This blog post is all about food! Different ways to quickly end up with lots of training treats, and ways to use food to get your dog to take their medication.
Treat Hack 1
For this demonstration, I used Wellness Soft Well Bites, but any treats of similar size and texture will work for you.
Materials Used:
Scissors (I used regular scissors, but you can also use kitchen shears I’m sure)
To Do:
Cut treat lengthwise 4 times
Cut the 4 new, smaller pieces, into 4 more pieces each
You should end up with 16 new, small, bite-sized pieces. Don't worry about them being perfect!
Treat Hack 2
Happy Howie's and other bulk food rolls can be a great option for low cost, high-value treats. The only problem is that you have to cut them up! Here is a video I made showing you how you can easily cut hundreds of Happy Howie's in under 3 minutes.
Treat Hack 3
Materials Used:
Canned Dog Food
Palm Sized Zip Lock Bag
Scissors, but you can also use kitchen shears I’m sure)
To Do:
Fil one corner of the bag with a few spoonfuls of food
Gather the food into one corner and twist the bag around the top (similarly to when you're decorating a cake)
Cut off a small piece of the corner
To feed your dog hold the bag in one hand with your thumb and index finger around the top, gently squeeze each time you need to reward your dog.
Med Hack 1
One of the most tried and true methods of giving dogs medication is to hide them inside of other delicious foods. You can try deli meat, cheese, regular old pill pockets, something creamy like yogurt or peanut butter, and you can make a meatball out of canned food (or buy meatballs at the store). If your dog finds and spits out the medication you can try crushing it (is possible), and mixing it into something creamy like the yogurt or peanut butter.
Med Hack 2
If your dog has learned that there might be treats lurking in their food you can circumvent that by feeding them several pieces of the food plain (without pills), then one with the medication hidden, and then a couple more.
Med Hack 3
This is a little bit of a more complicated solution if your dog needs meds immediately, but if you plan ahead you can teach your dog to take a pill on cue like Dustin is demonstrating above (he is handed a pill, he put it in his mouth, and then takes a treat). Each time your dog performs one of these steps you will reward. They likely will need to complete each step before moving onto the next one. Some dogs will progress more slowly and some more quickly, but they will naturally progress on their own. And every dog is different, if your progression looks a little different than these exact steps that is absolutely fine!
looking at pill
sniffing pill
touching pill with nose
touching pill with mouth
touching pill with open mouth
putting teeth on pill
taking pill without holding it
taking pill with holding but spitting out
taking pill and eating treats to wash it down
© Leash and Learn 2019