Set the scene:
You’re enjoying a comfortable evening watching movies on the couch with your fiance and dog, where you have to persistently tell your pup to stop licking his butt while on the couch. You get up to, idk, grab a cup of water maybe. When you get back to the couch you have to move pooch who has somehow, as dogs do, migrated to your spot. As you move pup to sit down you feel something on your shins, causing you to immediately regret wearing basketball shorts instead of pj pants, and all of a sudden you smell that rotten fish smell everywhere. You immediately get on Google to figure out what the hell just happened.
^ How I found out about the military weapons in dogs’ asses called anal glands.
Your dog’s anal (or skunk) glands fill up over time and are meant to release (express)when they poop, causing you no more trouble than dog poop normally does. It’s also the reason they sniff one another’s butts, because to them they all smell different and they want to know who what smell belongs to, for whatever dog world reason. As far as I’ve learned the only real purpose of them is to mark territory/keep unwanted animals away (may be more useful to you than you think), but it’s not typical practice to get them removed.
It’s common in growing puppies to find anal glands have trouble expressing, and some dogs even hold onto this into and throughout adulthood. First know that your dog is fine, you’re just in for a minor annoyance and extra maintenance from time to time.
If you smell the rotten fish and your dog licks his butt/scoots a lot, your pup is having trouble expressing naturally and is trying to handle it his/herself. The result is a smelly house, and maybe some tonsillitis if you don’t take care of it.
Solution
- Add more fiber to your dog’s diet. This will help to better solidify waste and make a more efficient impact on the glands during exit, hopefully fixing the problem. There are both high fiber treats and high fiber dog food that you can buy. If your dog’s food is homemade and you want to keep it that way add some leafy greens to the mix.
- Whenever your pup/dog is having trouble you will notice it ahead of time with the scooting and licking. Take your pup to the vet to get them expressed, or express them yourself (glove and squeeze). At the vet it’s really cheap (about $10 at mine) and it’s worth it because you don’t have to smell it or risk it getting on you, and your dog remains safe from tonsillitis which is considerably more expensive.
Good Luck!
Answer Loft 