Anal gland maintenance

[Susan Severn]

I am on a waiting list for a puppy (probably will have her in March or April).  Trying to learn as much as I can ahead of time.  Would love to learn how to groom her myself but thought anal glands needed to be expressed at time of grooming, which I'm not up for.  Read a few threads from this group and got the general impression that anal gland expression is no longer recommended?  Saw a few suggestions for changing food and adding fish oil or Konsyl, but I'm pretty confused about this.  

Also a little nervous about clipping my puppy's nails as it's so easy to clip the nerve, etc.  

Would appreciate an update on the anal gland situation; am interested to know what your vets have recommended regarding this.

Thanks!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The anal glands should not need to be manually expressed ever on a healthy dog. They should express naturally every time your dog defecates. However, there are some dogs who have congenital problems with the glands, or who suffer constipation from various digestive issues, and who do occasionally need to have them expressed. In those cases, it must be done internally, by a vet or someone experienced with this. They should never, ever be expressed externally, which is how most groomers do it. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Regarding nails, I have lived with dogs for almost 60 years and owned them for 40 years, and I have never once clipped a dog's nails. It's done when they are groomed, and in between (if needed) by a tech at the vet's office. If your pup has black nails, I highly recommend that you don't do it either. 

[BG and Gavin]

Never have had my dog's done. Thankfully.
In terms of nail clipping:
1. As a small puppy just practice handling his feet a lot
2. Use the plier type of clippers as opposed to the guillotine type (in fact for a tiny pup I just used my nail clippers)
3. Wait to do it until the pup is full, tired and relaxed (I would do a couple of nails at a time when he slept)
4. The best way to see where the quick is to fold the paw backwards so the pads are facing up (picture how a blacksmith holds a horses hoof) I have never quicken my guy since using this method.

[Susan Severn]

thank you all for the info.  Will wait to see what color his nails are...and check with my vet to verify that they shouldn't need to be expressed.  

[Lindsey Holt]

As for nails, we Dremel with a cordless model and we started young and I'm very short bursts.

Now at about 18 months he will lay down on the porch and let me Dremel, he does gets treats and lots of praise. It only takes about 5 minutes.

This is the model we have

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003TU0XFU/ref=oh_aui_search_deta...