Thatcher's butt...

It sounds like his anal glands need to be expressed.

I doubt that him not finishing his kibble has anything to do with his "itchy butt."  If you're using treats to train, make sure that you are cutting his kibble to accomdate.

I absolutely agree - anal glands.

I'd go to the vet if you're unwilling to do his glands yourself.  *understanding smile*

BECAUSE:

1.  They can spontaneously "express" themselves and if you're unwilling to DO that trust me -- the mess you have to clean up ain't fun. LOL

2.  You said he didn't eat all his kibble -- how unusual is that?  There is a SMALL tiny chance that this isn't anal glands -- but rather that he's obstructed and thus far just constipated and queasy.  But an obstruction is tough to find until it's been long enough for the intestines to back up TO the stomach -- food can't exit the gut and it makes them nauseus and soon they'll puke everything they eat.  Depending on how far along the intestines the obstruction is they may cease to poop before OR after they're sick to their stomach.

You're relatively inexperience but you've got a GOOD sense of "sensibility" as I've seen ... but given it's a long time til Monday and e-vets are expensive, a trip to the vet today could rule out an obstruction -- if his glands are NOT full and he exhibits ANY queasiness the vet can advise you.

This is one of those times that a vet visit won't be wasted in ANY event ... and it could save you to go now rather than later. 

 (and Callie's also gonna mumble -- after I paid to have MY dog's glands expressed a couple of times I decided to learn to do it ... not pretty but cheaper! LOL)

Thanks everyone. I felt kind of silly mentioning the kibble BUT... Thatcher LOVES to eat. Like as we soon as I put the food down he starts munching away. It's really unusual for him NOT to finish. He finally finished eating his first meal of the day, so I'm going to keep an eye on him for tonight and take him to the vet first thing in the morning if it doesn't magically get better.

I have a wicked gag reflex and supposedly the smell's awful so I dunno if I would ever be able to do it myself.... although thanks to him being so sick when we first got him and not being housetrained, I've gotten better at dealing with doggy gross-ness, lol.

Well, Jewel is really pain sensitive, and she's a food whore. If her anal glands need to be done, she will act queasy and not eat her dinner. That's the first thing I check, because I can fix it so fast.

Is it odd that I really want to know what sort of spam hedi thought was a good fit for this topic? Lol.

 Also, Thatcher was fine after that first day, no problems since. Not sure if he managed to take care of it while he was outside without me noticing or if he just felt unusually itchy that day. Hap's eyes are still getting slightly red, but we started applying the medicine as needed and haven't had to apply it too much. Hopefully with winter it'll finish clearing up.

It was nutzoid -- absolutely no relevance whatsoever to this post at all -- drivel going on and on about a TV show -- it was a spam robot I'd guess.  She posted 4-5 things all at the same time.  With a ton of embedded links.  Pure nasty spam.