Tips to Giving Dog Medication

Invariably, a dog will need his medication. Here are some things I found worked for my pup. Would love to hear others tips as well, so feel free to drop a comment on this subject.

When talking to the vet about medication, I always it in a pill form. My experience is that it's much easier to get my dog to take a pill then a liquid. Once I have the pill, there are two ways I coax my dog into taking the medication.

The first is to just offer it to him as a treat. He is trained in that before giving him any treat, I simply say to him, "want a treat?" This is his cue and he gets excited, wags his tail, and waits by my side until he gets his treat. I do this same routine with his pill. Just feed it to him like it is a treat. Usually, after he eats it and I praise him, I'll give him a real treat.

The other way is to mix it in his soft food. I make a little ball of his soft food and stick the pill in the ball. I then feed it to him by hand, and that usually works.

If I do end up with liquid medication, I'll either mix it in his hard food, or squirt it on his soft food and try to get him to eat it up. Another trick that worked is to put it on a spoon with a little peanut butter, and he smells the peanut butter, eats it up, and in the process licks up the medicine.

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson's Website, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, basil's blog, The Bullwinkle Blog, Cao's Blog, Leaning Straight Up, CORSARI D'ITALIA, and Conservative Cat, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.