Hi,a bit lighter subject,here!My two year old collie Jess,spends ages licking her bottom,the slurping drives me nuts!Shes been doing it for ages now,and it only recently occurred to me she might have a problem.Ive had a look,her bottom appears normal.She was wormed a month ago,and is raw fed so im hoping its not her anal glands,as her poos are nice and firm(sorry for lovely subject),which i thought would keep her glands ok.Any ideas,please?

I would ask a vet to check her glands anyway - my oldest has problems with hers, they need emptying every 2/3 months regardless of how her poos are.  No idea why, but when I got her they'd not been emptied in dog knows how long ans were full to bursting - it's made her chew what at the time looked to be a permanent bald spot at the base of her tail which had been bleeding on and off so I'm told (all grown back now).

Also I usually do my dogs' glands myself if they need doing, but recently Paige had to go in to have hers done - I was getting nothing, she was slurping away like your girl and driving me mad - turned out one gland was empty but the other was totally full, it ended up being a finger-up-the-bum job because I just couldn't get it empty from the outside.

If you get an all clear from the vets then maybe it is getting into a habit?  Don't know what anyone else thinks but I am going by the behaviour of my own dog.  She licks her paws for ages some nights - when she hasn't been doing much.  It makes me make more effort to play with her a bit because I think it is habit caused by boredom.  She leaves great patches on the carpet and the licking causes her to be smelly.  Sometimes when I have been busy or under the weather I notice her doing it. 

Oh dear!Better get the vet to have a look,then!Can one tell from the outside,if glands are full?Id rather do it myself if poss,as shes terrified at the vets,gets a bit violent and has to be muzzled-good job its the other end!Thankyou both for replying .

No you can't tell if they're full by looking. One of my dogs had an infection in one of the anal glands she was constantly licking and needed 2 lots of AB's to clear it.

ok,thanks,will try and get in to see vet tomorrow afternoon-one other question,once you start having them emptied,is it likely to keep happening?Or are there things you can do,such as  more bone in the diet that could help?

Firm stools help but some dogs will have a problem what ever you do and it is then best to ask the vet to show you have to do it.

However because your dog is a collie it may be habit/boredom in other words if there is nothing better to do I will lick my undercarriage if this is the case giving her a stuffed Kong will stop it, make much the same noise but at least you know it is the Kong getting all the attention.

They often scoot a lot when the anal glands are full - although scooting isn't always because of that.  Mine does it just to clean herself because she hasn't evacuated cleanly (usually because she has been eating grass - once because she had eaten a bit of rope - but don't ask about that one - not nice)

heheh,yes the slurping wouldnt be so bad if it was a kong she was doing it to,think il go and make one up before she starts,and give it a try,thanks!And ceejay,yes,ive been there too,with long strands of grass,not any string so far though,thank goodness!

LOL had a bitch that used to eat grass from a young age and I would call her to me and remove the offending object with the aid of a dock leaf or anything else to hand. Anyway as she grew older she would back up to me when in difficulty and at times it could be an embarrassment but bless her she liked to be clean.