ohmidog!

Black dogs can be adopted for free in Wichita on this Black Friday, thanks to a girl scout in Kansas.

Madison Bell, a seventh-grader at Mayberry Middle School, recently launched the Black Dog Club after noticing — while volunteering at the Kansas Humane Society — that black dogs tend to get passed over in shelters, at least more often than their multi-colored and lighter-colored counterparts.

“Black dogs are overlooked … You can’t see their faces very well,” said Madison, 12. “When I heard about it, I was shocked. I wanted to so something to help.”

Today, Madison is helping the Humane Society host the Black Dog Adoption Drive, an event geared toward getting more black shelter animals into loving homes, according to Kansas.com. All adoption fees for black animals are being waived, while fees for other animals are being discounted 25 percent.

She’ll also be encouraging visitors to join the Black Dog Club, which she launched last month as her Girl Scout Silver Award project. It has raised about $1,300 to help provide medical services and more for the shelter’s animals. (You can find more information, donate, and get the T-shirt here.)

Most shelter directors concur that black dogs often have more trouble finding a home — their facial expressions are harder to see, and photographs of them tend to not come out as well.

“They don’t grab your eye as quickly as brighter colored animals,” said Jennifer Campbell, spokeswoman for the Kansas Humane Society.

But as Madison points out, they’re just as special. “Black dogs are amazing,” she told KAKE-TV. “They’ve got personality just like any other dog.”

(Photos: Courtesy of the Kansas Humane Society)

Somehow, in three years of dog-blogging, I’ve managed to avoid addressing the issue of anal glands.

The time has come to express myself.

Dog anal glands are two small glands located on either side of your dog’s anus, each of which holds a tiny amount of a foul smelling brown liquid. For a long time, traditional wisdom among groomers was that, every now and then, those glands should be squeezed, or expressed, to clear them.

Fortunately, especially for groomers and do-it-yourself expressers, the wisdom has changed — so much so that some experts, including veterinarian Karen Becker, featured in the video above, now advise that anal glands, as a rule, be left the heck alone.

That’s because your dog knows how to express himself, so to speak.

Whenever a dog urinates or defecates, the act applies pressure to the anal glands, and a tiny bit of the fluid is released. Dogs also have the ability to express at will, by raising their tails, which they often do when meeting a new dog — as in “Allow me to introduce you, new acquaintance, to eau de Ace.” They just emit a tiny amount, not detectable by humans, but enough to lead those meeting for the first time to a long bout of mutual butt sniffing.

Only once has my dog Ace been the victim of a manual anal gland expressing, by a groomer in Alabama who was pretty much insisting it be done, and insisting I watch and learn. She squeezed and squeezed but nothing came out. Finally she gave up, saying maybe they didn’t need expressing after all.

Many dogs never develop any problem with their anal glands, especially those who are eating quality food — not big on fillers — that lead to a firm stool. A firm stool will create the pressure needed to naturally express the glands.

When the anal glands are not sufficiently expressed, bacteria can build up, which can lead to infections, which can lead to an abscess, which can lead to further problems.

If your dog is scooting or dragging his rear across the floor, emitting foul odors from his rear, or licking and chewing the area, those are signs that his anal glands may not be properly expressing. A visit to a groomer, or better yet a vet, can, shall we say, rectify the situation. 

If want to do it at home — and trust me, you don’t — you can learn more at  Lovetoknow.com. To see more of Dr. Becker’s reports, visit Mercola Healthy Pets.