One of the first things I teach all my dogs is to eat off a utensil. I rotate what I use: spoon, fork, wooden spoon, butter knife, whatever, it doesn’t matter. Cream cheese is my food of choice--delicious, thick but not too sticky, nice aroma, goes down easy--not only for us, but dogs too. I let them have some off the spoon, which they usually take gingerly, testing it, do they like it, is there anything in it, hmmm, yes, I do like it! Everyone gets a taste, and I put it away. Sometimes I also use canned dog food, like a chicken-based food. But cream cheese really, really works. I do this randomly, for no reason at all, as a tidbit treat. Dogs love it. Then one day, I need to give my dog a pill. I pull out the cream cheese, put the pill in there, offer it to the dog and voila, it’s gone. No muss, no fuss, no prying jaws open, no spitting it out. Everyone is happy!
PS. Mark the cream cheese lid “DOGS!”