Get another dog, or a cat They usually do an admirable job of cleaning each other ears, my old collie cross Doofy used to love the cats washing his ears, he had an expression of sheer bliss.
Failing that I would use ear cleaner and big wadges of cotton wool ( nothing so small as to go too far into the ear canal.

If the stuff was brown that came out of his ears it could well be ear canker and you need to see the vet for drops to clear this as it is never a good idea to poke down a dogs ear yourself, as if the dog moves while you are doing this you could do some damamge without meaning to. Does his ears have a funny smell at all? that denotes ear canker if they do.

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Ear mites can cause a dirty , coffee grind look in the ear .

If the ears are just a bit waxy, it isn't really a problem, but if the wax gets over the top what you need is something to dissolve it. You can get proprietary ear cleaners, but olive oil will do quite nicely. Warm a bit of olive oil VERY GENTLY. This should be no warmer than your own body-temperature! Put about a quarter of a level teaspoon into the ear, then massage around the outside of the ear (your dog may well enjoy this!) Then leave your dog to do the rest, you may get a bit of head-shaking going on while the dog ejects the oil and dissolved wax - yum-yum! Ear-drops do essentially the same thing, but some may be mildly medicated to treat inflamation etc...

If the wax appears dark brown (darker than black tea), the dog is scratching at its ears, or there's a smell to the ears, get your dog to the vet as it is probably ear mites.

Iwas given a solution from the vets to clear Loki's ears out is fairly quick and easy I think it is the best way to do it! Although Loki doesnt like it much though!

I'm glad I found this thread, I was going to ask a similar question about my springer spaniels ears, well one ear really. He has been scratching his right ear a lot recently, shaking his head, and there's a bad smell coming from it. I had a look in there and it was quite watery and smelly. I gave it a wipe with a tissue but I didn't want to poke around too deep. He has been having problems with his coat so we have to bath him twice a week with shampoo from the vets, and initially I thought we had just got too much water in his ear while bathing him, but it doesn't seem to have eased off any despite trying to keep it as dry as I can during bath time. Does anyone have any advice for me?? Thanx.

Hi Laura I would get the vet to check it, ears are very important to dogs and it can be a mistake to try to treat them yourself with powders and potions. Your dog could have an infection/ a grass seed in the ear or mites and each of these things require a different treatment/specific drops from the vet.

Never push anything in the ear to clean it because if there is a problem you will push it further inside.

Thanx Minihaha. We are off to the vets tomorrow so I will let you know the outcome. Thanx for your advice.

The vet had a look and said it was pretty clean in there (probably becasue I had just cleaned it). He gave us some ear drops called Canaural in case there is infection in the ear. So it will be fun and games trying to get ear drops in his ear tonight, has anyone got any tips or advice to make sure I'm doing it right?