Medicated

The big dog knows whats good for him, and thats strange, because he's a dog. How do I know this? Because he takes his pills.

Twice per day I get the small orange prescription bottle with dukes thyroid medication and shake out a pill. Duke wanders over, sits down in front of me, and complies while I tilt his head back and throw a pill down his throat. On some level I believe he knows it makes him feel better. Well, maybe "knows" is the wrong word, but there is some kind of pavlovian response happening here. Dog gets pill, dog feels better, dog is more willing to accept next pill.

Let me explain how I know that he is not just a complacent dog willing to let me chuck pills down his throat. Recently, he has been extremely itchy, so for the last couple of days I have been giving him Benadryl. THe problem is, the second the little pink pill hits the back of his throat he tries to cough it up, and unlike his thyroid medication, if I try to repeat the process he begins nipping at me. The first few times I gave him the pink pill, he took it readily, but each subsequent time I give it to him his level of protest increases. This morning I just about lost a finger trying to push the pill down his throat.

This leads me to believe that his resistance to the pink pill has nothing  to do with the taste, and everything to do with how it makes him feel.  On some level he "knows" he does not like what the Benadryl does to him so he resists taking it, whereas he comes over to me and waits patiently for me to give him his thyroid medication.

Very strange.