1. In response to German Shepherd's crying, head shaking and rubbing his ears on the floor, buy expensive medicine from vet, reminding yourself once again that there's no such thing as a free dog.
2. Call German Shepherd over to you and tell him to lie down.
3. Fold down his ear and prepare to put medicine in.
4. Call German Shepherd back.
5. Grab German Shepherd by his shoulders and force him to the floor. Place knee on his torso and use hand to hold his head down and somewhat steady. Use other hand to fold his ear down so that you can access the ear canal. Use third hand to apply medicine. Oh, damn.
6. Take moment to ponder the mechanics required. Be advised that German Shepherd is simultaneously pondering ways to escape from your hold.
7. Come up with new plan just as German Shepherd comes up with way to escape your hold. Shake off strike to your face by his hind paw, chase him through house and corner him in upstairs bedroom.
8. Pin German Shepherd to floor again. Give thanks to God that German Shepherd recognizes that you are Alpha and does not try to bite. Watch teeth all the same.
9. With knee on German Shepherd's torso, use same hand to hold ear open and pin head to ground. Administer 6-8 drops of medicine to each ear.
10. Repeat twice a day for two weeks.
When I first saw your post's title, I mused 'from far away, via a third party'.
ReplyDeleteI see I was right.
Had to give a calico cat oral medication via a syringe.
1. catch cat
2. roll cal in blanket
3. get other person to hold blanket cylinder containing cat whilst prying jaws and stuffing medicine.
4. repeat daily until medicine gone.
5. Check for pools of blood - yours, and their source.
Good Luck!
I do not envy you that task ML. It's bad enough with a 65 pound Lab. A full grown GSD? I'm just gonna have to pass on that.
ReplyDeleteBut maybe you could post some video? For educational purposes only of course.
Very similar to medicating a Rottweiler. Still much easier than a Siamese cat.
ReplyDeleteAnyone ever suggest wrapping the dog in a beach towel or blanket first and then doing the medical treatment? I've been there and done that myself, it's alway's a PITA
ReplyDeleteBe glad he's not a cat, they have no recognition of "alpha" claws and teeth are valid tools....
ReplyDeleteOH man, that is NOT going to be fun... But you do what you gotta do...
ReplyDeletePoor Murphy! I'm happy that he has a determined person! Bouie has now learned to detect pills, no matter what kind of juicy treat they're concealed in.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
Reminds me that I need to clean Chloe's ears. At least you don't need to stick Q-tips in Murphy's ears. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteUgh! Yeah, and I'm reminded it's time to clip Sienna's nails - she's not so much the fan of that.
ReplyDeleteI hope Murph appreciates what you're doing...
That does not sound like fun. I think the beach towel idea is good though.
ReplyDeleteAnd now comes the part where he recognizes what you want to do and develops other ways to keep you from doing it.
ReplyDeleteOne cat - one pill and two doses of liquid meds down throat each day. Other one - two doses of liquid meds a day. Me chasing them around furniture because they know what I want to do.
I feel your pain. Malinois and Dutch Shepherds act the same way. The Dutchie doesn't like pills and we have a year of Valley Fever medication ahead of us. I'm going to try some pill pockets.
ReplyDeleteOff topic - for our cat I put his pill in a pill pocket and soak in tuna. Twice a day for life, this has worked well. Otherwise, one of us would be dead.
ReplyDeleteBad scene, other day preparing pills for vacation, GSD at 18 of them. Freaked out until I did the math (120 lbs GSD / 7 lbs cat = 17.1). Basically dog ate equivalent of 1 pill, not so bad. Still with us.
On topic, researching what to do for an infected GSD ear. Go back to OP posting, laugh. Just got finish chasing GSD around house, pinning him on bed with assistance of DH, just so we could look at it. And yes, very thankful he recognizes us as the alpha.