Cheese and Bubbles

Genius. My dog might be a little crazy, but with each passing day I see his wit. I often find myself annoyed, yet mildly impressed, watching him snafu my plan at every turn.

Within the first couple weeks of having Diego, I noticed these intense sneezes. It was adorable watching his entire face scrunch up followed by an explosion of force—and sometimes clear mucus—but it left room to wonder if my new pup had a health concern. Through my Google searches and a special call to a vet recommended by my parents, I learned that if it was clear, that it likely wasn’t one of the diseases I was concerned about. Bless her for giving me any tips on the fly. It could even be allergies! She suggested that I try a small dose of Benadryl.

With Diego’s first experience at the vet, I couldn’t take him back into one right away. She didn’t even get to the part of talking about his health with me. I’m just trying to keep this dog alive!

I went to pick up some Benadryl, and did a little research on sneaking pills to dogs.

• Hide it in peanut butter.
• Don’t let them see or hear you open the packaging.
• Put it in the back of their mouth with your hand and then hold it shut and help them chew! Haha, no thanks! I don’t feel like risking a bite today.
• Hide it in ridiculously expensive pill pockets.

The list goes on and on.

Now, Diego is extremely skeptical of food. Any new treat he accepts lightly and spits it out, sniffing around it like I must be trying to poison him. For the longest time (3 weeks) I thought he couldn’t be motivated by food. I mean, the boy hasn’t even gone for peanut butter. It’s like people tried to trick him with it one too many times in his previous life. With kibble, he always picks up the first bite and drops it all over the floor like it’s a ritual. Loooove that.

I decided to hide the neon pink pill in a slice of Sargento. Why are pills this pink? It’s unnatural! Anyway, I found out quickly that Diego loves sharp cheddar, however, he also can pick a pill out of anything. I kept trying to wrap it up tighter to hide it. Alas, ‘twould not work. I knew chances were slim, but I moved on to let the half tablet dissolve in water. He sniffed his dish and backed away. I dropped a slice of cheese in the bowl to see if he would go after it and in doing so, take a sip. Here was his moment.

Diego slowly approached the rim of the dish, staring down longingly at the cheese that he so deeply craved. He took a breath and as I was ready to feel victorious in my plan, he exhaled. Blowing bubbles into the water as to avoid absorbing ANY of the medicinal liquid into his body and picked up that Sargento square! Are you kidding me? Maybe you had to be there, but watching that little tart completely outplay me was…well, hilarious.

These days, we know that the treat lottery technique is what works for him, as long as the treat is good enough. Start doing tricks with him to get him in training mode, and Diego is more likely to accept it without thinking about it once it is in his mouth. The pill is best hidden in one of those Fresh Pet food rolls or plain meat, like chicken or beef. We start training so that he is ready for a treat, and then he gets one with a pill in it. If I’m concerned that he won’t take it, I put another treat in his mouth right after so that he’s already focused on the new food coming at him. We’ve got a system now, but I’ll never forget the cheese and bubbles!