Should groomers be allowed to express anal glands!

[Burnsway]

I can think of no reason to leave a Rottweiler at a groomers. A young dog can be put in the position of losing trust if it is manhandled incorrectly at that age and stage in life.

Yes I agree, last time I left Angel (Close to 10 years ago)at the groomers to be shaved. I never shaved her all the way down but because 1st hubby made her stay out I was mislead to believe you leave the undercoat and take only the top coat and she would stay cooler(Vets advise). Well I gave complete instructions on that and they shaved her so far down I had to medicate razor burns for several months.... They also put an ugly pink bow and red nail polish on ....MY "MALE" POMERANIAN.....

NEVER AGAIN!!!!! I don't ever kennel my dogs either. They go with me, stay with family or I just don't go anywhere overnight!

I will stop by to see the dog later today or tomorrow and talk with her about the grooming part. I think she has already decided not to take him again so that part is probably taken care of.

[Dallasbaby]

Okay..... I work at a vet's office and we do grooming. Anal glands are NOT expressed in big dogs because they can generally express them themsevles (when pooping EW).... smaller dogs cannot express them, so they have to be manually done. Now it is to my understanding that once you begin manually expressing the anal glad of a large breed dog, the glands will have to be manually expressed from then on out. Apparently once their done manually, the dog won't be able to express them themselves while taking a nice healthy dump. ALSO, the glands should not have been done without the owners consent. I'm am just going by what my vet/boss said, and how our facility runs. :)

[rottnelmo]

I have had Elmo for 3 years and have never expressed his anal glands, or had it done by the vet or a groomer (not that he goes to a groomer! haha)

So, do they need to be done and how can you tell if they need to be done. I am not a dog owner novice, I just have never really examined my dogs butt that closely before! haha! :p

Beth

[MARYDVM]

Classic sign of full anal glands is dragging the butt on the carpet or "scooting" as it is called in polite circles. The dog also may lick under the tail a lot.

A common reason for a large short coated dog to go to the groomers is for a bath - something the average pet owner may not be able to do at home.

[fbkeays]

Originally Posted by Judi W

And the Rottweiler was at a groomers because??????????

I have had my rottweilers at the groomers numerous times. I have done it because I am allergic to the dogs. Giving them a bath can cause an allergy attack that will leave me completely useless for several days afterwards. So for me the choice can be having the dogs at the groomers or me having the equivalant of a bad cold for 3-5 days.

[spidey]

you leave the undercoat and take only the top coat

Erm...as a former groomer, I have no idea how you'd do this. You can only clip the coat (ALL the coat) to one length if you're clipping, there's no way to only take the top coat.

I also wonder how you know the anal glands were expressed if the groomer said they hadn't done it, and why the groomer is automatically being blamed for the dog's troubles.

I have never heard of a dog needing the glands manually expressed on a regular basis because of the glands being manually expressed once, either as a groomer, or as a vet tech - sounds very unlikely to me. When I was a groomer, I would routinely check the glands and express them if they were full, never once had a problem with it in any dog I did.

[Burnsway]

Spidey, She took the dog to the groomers, they didnt say anything about the glands being expressed, when he started showing some irritation she called the groomer and asked if they had expressed them and they said no. The way I understood it when she talked with me is she went back up there in person and then found out they had expressed them. The groomer is not being automatically blamed. It was a simple question on my part on weather a groomer should automatically express glands without them needing it and without letting the owner know. And if they are done when not needed could damage occure?

I dont know if I got the whole story. It was merely a casual conversation that got "ME" remembering an old thread where I thought someone had mentioned dogs being damaged this way. Just trying to further educate myself at the same time possibly pulling in some useful information for her.

[Judi W]

Originally Posted by fbkeays

I have had my rottweilers at the groomers numerous times. I have done it because I am allergic to the dogs. Giving them a bath can cause an allergy attack that will leave me completely useless for several days afterwards. So for me the choice can be having the dogs at the groomers or me having the equivalant of a bad cold for 3-5 days.

And there is a good reason! Frances, I'm pretty sure that when you leave your dogs for bathing, you tell them you want "basic clean"..........

It is correct, that the irritation might have nothing to do with the glands being expressed even if they were. It is also true that our breed rarely has an issue with this, but if one should occur, see the vet not the groomer for an initial diagnosis. As I said, some breeds do need it done on a regular basis and when that is the case, yes, the groomers are often the ones to do it, or a vet can teach the owner how. With the Rottweiler however, it is not considered a part of regular grooming and care.

[Burnsway]

Originally Posted by spidey

Erm...as a former groomer, I have no idea how you'd do this. You can only clip the coat (ALL the coat) to one length if you're clipping, there's no way to only take the top coat.

http://dedicated2dogs.com/Grooming.phtml

Undercoat: A good majority of dogs have an undercoat such as Retrievers, Labradors, Collies & Shelties, Lhasa's, German Shepherds, etc. If your dog has an undercoat, it serves a specific purpose and it's important to use the proper grooming tools on a dog with an undercoat, also referred to as a double coat. Beneath the surface of your dogs coat, closer to the skin, is a shorter thicker coat that provides insulation against extreme temperatures (hot and cold). It is important as part of the grooming process or in-between maintenance to use an undercoat rake to remove dead undercoat so air can properly circulate and the undercoat can do it's job. It is never recommended to shave down a dog with an undercoat as this will elimintate the protection factor.

Spidey I'm not sure I'm by far a groomer....LOL!!!! But this was over a decade ago on a chow mix. I was concerned on the amount of time she had to spend outside due to my first husbands concern of the dogs being around my daughter. I posted in many other threads how they did have a wonderful set up in the garage with air and heating along with TV, bed, radio, couches , etc....LOL! But I still did not like it and was talking to my vet about it at that time and she said to make sure the groomer left the undercoat for protection.

Thats all I remember. Heck, vet could have been wrong, groomer could have been wrong and I most defiantly was wrong for allowing my X to ever make such demands on me or my dogs but it was over a decade ago and just remember her getting severe razor burns that took months to heal......

I was just replying to JudiW with that story that I, myself don't do groomers or kennel stays anymore. My dogs were mistreated more then once in others hands. Its my job to make sure it doesn't happen again!

[K9-man]

My answer to the question is NO

I don’t get a prostate exam when I go for a haircut.

[Judi W]

Originally Posted by K9-man

My answer to the question is NO

I don’t get a prostate exam when I go for a haircut.

There ya go folks. For all our babbling (myself included) the above does cover it! Heck, why didn't you post this up front and save us all a bunch of time.

[Burnsway]

ROFLMAO!!!!

CASE CLOSED!.........:D :D :D