a spoonful of sugar

allergies ... every spring Ebony's allergies kick in and she is miserable ... her eyes get red ... she sneezes and snarfles and paws at her face ... next thing i know there's no fur left on her nose because she has licked and pawed it away ... so i have to give her the dog's equivalent of benadryl everyday ... she hates it ... she refuses to swallow the pills ... i tried wrapping one in bacon - she ate the bacon and spit out the pill ... so i tried wrapping one in cheese - she ate the cheese and spit out the pill ... and then i tried wrapping one in lunch meat - she ate the lunch meat and spit out the pill ... i tried everything i could think of (with the exception of pigeon patties and earthworms - i draw the line at bird crap and crawlies with no legs) and she always refused to swallow the pills...

...and then i remembered the easter morning that i had a Peep in one hand and her leash in the other ... it was a yellow chicken Peep and i was looking forward to biting its little head off and nibbling on its tiny feet ... but i was distracted for a moment ... and when i looked at my hand, the Peep was gone ... it was in Ebony's mouth and she took a lot of pleasure in swallowing it whole before my very eyes ... i was sooo mad at her ... i told her to enjoy it because that would be the last opportunity she would have to steal a Peep from me...

...light bulb moment - Ebony likes sugar ... and she especially likes marshmallowy sugar ... so i stuffed a pill into a marshmallow and gave it to her ... gulp and gone!
every few days i assembly line some Ebony medicine ... she has become a bit of a connoisseur - she prefers flavored marshmallows (strawberry is her favorite) at room temperature and not even a little bit dried out ... it helps the medicine go down