I wrote about His Emmettship in this post a while back. Since then, he’s continued to grow and relax around people to the point at which I am no longer terrified that he’ll viciously chomp down on someone’s extremities on a whim.
Facebook readers will likely have seen these photos before. For the record, he’s a good dog now, though since allergy season started, he’s added to his list of daily demands.
Fluffy Emmett, looking very much like a dust mop.
Emmett has hay fever. At the start of the season, he was scratching his eyes and doing all the things that allergens do to dogs. A quick call to the veterinary clinic solved the problem with a half a Claritin tablet daily.
The question: How to get him to take the pill every day?
The answer: Wrap it in something yummy just like you’d do for me.
Emmett’s drug of choice.
Bacon would have been my first choice ’cause then I could have some too, but that was far too much trouble. Besides, how do you WRAP a tiny pill in a crispy slice of delicious bacon?
We opted for a creamy slice of delicious Kraft American Cheese. Wrapping the tiny half pill in a strip of cheese torn from the slice did the trick. No problems at all and, of course, he gets to eat the rest of the cheese not already torn from the slice.
Bottom line, every night he gets a slice of cheese with his pill in it.
Problem #1: Now he recognizes the word “cheese.” So you can’t say any word containing the one syllable alert notification “cheese” without eliciting at a minimum this response:
“Emmett, do you want some… cheese?”
More often than not, though, there’s a lot of jumping around, barking, whining, wagging of tails, excitement and anticipation unmatched in canine behavior worldwide.
Problem #2: Now he expects it and demands it just about the time I get home from work.
He’s still a good dog, but I suspect that he’ll be getting a slice of tasty American cheese every day for the rest of his rotund little life, hay fever or not.
Anyway, please join me in celebrating our second Emmettversary, as the lovely and talented Beth Geyer proclaimed today to be in reminding me of the significance of this date.
Emmett is a full-fledged good boy and member of our family now.
