[Mary4]

I'm not sure where I read something about this, most likely somewhere on here, but I've never heard about expressing anal glands before. Is this something you have to do with all dogs or just Yorkies?

How often do you need to do it and how do you know it needs to be done? We had a tiny poodle (4 pounds) before, and I'd never heard anything about it. Maybe she had it done at the groomer or the vets, but wouldn't they have mentioned it?

It doesn't sound like something pleasant to do. But if it's something that has to be done, I'd do it, but I'm afraid I'd end up hurting Charlie. I'm not squeamish but I'm always afraid of hurting them. (Even when my kids were infants, I could never take their temperature rectally or syringe their nose when they had a cold. Not because I thought it was icky but I was so scared of hurting them.)

Thanks for any advice. This is such a great site. I was just thinking how awesome it would have been to have something like this when my kids, especially the first, was an infant!