Most likely your dog has an issue with their anal glands. There can be other causes. Such as if they've had an upset tummy, GI disease, or intestinal parasites, but for the vast majority of dogs when you see them dragging themself with their front feet and scooting their butt, it's because they have an impaction of the anal gland. Momo here is an unwilling volunteer again, but you can see by the side of the dog's anus is a small sack. Anal glands are filled with a liquid that scent marks the feces, similar to a skunk when they lift their tail and spray that scent as a defense mechanism. Dogs have a scent that may have some form of signaling others through their feces. We can remove that gland when there's a problem and it doesn't create any issues, so it may be vestigial. It may not have a function these days. It certainly creates issues for dogs when the glands fill up if the liquid becomes thick. Like toothpaste, it can be hard to express, and they can rupture. We can see draining fistulas coming through the skin where it's all infected under the tissue and it's very painful. As veterinarians, we don't necessarily automatically go and press on a dog’s anal glands. There are dogs, however, that have frequent infections and issues that we will schedule for a monthly visit to check on them. Your groomer will usually express them from the outside. If we look down here, they'll squeeze the gland through the skin. At the vet office, the vet will actually put a glove on and put a finger inside the rectum and squeeze right around the gland and get a bit more material out. This helps to check that they're not infected or full and to keep the material down, so we recommend different things on a case-by-case basis.

That's one of the reasons I became a vet was so that I could help dogs with anal glands issues. I'm joking on that one. That's one of my least favorite areas, but it's a really common problem.

We see several pets come in with damaged nails. If a dog catches a nail when they're running, the nail can rip really short, and then it's hanging off, and it's very, very painful. We get that every week—a dog will come in, and we'll have to remove the nail to make them comfortable. Older pets that aren't digging and running around will sometimes have nails that are so long that they just catch on stuff. In cats, they'll grow in a circle right into the pads and create really painful infections that people don't notice. As a human, why do you trim your nails? It's hygienic and it's going to be awkward to function if you have very long nails.

To get them interested in it initially, you want to find a toothpaste with a flavor they like. If you go shove some Total or Colgate toothpaste in their mouth that tastes of mint, they may spit it out. You can buy seafood flavored toothpaste now, beef, chicken, vanilla, bubblegum. Initially, take the toothpaste, put it on your finger, and if they like the taste of it, then you're onto a winner. If they have no interest, then go find another tube of toothpaste. Once you're at that stage, you can then gently start to run it onto their teeth with your finger. You can use a soft toothbrush and just gently rub over the outer surfaces of the teeth, and fold the lips all the way back and get to these ones. If you're a pro you can open their mouth and brush inside, but mostly just focus on the outside of their mouth.

Patience. Doing a little at a time. My dog, Mowgli, is a very nervous patient. He never really leaves our side. When we take him to the groomer, we tell them if he's upset we don't want to force it. We'll still pay the groomer if they can't fully achieve what they need to so that they still get paid. We just don't want to make it a stressful situation, so there are a lot of treats and short visits. If the groomer's ready with your pet, try not to leave them there for six hours. Your pet's going to be happier going home to see you, and the groomer may have a lot of other dogs that are noisy or stressed just like in a vet hospital, so try to minimize your pet's stress. In severe cases, your vet may need to prescribe some medication to help with anxiety.