Do any pet owners attempt doing the above(to their dog) or do you leave it to the vets. There are demonstrations on youtube which make it look fairly straight forward.
Well yes, but I would want to avoid it where possible and if that meant doing the job myself on a regular basis then I would.
You say like most ops but spaying and neutering and the like are more quickly recovered from.
Sometimes you would have no option, and I don't think the op is done just because they need emptying more often, its when they become impacted or like my dog are deep seated and can cause infections.
I have known circumstances where owners have gone "euwwww that's disgusting, operate!!" or the dog has ended up needing surgery because the owners didn't keep an eye on the glands .....that's all....no cage rattle