If you’re here, your dog’s probably been scooting or giving off that fishy smell, and you’re wondering whether expressing their anal glands is a job you can do at home. The honest answer is: sometimes, carefully, once you’ve been shown how — but the more important question is whether you should be doing it at all. Let’s take both in turn.

First: Should You Even Express Them?

This is the bit most how-to guides skip, and it matters. A healthy dog empties their own anal glands naturally every time they pass a firm stool. For most dogs, manual expression isn’t a routine you need to take on — it’s an occasional fix for when the glands aren’t emptying properly on their own.

In fact, vets increasingly advise against expressing glands that aren’t causing any trouble. Squeezing healthy glands unnecessarily can irritate them, and some dogs who are expressed too often seem to become reliant on it. So the rule of thumb is simple: only express if there’s an actual problem — and if there is, it’s often a sign to look at diet and prevention rather than just squeezing on a schedule.

How to Tell If the Glands Are Actually Full

Manual expression is worth considering when you’re seeing the signs of glands that aren’t clearing:

  • persistent scooting or dragging their bottom
  • excessive licking or biting around the rear
  • a strong, fishy smell that keeps coming back
  • visible discomfort when sitting down
  • swelling near the anus

If your dog has none of these and is happily self-emptying, leave well alone. If they do, that’s the point to act — ideally with some professional input first.

External vs Internal — and Why It Matters

There are two ways glands get expressed, and they’re not equal.

Internal expression — a gloved, lubricated finger inserted into the anus to squeeze each gland from both sides — is a job for a vet or veterinary nurse. In the UK it’s considered a veterinary procedure, it’s more thorough for stubborn or impacted glands, and it’s genuinely not something to attempt yourself.

External expression — applying gentle pressure from the outside — is the gentler, lower-risk version, and it’s the one owners are sometimes taught to do on their own dog. Even so, it doesn’t always empty the glands fully and still needs doing properly to avoid harm. Legally, you’re generally allowed to treat your own dog; for groomers, as we’ll come to, the picture is different.

How It’s Actually Done — and Why We’d Still Send You to the Vet

We’ll explain what’s involved so it’s not a total mystery — but read this as information, not a nudge to do it yourself. For most dogs and most owners, the safest, kindest choice is to have your vet or a veterinary nurse do it. There’s no prize for handling this one at home.

If you do want to learn, there’s one non-negotiable: have your vet or a veterinary nurse show you on your own dog first. Anal glands sit in a delicate spot, every dog is a little different, and the gap between “gentle and effective” and “painful or damaging” is almost impossible to judge from a written guide or a video.

For understanding, here’s what’s involved when it’s done: a glove and a wad of tissue or paper towel, locating the two glands (they sit roughly at the four and eight o’clock positions just inside the anus), and applying light, steady pressure to gently “milk” the fluid out into the tissue. The operative word throughout is gentle — and if it doesn’t come away easily, that’s your cue to stop and let a professional take over.

Stop immediately if:

you meet real resistance, there’s blood or pus, the area looks swollen or angry, or your dog is clearly in pain — those are signs of impaction or infection that need proper treatment, so call your vet rather than pushing on.

The Risks Worth Knowing

People search for the “side effects” of expressing glands, and it’s a fair thing to check. Done too forcefully or too often, it can bruise the tissue, and at worst rupture a gland or cause infection; over-expressing healthy glands simply irritates them. None of this is meant to scare you off — it’s why the advice is “get shown first, be gentle, and only when needed.”

The Better Long-Term Fix

If your dog’s glands keep filling, the most useful thing you can do usually isn’t more expressing — it’s helping them empty naturally again. Firmer stools are the key, because they put the right pressure on the glands as your dog poos. That generally means enough fibre in the diet (a spoon of plain pumpkin is the classic addition), keeping your dog at a healthy weight, and a proper conversation with your vet about diet. Recurring problems are worth investigating properly rather than managing with a squeeze every few weeks.

Sometimes It’s Just How They’re Built

Not every case comes down to diet or something you can fix. Some dogs are simply predisposed — the position of their glands or the size of the ducts means they don’t drain well on their own. It’s more common in certain breeds: Cockapoos, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Cocker Spaniels, Shih-tzus, Bichon Frises, and flat-faced breeds all crop up more often. If that’s your dog, needing their glands expressed every few weeks can simply be part of their normal care, like nail trims. That’s not you doing something wrong — it’s their anatomy.

Two things are worth holding onto if this is your dog. First, if they need expressing very often — more than about once a month — that’s usually a sign of an underlying cause worth chasing with your vet (diet, allergies, weight), not just something to keep repeating. And second, expressing more than necessary can itself do harm: repeated squeezing can inflame and scar the ducts and make the problem worse over time. So when it’s an ongoing thing, it’s best kept as a regular vet appointment rather than a DIY routine.

Where to Get It Done

If you’d rather not do it yourself — a completely reasonable choice — your vet or a veterinary nurse can express your dog’s glands for you, usually quickly and for a modest fee.

It’s worth knowing where groomers stand on this, because it’s changed. In the UK, the RCVS advises that groomers should not express anal glands — assessing and expressing them is considered veterinary treatment, and under the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 it can count as practising veterinary surgery. Internal expression is firmly a vet or veterinary-nurse job. As a result, most UK groomers now decline to do it and refer you to a vet, though a few still offer external expression on request. If in doubt, a vet is the safe choice. (This is general information, not legal advice.)

The Smell Left Behind

When full glands do leak, that unmistakable smell ends up on your floors and furniture — here’s why it’s so stubborn, and the surface-smell side of the problem is exactly what we’re building Fishy Fix™ Surface Cleaner for.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I express my dog’s glands myself?
You can learn to do external expression on your own dog at home, but only after a vet or veterinary nurse has shown you how — and only if the glands are actually causing problems. Internal expression should be left to a vet or veterinary nurse. In the UK, groomers are now advised not to express glands and will usually refer you to a vet.
How do you tell if a dog’s glands are full?
The usual signs are scooting, licking or biting at the rear, a persistent fishy smell, discomfort when sitting, or swelling near the anus. A vet or veterinary nurse can feel whether the glands are genuinely full rather than you having to guess.
Do dogs express their glands every time they poo?
Ideally, yes — a healthy dog empties a little gland fluid naturally with each firm stool, which is why you usually never notice it. Problems tend to start when stools are too soft to create that pressure.
What can I give my dog to help them express their glands naturally?
More dietary fibre is the main lever, since it firms up stools so the glands empty on their own — plain pumpkin or a vet-recommended fibre supplement are common choices. Keeping your dog at a healthy weight helps too. Ask your vet before making big diet changes.
Should I express my dog’s glands regularly as a precaution?
Generally no. Expressing healthy glands that aren’t causing trouble can irritate them and may make your dog reliant on it. Express only when there’s a genuine problem, and focus on prevention the rest of the time.
Will my dog always need their glands expressed?
Some dogs — especially predisposed breeds like Cockapoos, Cavaliers and Cocker Spaniels — do need regular help for life because of their anatomy, often every few weeks. That’s normal for them, and nothing you’ve done wrong. But if the need is frequent, work with your vet on the underlying cause, and keep it as a vet-managed routine rather than something done on a schedule at home.

Sources & Further Reading

The advice here draws on UK veterinary sources and law:

This is general information, not legal or veterinary advice. For anything hands-on, ask your vet to guide you.