Tricking a dog to take pills

Mince is ground beef Meg.

Bugsy is not the chowhound most people assumes he is and he dissects everything and can have a giant bowl of 'real' food and find the calcium tablet and leave it or leave the one pea you put in there. He has been on benadryl since he was about 11 mos old and goes through streaks of separating it from whatever you put it in.

When I had to start giving thyroid meds he did the same, eating the 'treat' part and spitting out the pill. I have taught him it is 'meatball' time and I put the pill in food roll and make a meatball and also make an extra meatball. I give him the one with the pill followed quickly by the one without. So far this is working, might be worth a try.  he will stop everything for meatball time now

For River and Brooke I just open their mouths and push the pill far back into their throats, hold there snout closed for a minute while I rub there throats - done 1,2,3!   Hailie my pug is not that simple and she is a pain but normally if we disguise it in a piece or cheese or liverwurst she will mow it down and not even know its there.

I've resorted to any sort of food that can be wrapped around the pill, providing it's very tasty to the dog and smelly and preferably sticky to some extent.  I give two or three tiny bits with no pill and then the one with the medicine.  Don't let the dogs see  or hear you preparing the treats and adding the pill. 

Don't break them up -- they taste WORSE that way.  And remember -- dogs have such a refined sense of smell that "hiding" pills is frankly a losing battle.  They ***know*** it's there and that just makes them want to find it and if their whole *dinner* (breakfast or whatever) smells like it -- I'm sure it will be o-v-e-r!!!

I never hide meds.  I TELL them it's there.  I also tell them that it's what Dr. B gave them to help the hurt.  Call me crazy, but none of my dogs ever give me a second's trouble about meds. 

Give her something *slippery* -- butter probably works the best, liverwurst is probably my favorite.  It's slick as heck and it's smell is nearly irresistible to them.  Cut it in small chunks -- you'll need THREE.

Give her food and let her eat in peace.  Show her the pill on the counter and say "After".  (so she knows it's not there)

Then take the 3 chunks of liverwurst (or soft butter works great if you have a dish you can keep for Penny so you can just scoop out a fingerfull as you need it but this has to be FAST with a dog like Penny).

Hold up the first chunk and say "No pill in this one - just good stuff"

Hold it way way above the nose (hopefully she's in a sit - it's easier) so the throat is straight and let her take it from your fingers.

Then **SHOW HER** the next one as you smush the pill in it.  (Don't hide it -- truly don't -- you only make your dog not trust you).  Say "Ok -- this way it won't taste bad -- JUST SWALLOW don't chew!" (those are commands and I'll get to that in a minute -- she's not too old to learn this)

BUT at the same time show her the other piece and say "This one is plain for AFTER"

Hold the pill one above the nose and let her take it HOLDING THE 2d **close** and just as soon as the first one goes in the mouth hold up the 2d for her to take immediately.

If there is *any* way to not pill her this will work.  They hate being lied to -- especially a dog who loves you.  But if you show her this way that it won't taste bad going down it should help.

**THOTS**

This med *might* give her indigestion -- it may make her stomach ache, or something.  I'd ask the vet -- because giving something like Tagamet with it might make it easier. 

When a dog is this resistant to medicine sort of out of the clear blue sky, I tend to question the vet.  Sometimes they are smarter than we realize about their bodies and if it is causing her problems SHE may know it.  (Cos she's gonna smell it in her own poop -- they're smart that way.)  So if' it is making her sore or uncomfortable, look into it for her and ask the vet if there are any known side effects from it. 

She may simply not like feeling woozy -- or some side effect like that.

I know what I said above sounds odd -- I'm rushing out of the house now but I'll come back -- I DO teach "Just swallow" and "Chew it" as commandss -- it really helps in cases like that. 

Have you tried pill pockets? I don't know why but Apollo will spit out a pill/tablet wrapped in any sort of tastey food (including peanut butter and cream cheese, he just licks and licks and -pop- spits the med out) or 'hidden' in his dog food, but, pill pockets? He eats 'em right up! I roll them like dough (they're very soft), wrap his Cosequin in it, roll it up, and toss it to him.

A few times, I had to give Shadow an allergy pill. Not only is everything from my hand great and worth at least a taste, I cheat. I coat the pill in carob-flavored supplement and down the hatch it goes. I don't play fair at all.

 How do I teach her a "swallow" command when she can't hear most of what I say and can't see much, either? She only registers her name about a third of the time and I have to be really close and say it really loudly. I don't even know if she hears her name or just responds because she heard something. She doesn't do hand signals much anymore, either. I suspect she distrusts me. Too many things hurt these days and I'm always doing things to her that she doesn't like.

I've never seen those pill pockets. I will have a look around for them.

I tried small bits of mince (ground meat) that she would normally swallow, but she's taken to licking them instead. I have no idea if we even have liverwurst over here. I've never heard of it. I guess we have a variety of pates, though. It's the same thing, right?

Is it possible things taste different to her than usual for some reason? She usually eats those chewable worming tablets right up, but a couple of weeks ago she spat it out and refused to have any bar of it. 

I used to take pills if they were in honey when I was a kid. Is there anything that tastes strong enough to dogs to at least mask the taste?

Penny has become much easier to upset lately. Last week I put her pill in some mince and when she wouldn't eat it I had to force it down. She was so traumatised she ran into my study and shook like a leaf until I could coax her to lie down and even then she was still rattled. I can't have her living like that. But I can't have her living without the pain killers, either. I think I'll give the pate a go. I'll get some today and try tomorrow morning.

Another idea is cutting a piece of hot dog, large enough to accommodate the pill. Cut a slit in the middle and insert the pill. Usually they'll swallow it whole.

Good luck!!

sl2crmeg

Pirate REALLY LIKED those pill pockets when he was sick - who even knows what's in them, probably junk, but sometimes you have to give in!

You're probably right (about them being junk), lol! IDK why Apollo loved them too.

 Dog, cat, whatever...tricking has never worked for me.  Right now Kenya has to take two pills a day, and recently the boys have been on metronidazole which is two huge pills a day.  I've got big dogs but pilling them is routine now.

You teach "swallow" like you teach a dog NOT to bark by teaching them TO bark on command.  Same principle.

teach "Chew GOOD!!" -- Take bits of something tough and chewy -- like strips of steak or jerky.  I'd use a hand command -- like tapping 1, 2, 3 on the side of her mouth while you HANG ONTO a strip of meat and let her tug at it and eat it by nibbling off bits.  Nod head, huge praise, shoulder rubs with the other hand. Now I generalize that to stuff like bits of raw sweet potato or carrot or watermellon, cantalope, etc.  Just sorta hang onto them and I get rowdy happy as they 'get it' and continue to chew once I let go of it.

Then teach "Swallow" as you put that gob of pate (and that works FINE - liverwurst is a cold pate-like sausage used as deli meat here - very German) -- but hold the gob of pate above her nose and the command "swallow" will be you stroking her throat underneath as she does it.

I never hide stuff -- their nose is SO astute and if her distrust is making her not eat, you don't want to put meds in her food -- it can totally put them off their food.

Is this an NSAID for pain?? 

Once again -- **seriously** investigate with the vet.  If she hates it THIS much, and NSAID could very very well be causing either liver or stomach issues **big time** -- there are times when it pays to listen to your dog. 

Yeah -- she's getting grumpy.  It happens with elderly dogs.  However -- they also can become super-in-tune with their own bodies -- and she may know because she burps up stomach acid that tastes/smells like that med.  She truly may know something you don't. 

I boldly make a face and point to the pilled one and say "SWALLOW" -- and they *know* not to bite into it. 

But I've had too many elderly dogs with tummy issues -- man, Foxy could*NOT* take most of the big strong NSAIDs -- they just ripped his gut up something fierce.