•Affenpinscher
•Brussels Griffon
•Cavalier King
*Charles Spaniel
•Chihuahua
•Chinese Crested •English Toy Spaniel
•Havanese
•Italian Greyhound
•Japanese Chin
•Maltese
•Manchester Terrier
•Miniature Pinscher
•Papillon
•Pekingese
•Pomeranian
•Pug
•Shih Tzu
•Silky Terrier
•Toy Fox Terrier
•Toy Poodle
•Yorkshire Terrier

Help prevent infections, especially if your dog has allergies, by keeping his eyes and eye area clean. Every day I use a hypo allergic wipe to remove any crusts or balls of mucus around her eyes.

Weekly and on bathing days, I trim any hair that's getting too close to her eyes. Obviously, be VERY careful doing this and use a blunt tip scissors. It helps to have a second person hold your little dog's head still.

Finally, on the same weekly/bathing schedule, I put some eye drops in her eyes to clean them.

Here's a good video that shows basic eye care.

	Earthbath Non-Scented Pet Grooming Wipes 100ct Hypo-Allergenic Fragrance free Veterinarian approved Alcohol and lanolin free Will not remove spot-on flea control treatments Resealable tub keeps wipes moist
I use these all over my dog - body, face, ears, eye area, paws. I really don't think it's necessary to buy cleaning wipes made for (or at least advertised for) each body part. These don't have any cloying or medicinal smell and are great for dogs with sensitive skin. Use daily use to remove discharges and crusty sleep balls around the eye area but it won't cure tear stains. NOTE: this is not a substitute for bathing dirty dogs; it's a quick way to wipe off eye debris and loose dirt. Highly recommended.
Round-Tip Shears	Conair Yellow Dog Round-Tip Shears, Dog Home Grooming, 5-Inch, Yellow These are smaller than the photo makes them look but to me, just the right size both for my hands and for my little dog's face. You wouldn't use these to cut a whole body coat. Be careful, careful, careful in trimming around the eyes.
Clean Eyes for Dogs	Gold Medal Clean Eyes for Dogs This product is for routine eye cleaning. It's not a medication or what you would use if you dog needs artificial tears for instance. These eye drops help reduce redness and irritation from dust and air pollution. My dog has allergies so this is a product I use regularly. Also great to use after swimming to wash away chlorine. You also can use a human saline-only solution. Walgreens sells these without any other additives.

Tear stains are extremely common in dogs with white or light colored faces. Keep in mind your dog doesn't care if he has tear stains or not. This is a cosmetic problem that bothers us more than them.

If there's no medical reason for tear stains; i.e., blocked tear duct, it's purely a matter of cosmetics if you attack the stains or not. It's the combination of pigment in his tears reacting to light that causes the discoloration.

Dog saliva contains the same pigments; that's why the hair around his lips can turn brown if a dog drools excessively or the hair on his paws turns brown if a dog with allergies licks at them constantly.

You can spend a lot of money at a veterinarian's searching for the cause of tear stains if there's no obvious medical one. Is it worth it if it's nothing more than a cosmetic issue?

There are products such as Angels Eyes that work well to eliminate stains, but you'll have to use them forever. It and others are not cheap and they usually contain antibiotics such as tetracycline, metronidazole, or tylosin, the latter in Angels Eyes.

Most veterinarians will advise you that indiscriminate use of antibiotics can lead to antibiotic resistance. That's a lot worse than cosmetic tear staining especially if your little dog gets a serious disease and his body no longer responds to standard antibiotics.

Angels Eyes has come out with 'natural' versions that don't use antibiotics, but my friends including a Maltese breeder say it doesn't work well. Another product that has worked well for some (and not so well for others) is Four Paws Crystal Eye for Pets.

There are eye wipes designed to remove stains but these can be irritating and should be washed off his face so they don't get into his eyes.

For a homemade, less expensive but less effective, treatment, dip the tip of a Q-tip or cotton ball in 3% hydrogen peroxide and swab the stain to help "bleach" it away. Keep the hydrogen peroxide away from his eyes. By the way, this is not the bleach you use to bleach human hair.

NEVER use real bleach; e.g. Clorox, around the eyes. You may find some websites or old timers that still recommend that but DON"T DO IT. You could cause permanent injury, not to mention pain, to your dog.

Also, a dab of of Vaseline applied daily to the inner corners of the eyes can help reduce the buildup of hair which will help reduce stains.

You'll have to decide for yourself how important it is and what you're willing to do to keep your dog tear stain free.

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