, but be VERY CAREFUL not to cut the skin. Until you are use to this better to leave a little longer. If you use a scissors with a ball tip you can also take some of the stuff that grows at the very top of the ear canal. As you become more adept and more comfortable doing this you will find out that you can get more and more fur out and this makes keeping the ears clean a whole lot easier.
If your dog has a lot of fur on the underside of the ear you can take your thinner and trim some of this out by making a cut or two, combing and then cutting more if needed. The tips of your shears should be toward the ear canal and you should comb the fur out from the skin before cutting. Use caution as you can cut the skin if not careful. With some dogs you need not take this step, but if you have a dog that is prone to ear problems this can help as more air gets into the ear and it dries better.
Next you are going comb the fur on the ear flap up and out, take the thinning shear and with the tips and blades in the same position as you did for trimming the fur under the ear flap, make a cut, remove and make another cut, repeat. STOP. Comb fur in direction of growth. If the fur lies close to the skin fine leave well enough alone, if not repeat the above procedure till the fur lying close and flat against the ear. It's very important to comb the fur up and out each time, for if you don't unless you are very good with the thinners you will get cut marks in the fur. When this ear meets your satisfaction you move on to the area right behind the ear. Comb the fur down in the direction of growth, take the stripper and make a couple of passes to remove the undercoat. Need more taken out, comb fur up and out and get the thinners, angle as you did for trimming the ear flap and the fur under the ear flap and again make two cuts, stop comb and repeat if needed. When you see that your dog again resembles a Golden and not a Briard or Papllion you are ready for the finishing touch. You take the ear flap and hold it straight up and if possible toward the light source. You will see some fur that grows beyond the edge of the ear. It may be long, it may be shaggy, it may be uneven. You want to trim this fur so that it is even with the edge of the ear flap. However you must be very carefully as the Goldens ear as a little pocket like area where it folds and you don't want to nick this area with your thinners. I usually start close to the curved tip of the ear and go downward toward the face with my thinners using a quick up and down action of the blades. Next I go from the point where I started and trim in the opposite direction till I get to the skull. Basically you want to trim the excess fur from all around the edge of the ear. If your cuts with the thinners look raggy take a finish them with you shears. The Golden ear should have a nice rounded edge to it.
When you have complete all the steps above check your work, you still may need to do more, go back to the area that you see needs work and thin and trim more. Ears take time and patience. It's far better to take out too little and have to go back and do more then to trim out too much. When you're done, give your dog a treat and pour yourself a cold one. Which is exactly what I'm going to do now that I've finished this.
Feel free to reprint any or a part of this post, however I would just like to be notified as to where this information is being reprinted.