Photo by carterse on Flickr

Some dogs are easy to medicate. Wrap a pill in a bit of cheese or stick it in a Pill Pocket and—GULP!—down the hatch it goes.

But what do you do when your dog hates taking pills or you have a particularly bitter-flavored medicine that renders your usual technique useless?

Here’s a fun trick that you can play on your dog.

Materials:

• 5 bite-sized pieces of super yummy food (cheese, leftover steak, meatball, etc)
• 1 pill
• 1 unsuspecting dog

Instructions:

1. Hide the pill in one of the 5 pieces of yummy food.
2. Call your dog over.
3. Toss him one of the pieces that has no pill.
4. Continue tossing pieces of yummy food one after another until you have no more.
5. Pat yourself on the back for being so clever!

Troubleshooting:

• “My dog can’t catch treats. They just bounce off his face.”
  • Solution: Call your dog into the kitchen. Ask for a Sit or Down and a Wait/Stay. Make a line of 5 treats with a few inches between each one. Release your dog to Hoover up the treats.
• “My dog chews and then spits out the pill!”
  • Solution: Smaller pieces. Ideally something your dog will swallow whole. If the pill is large, you can cut it into smaller pieces (assuming it’s not extended release—ask your vet!). Use 8-10 treats and hide the pill pieces in 2-4 of them.
• “My dog now spits out treat #3!”
  • Solution: Make it treat #5. Or treat #2. Mix it up every day so your dog doesn’t expect it
• “My dog is really smart and has wised up to this game, too!”
  • Solution: Up the ante to something he can’t refuse. Liverwurst. Canned tiny fish (in water). Canned cat food.