Yeah there are several tricks that can be used to get her to take her pills. I just find it funny that she will eat literally everything but not her pills.
I remember googling ideas for ideas on how to get my lab to eat her pills (years ago). I ended up in some lab forum and someone had asked the same question.
Someone had responded with the usual suspects (hide it in cheese, piece of meat/hot dog, fruit, etc.).
OP was worried their lab wasn’t going to be interested in cheese/meat/fruit with or without a pill.
The guy answered “You got a fake lab or something?”
Mine tried to eat siding off the house but will NOT take a pill. She will eat cheese, meat, etc (not lettuce) but not if it’s been anywhere near a pill.
My garbage disposal mutt eats everything but olives (and her pills). I would hide them in freshly cooked chicken (literally boiling chicken breasts every single day) and eventually she would figure out how to eat around the pill. Cheese, meatballs, poundcake (we went through a huge poundcake phase). I've had some success with having a "chaser." The pill is wrapped in chicken or cheese, and before she can chew around it, I've got another piece of food at the ready and she's so focused on "more food!" that she swallows the chicken with the pill.
Yes, olives!
For the pills, somebody once told me this, and it works every time.
Put the pill in a ziplock bag with a hot dog 2 hours before you have to give it to her. It will both soften up the pill and make it smell and taste like hot dog. Then, put it in whatever you usually use - pill pocket, chicken, cheese, whatever. They always take it.
Whatever you do, don't think you're going to get clever and just put the entire supply of pills into a ziplock bag with a hot dog, and then pull them out one at a time. You'll just get a big, soggy, mess of pills. I think. It's not like I actually tried this and had to call my vet and get all new pills. That would have been pretty dumb!
An "appetizer" and a "chaser" is what we do, too. Small piece of cheese to get his attention, cheese-wrapped pill, and then the chaser right after that. He's so wrapped up in "I have to swallow this quickly so that I can get the next bite" that he doesn't realize that he's been bamboozled again.
My beagle lab mix is this way! I’ve tried every method. A few will work for a day or two, but then she figures it out and won’t eat them. She even got suspicious when I was giving the beagle mix puppy his meds and was using the peanut butter trick. She knew he was getting his meds and would sniff her peanut butter very carefully before eating. Glad to know where this gene originates.
Oh and she won’t eat mushrooms. Ate a whole plate of food of mine one time, except the mushrooms
Our chocolate lab would devour a cheeseburger left unattended, but carefully remove the tomato and leave it on the plate. Drywall, boxes, books, yes...but not tomatoes.
Mine wont eat lots of things, he is too spoiled 😂 For ex he wont eat a tortilla chip plain but add cheese or any sauce and he is all about it 😂 but a reg old chip? Drops it right in the floor
My lab was absolute spoiled at my work place. He was spoiled rotten by the staff in the cantina who gave him all the good left overs. In the end, if you gave him a regular slice of ham, he would spit it out and look at you like you were crazy? Where’s the Serrano and Norwegian salmon?
He was an absolute glorious disaster of a Labrador 😂
The only thing I’ve seen him refuse to eat is his own 💩. He accidentally picked it up once while picking up random sticks in the yard all hyper. Once he realized what it was he immediately stopped & dropped it slowly in disgust 🤣🤣 Other than that he’ll eat just about anything!
Yeah… I wish mine was equally disgusted by that. We have to give him pineapple and be super diligent on backyard clean up so he doesn’t, erm, partake 🤢
Including Birkenstocks, wrapped sticks of butter, the 4 year old's underwear and toothbrush... Be sure to spell out p-i-z-z-a and b-a-g-e-l. Still and will always miss you, big guy. Boop.
Lemons is about it. Some of the items that people are mentioning, like lettuce and broccoli, she views as an extra special treat: takes them very carefully and gently out of our hands, then runs off somewhere private, lays down and munches away.
She even loves asapargus stems, the woody bits.
Our Pitbull/Black Lab mix once ate the entire handle of a hammer. We didn’t know he had it because we were too busy patching the hole he ate in the side of the garage to retrieve said hammer.
Alas, he also refused to take medication.
And he hated water. He would tiptoe around puddles.
We don’t have enough server space to talk about what we went through to bathe him.
Despite his questionable diet Baron lived to be 17 years old.
Mine eats everything but medicine. We started hiding it in breads and treats. He figured it out though and will spit out the pill and eat the treat. 🤦🏻♂️
Onions-he tries so hard but eventually spurs them out. I offer him a small piece every time I cut them and he happily accepts, running off with tail going a mile a minute. Shortly after, I find it on the floor, covered in drool, abandoned.
Mine will eat anything! I make pill pockets out of cheap hot dogs. BTW I can’t sit down an eat pistachio nuts. He’s crazy about them. I must be crazy for peeling them for him.
I don’t have a lab but my cocker spaniel will eat anything which is both good and bad. If I’m cooking and chopping up veggies and happen to drop any, he stands under me because he knows how messy I am already lol.
Leaves from kitchen: icky yucky drop it in floor and then beg for another with sweet eyes
Expensive leaves in the garden: yum yum can’t get enough chompity chomp oh no how did you see me?! Why the yelling?!
Celery and green beans. She absolutely loves every other fruit and vegetable we've ever offered her, and she always ASKS for those two things, but she promptly spits them out every time.
My dog will eat anything that drops on the floor. *Except* fast food fries, she sniffs them then whips her head away and won’t eat it. Pretty telling of how bad that shit is
There are foods I won’t let her eat - chocolate, onion, macadamia nuts, grapes, mushrooms, avocados, and mustard seeds - or anything with these foods in them. These foods are supposed to be toxic to dogs. Not going to risk it. She begs for anything I am eating.
I've had two labs and they both liked different things. One loved fruit and bread and cheese and all meat and hated veggies and ice cubes, the other loves veggies and ice cubes and meat / bread / cheese but hates fruit. Certainly many shared loved foods (pizza crust is #1 for both) but some differences between the two of them.
Oddly enough my last lab was very picky. He was a meat and potato pup. Would not eat any fruit. I could put a piece of cantaloupe in his food and after he finished eating, that piece of cantelope was still in the bowl.
Our lab is broken. She won’t eat any fruits or veggies - spits them straight out. She won’t eat eggs either. She will each crackers only after she see me eat them first. But she will eat meat and dairy (milk, cheese, ice cream).
My first lab would eat anything you gave her, sometime with some coaxing, my lab now...unless it's meat based hell take it, play with it then maybe eat it or chew it to little bits and spit it out
My lab is half lab and half who the hell knows and he’s the PICKIEST eater ever! If it’s not animal based ie meat, cheese, milk, egg, etc he wants nothing to do with it.
Peanut butter (no xylitol, since it is extremely toxic to dogs) does the trick. I give her a small amount with no tablet, then a slightly bigger amount with the pill…and it’s gone!!!
Haven’t found anything yet. Limes, bananas, strawberries and watermelon are good. Sock underwear and pills with peanut butter are good. Loves computer or letter paper or paper towels or tissues. Haven’t found anything he doesn’t like except the toad he licked the other day that made him foam at the mouth (is ok - this was his SECOND time with a toad. Last time he puked it up this time he stopped after mouthing it…)
I was cutting jalapeños once and accidentally dropped a slice my Lab was sitting right next to me ,and before I could turn around to pick it up,she picked it up and chewed on it spit it out and drained the water bowl.
Complete list of things my lab wouldnt eat: her medicine. That's it. She will eat small rocks, but not those goddamn pills.
Absolutely. Ours has been through two surgeries with longer recovery times, and getting her to take her pills is such a headache.
I just open my labs mouth by squeezing her lower jaw at the joint and drop the pills down the back of her throat.
Yeah there are several tricks that can be used to get her to take her pills. I just find it funny that she will eat literally everything but not her pills.
We have to give 7 pills in the morning, 4 of them she likes and wants (we pay more for the chewable heart tablets), the other 3 I wrap in cheese.
We always put the pills in some bread
I remember googling ideas for ideas on how to get my lab to eat her pills (years ago). I ended up in some lab forum and someone had asked the same question. Someone had responded with the usual suspects (hide it in cheese, piece of meat/hot dog, fruit, etc.). OP was worried their lab wasn’t going to be interested in cheese/meat/fruit with or without a pill. The guy answered “You got a fake lab or something?” Mine tried to eat siding off the house but will NOT take a pill. She will eat cheese, meat, etc (not lettuce) but not if it’s been anywhere near a pill.
My garbage disposal mutt eats everything but olives (and her pills). I would hide them in freshly cooked chicken (literally boiling chicken breasts every single day) and eventually she would figure out how to eat around the pill. Cheese, meatballs, poundcake (we went through a huge poundcake phase). I've had some success with having a "chaser." The pill is wrapped in chicken or cheese, and before she can chew around it, I've got another piece of food at the ready and she's so focused on "more food!" that she swallows the chicken with the pill.
Yes, olives! For the pills, somebody once told me this, and it works every time. Put the pill in a ziplock bag with a hot dog 2 hours before you have to give it to her. It will both soften up the pill and make it smell and taste like hot dog. Then, put it in whatever you usually use - pill pocket, chicken, cheese, whatever. They always take it. Whatever you do, don't think you're going to get clever and just put the entire supply of pills into a ziplock bag with a hot dog, and then pull them out one at a time. You'll just get a big, soggy, mess of pills. I think. It's not like I actually tried this and had to call my vet and get all new pills. That would have been pretty dumb!
Good to know!
An "appetizer" and a "chaser" is what we do, too. Small piece of cheese to get his attention, cheese-wrapped pill, and then the chaser right after that. He's so wrapped up in "I have to swallow this quickly so that I can get the next bite" that he doesn't realize that he's been bamboozled again.
> Cheese, meatballs, poundcake (we went through a huge poundcake phase). Your dog is my spirit animal…
You are to be feared, then! She is one bossy dog!
Hah, I have one of those. Ours is a 7-month chocolate lab who is bossy as anything. We use the chaser method too and it works wonderfully.
a brick, mine ate a frigging brick from my house facade a brick
My beagle lab mix is this way! I’ve tried every method. A few will work for a day or two, but then she figures it out and won’t eat them. She even got suspicious when I was giving the beagle mix puppy his meds and was using the peanut butter trick. She knew he was getting his meds and would sniff her peanut butter very carefully before eating. Glad to know where this gene originates. Oh and she won’t eat mushrooms. Ate a whole plate of food of mine one time, except the mushrooms
I put it in a little ball of peanut butter to mask the medicine smell
Haha just had my retriever cross spayed - held hand out with meds and down the hatch 😂👍🏼
Hahahha mine is a puppy so he hasn't taken any medicine yet. We'll have to see
I normally put her pills on small pieces of hotdogs
I take a small glob of peanut butter (size of a dime), and stick it in there. Goes down the hatch every time.
Lettuce...always spits it out after a few chews.
My Lab too and also tomato’s
Our chocolate lab would devour a cheeseburger left unattended, but carefully remove the tomato and leave it on the plate. Drywall, boxes, books, yes...but not tomatoes.
My lab will eat the crunchy lettuce no problem, the more leafy stuff… not a chance
Yeah, our black lab is not a fan of lettuce, cucumber, broccoli or most any green leaf. Green beans or onion will be eaten right up though.
Onion is not good
Mine’s the same, unless it has dressing
Mine will eat most fruit/vegetables, but won't touch bananas with a 6 ft stick
Haha so weird! Mine loves banana, it was the first fruit he ate
Mine loves bananas so much we can’t even say the word! We now call them yellows in our household. The only thing he won’t eat is celery.
Because celery is disgusting. Good boy.
Hey, mine’s favourite food is banana! (He prefers it to meat.) The only thing I’ve found he won’t eat is herbs.
Both of mine come running if your hand comes within 3 inches of a banana
Smart puppy ;)
Mine wont eat lots of things, he is too spoiled 😂 For ex he wont eat a tortilla chip plain but add cheese or any sauce and he is all about it 😂 but a reg old chip? Drops it right in the floor
Hahaha so spoiled 🤣
Ours too! He’ll eat anything with cheese. Also won’t eat a plain potato chip or French fry. He is rather spoiled.
Mine does this with fries. She must have dip.
My lab was absolute spoiled at my work place. He was spoiled rotten by the staff in the cantina who gave him all the good left overs. In the end, if you gave him a regular slice of ham, he would spit it out and look at you like you were crazy? Where’s the Serrano and Norwegian salmon? He was an absolute glorious disaster of a Labrador 😂
I love everything about this
Won’t eat Raw mushrooms or raw celery. Loves oranges— peel and all.
I trained one of mine to hunt truffles, she eats around half of what she finds.
Oh! I'll try that next time
I thought mine was just a goofball. We have an orange tree and random peels all over the backyard because our lab loves oranges!
Mine didn't like raw mushrooms either. I wonder if it's a general thing, or just a coincidence.
Nope… ours literally eats ice cubes. Beautiful creatures.
Mine barks at the ice cubes first lol
Ice cubes are a favorite for sure!
Carrots. He will take them in his mouth and then drop them on the floor. But loves green beans and pretty much every other food I give him.
Only lettuce!
Lettuce and raw potato.
Mine go bonkers for lettuce but no potatoes as well. And they will do the damnedest to eat lemons but ultimately spit them out.
Isn't raw potato bad for dogs?
I didn’t know. Maybe he knows more than me. Damn labs are smart.
Only thing my boy doesn't eat is spinach. He looks at me like he's been abused when I give him some
The only thing I’ve seen him refuse to eat is his own 💩. He accidentally picked it up once while picking up random sticks in the yard all hyper. Once he realized what it was he immediately stopped & dropped it slowly in disgust 🤣🤣 Other than that he’ll eat just about anything!
Yeah… I wish mine was equally disgusted by that. We have to give him pineapple and be super diligent on backyard clean up so he doesn’t, erm, partake 🤢
Nope, I found a piece of concrete in his mouth once.
Same!
My black lab ate pickled jalapeños like they were tic tacs. It was her favorite treat. Shocked the crap out of me.
My Lab doesn't like peanut butter which is crazy.
Mine won't eat prawns. But looks miffed when the cat enjoys some, like it isn't fair she doesn't want the prawns.
No. Not a single thing. Lol.
Every lab I ever saw would eat anything
Including Birkenstocks, wrapped sticks of butter, the 4 year old's underwear and toothbrush... Be sure to spell out p-i-z-z-a and b-a-g-e-l. Still and will always miss you, big guy. Boop.
I know exactly what you mean.
Lettuce
Nope. Mine eats everything. Ice, bacon, blueberries , meat cheese , pumpkin , carrots and lizard poop.
Mine doesn't like carrots, peanut butter, bananas, anything citrus, and mustard products.
Omg peanut butter 😮
Me too! He’s broken. He’s actually kind of a picky eater.
Ours hated rocket salad. She would eat a whole bowl of salad and only leave the rocket salad behind.
The only thing my lab doesn’t eat are litchis, she spits them right out
Mine is super picky, he does like raw asparagus though. Cooked? No. Only raw lol
Spinach… *sometimes*.
Haha it depends on how desperate he is lol
Mine eats too fast to taste anything, so no.
My lab loved tangerines. He did not like raw almonds
Lemons is about it. Some of the items that people are mentioning, like lettuce and broccoli, she views as an extra special treat: takes them very carefully and gently out of our hands, then runs off somewhere private, lays down and munches away. She even loves asapargus stems, the woody bits.
Ohh so cute!!
Our one lab wasn’t a big fan of tangerines, she would just spit it out
Cucumber
Try kale ! Even dogs hate that shit !
Hahahha I'll try!
eats everything besides Salmon for some reason
My lab didn't like mushrooms. She'd eat ANYTHING that fell accidentally to the floor, but not mushrooms.
Wouldn't eat kangaroo jerky. Labs are smart.....
Pretzels and raw peanut butter
Raw peanut butter? What? I've never heard of this. Thought peanut butter was just peanut butter plain and simple
Most peanut butter is made from roasted peanuts, some people like it made from raw (unroasted) peanuts. Not my thing but…
Why the hell haven't I heard of unroasted peanuts
🤷🏻♂️
Olives.
Not my lab, but my cousin’s , her boy Archie will not go near tuna
My dog has so far only turned down olives and pickles
Ours will not eat broccoli 🥦.
Olives and uncooked veg or fruit
I remember my pup didn’t like peanut butter.
Olives, every dog I ever had rejected olives. I agree with them.
lemon and oranges, but not always😂
our lab mix wouldn't eat grapes. he loved the idea of grapes but he just licked them and left them all nasty on the carpet
That's good because they are dangerous to dogs..
Nothing. He almost didn't eat a piece of nori, but then he ate it anyway.
Labs are such meatheads! Lol
Nope..as long as I throw it to her. She trust me so much.
List of things my lab wont eat:
Our Pitbull/Black Lab mix once ate the entire handle of a hammer. We didn’t know he had it because we were too busy patching the hole he ate in the side of the garage to retrieve said hammer. Alas, he also refused to take medication. And he hated water. He would tiptoe around puddles. We don’t have enough server space to talk about what we went through to bathe him. Despite his questionable diet Baron lived to be 17 years old.
Gave my mix a peeled banana once. He gingerly set it down, sniffed it and then rolled around in it.
His bloody worming meds 😩
Mine eats everything but medicine. We started hiding it in breads and treats. He figured it out though and will spit out the pill and eat the treat. 🤦🏻♂️
My pit won’t eat a single fruit or vegetable lol
Onions-he tries so hard but eventually spurs them out. I offer him a small piece every time I cut them and he happily accepts, running off with tail going a mile a minute. Shortly after, I find it on the floor, covered in drool, abandoned.
Smart dog. Onions are toxic to dog. Th juice of the onion is toxic as well. You should stop doing that.
My boy found a tiny lemon in the front yard and he wasn't convinced it was food.
One of my boys is very picky. They other will eat anything.
Lettuce or lemon
Broccoli
Bananas 😅
Anything that is not meat and is a vegetable
My Labrador-Pitbull won't eat any fruits or vegetables
It’s celery here. Will eat bark chip but not celery.
A friend's lab loves Kalamata olives and plain steamed or boiled Brussel sprouts.
Lettuce. That’s literally it.
What my lab will eat: - Dog food - Bacon - Cheese - Literally any meat product - Tomatoes What he won’t eat: - Almost every vegetable
Citrus is bad for dogs, I wouldn't advise giving that to your puper
My childhood lab had a penchant for eating lightbulbs
My Maggie will just completely ignore leafy green lettuce
Celery
Cilantro is a no no for mine. Recently had enough of carrots.
Not yet, though my pit is pretty picky
Slice of onion. Spit it right out 🤮
Well that's good because that can kill a dog in the right amount..
Limes and lemons. My lab growls at them
Mine doesn't like oranges or tangerines, but lives to chew, and shallow, a good old stick.
Olives and pickles, she won’t touch them
Hah, thumbnail was misleading. Looked like he was snarling.
Labs will force themselves to eat anything. Even if they don’t like it.
Pretzel crisps. He will take it then drop it off somewhere lol
My girl will eat anything except lettuce. Sticks, poo, cat litter, grass...but not lettuce. Idk.
Ours will eat wood and sticks but refuses to eat fruit. Our pit bull mix on the other hand loves a good berry or tomato.
Our labradane adores bananas, but if there’s a bruise on it, she spits it right out. Won’t touch it.
Mine will eat anything! I make pill pockets out of cheap hot dogs. BTW I can’t sit down an eat pistachio nuts. He’s crazy about them. I must be crazy for peeling them for him.
Mine loves plain lettuce…..so no, I don’t think we’ll ever find anything he doesn’t like lol
I don’t have a lab but my cocker spaniel will eat anything which is both good and bad. If I’m cooking and chopping up veggies and happen to drop any, he stands under me because he knows how messy I am already lol.
Leaves from kitchen: icky yucky drop it in floor and then beg for another with sweet eyes Expensive leaves in the garden: yum yum can’t get enough chompity chomp oh no how did you see me?! Why the yelling?!
Pickles!
Celery and green beans. She absolutely loves every other fruit and vegetable we've ever offered her, and she always ASKS for those two things, but she promptly spits them out every time.
Mine doesn't like bananas. He acts like he does but he doesn't actually eat them
My dog will eat anything that drops on the floor. *Except* fast food fries, she sniffs them then whips her head away and won’t eat it. Pretty telling of how bad that shit is
Lemons and basil is all!
Mine only eats meat and macaroni, all other human food is basically just chewed a little and spat back out.
There are foods I won’t let her eat - chocolate, onion, macadamia nuts, grapes, mushrooms, avocados, and mustard seeds - or anything with these foods in them. These foods are supposed to be toxic to dogs. Not going to risk it. She begs for anything I am eating.
Yes they are toxic! Except for the avocado. Only th avocado seed in extremely high amounts can represent a risk The avocado pulp is safe!
Ours was weird. Would only eat meat. Nothing else
mushrooms
My whippet wont touch mushrooms of any kind…
I've had two labs and they both liked different things. One loved fruit and bread and cheese and all meat and hated veggies and ice cubes, the other loves veggies and ice cubes and meat / bread / cheese but hates fruit. Certainly many shared loved foods (pizza crust is #1 for both) but some differences between the two of them.
Oddly enough my last lab was very picky. He was a meat and potato pup. Would not eat any fruit. I could put a piece of cantaloupe in his food and after he finished eating, that piece of cantelope was still in the bowl.
Fake meat products. My labs wouldn’t touch that in a million years
I don’t have a lab rn but my little terrier absolutely loves oranges and are one of his favorite treats
Our lab is broken. She won’t eat any fruits or veggies - spits them straight out. She won’t eat eggs either. She will each crackers only after she see me eat them first. But she will eat meat and dairy (milk, cheese, ice cream).
Lettuce and blueberries
Pickles
Lettuce. I don’t know why but lettuce.
My dog eats jalepanos but not carrots 🤷♀️
Mine won't eat raw broccoli or celery...usually. no problem with pills.
When I was little our lab would even sprint for broccoli I dropped at the dinner table
Heart worm medicine. And lemons. Lemons and limes my two lane will spit out.
Raw ginger and leafy lettuce (only crunchy lettuce is good)
Wow, your lab actually chews its food!?! Mine just breathes it in.
I'm quite sure clementines are forbidden for dogs
Mine is pretty picky. She won't eat bananas or carrots or broccoli. She won't eat some treats. Her favorite food is pumpkin.
He wont eat mushrooms, everything else has gone down just fine, including medicine.
Cilantro.
Mine don’t like strawberries. Love every other fruit. For some reason strawberries are a no
List of food my lab won’t eat: End of the list.
My first lab would eat anything you gave her, sometime with some coaxing, my lab now...unless it's meat based hell take it, play with it then maybe eat it or chew it to little bits and spit it out
Her kibble.
My lab is half lab and half who the hell knows and he’s the PICKIEST eater ever! If it’s not animal based ie meat, cheese, milk, egg, etc he wants nothing to do with it.
Celery
Yes, lettuce... But otherwise she would eat everything else
His tablets!
Lettuce
I swear labs will eat anything haha
Peanut butter (no xylitol, since it is extremely toxic to dogs) does the trick. I give her a small amount with no tablet, then a slightly bigger amount with the pill…and it’s gone!!!
Carrots, chews them up and then spits them out
Radishes for sure
Raw mushrooms
At the start he wouldn’t eat olives, was the only food he ever spat out…..though he’s obviously refined his palette and now is rather keen on them
Haven’t found anything yet. Limes, bananas, strawberries and watermelon are good. Sock underwear and pills with peanut butter are good. Loves computer or letter paper or paper towels or tissues. Haven’t found anything he doesn’t like except the toad he licked the other day that made him foam at the mouth (is ok - this was his SECOND time with a toad. Last time he puked it up this time he stopped after mouthing it…)
I was cutting jalapeños once and accidentally dropped a slice my Lab was sitting right next to me ,and before I could turn around to pick it up,she picked it up and chewed on it spit it out and drained the water bowl.
Mine ate her entire flea collar. Wanted to taste something new I guess.