The Anal Gland - a necessary evil

I feel as though I could be considered an expert on anal glands now. I've learned alot since having Zeus... unfortunately. There are anal glands inside the opening of a dog's rectum. Yeah... we're going there... These glands secrete a lubricant that make it easy for the dog's feces to pass through when it's 'duty time'. Sometimes these glands get backed up, or impacted, with extra lubricant IF the dog's feces isn't hard enough to push up against the gland and force the liquid to be excreted while passing the poop, for lack of a better word. When there is a system 'back up', it's not a good thing. The dog will most likely start licking his butt excessively, he mighty start doing that butt scootch thing where they rub their butts on the floor and drag themselves along (that's so disgraceful - have they no shame??) but most of all, dogs with impacted anal glands will start to smell like dirty dog ass!
You HAVE to do something when it gets this bad. You can go to your vet's office and have the glands expressed... meaning the vet will stick a finger in the hole and squeeze the glands until the stuff comes out (it'll make the whole office stink!), you can express it yourself if you are so bold (and sadistic) OR you can just try switching the dog's food. We like the later option.
Zeus has gone through impacted anal glands probably 4 times now. We got him on a GREAT food that costs a small fortune... and we haven't had any anal issues since he was about 7 months old  :)  BUTT... lol... for some reason... it's back and in full affect!! YUCK!!