Here are four approaches in the order most people end up trying them, plus the one mistake that quietly ruins your dosing without you noticing.
For the amount, see dosing for dogs.
Before you start
Open the bottle out of sight. Child-resistant caps are fiddly, and a dog watching you wrestle with a bottle learns that the bottle is a prelude to something. If your Proof cap is being awkward, there is a trick to it.
Measure before you approach. Measuring while managing a dog is how people end up estimating.
Pick a calm moment, and ideally the same moment each day. Routine is doing a lot of the work here.
The four methods
1. On a small amount of food
The most common approach and the one most dogs accept without noticing.
Use a small portion, not the full bowl. That is the whole trick, for the reason in the next section.
Mix it in properly rather than pooling it on top. Something with a strong smell and a soft texture works best: a spoon of wet food, a little plain yoghurt, a smear of a dog-safe paste.
Check anything you mix it into. Some human spreads and peanut butters contain xylitol, which is dangerous to dogs. Read the label every time, including on a jar you have used before, because recipes change.
2. On a treat you hand over directly
The best method for certainty, because you watch it go in.
Something absorbent works well: a piece of soft treat, a small piece of bread, a dog-safe chew that will hold a few drops. Put the drops on, let them soak in for a moment, then hand it over.
The advantage over the bowl is that you know it was eaten.
3. Directly into the mouth
Works better with dogs than with cats, and many dogs simply do not mind.
Aim for the pouch between the cheek and the back teeth rather than the front of the mouth or toward the throat. Go slowly and let the dog swallow. Never tip a dog’s head far back and never squirt toward the back of the throat.
Follow it with a treat, every time. That is what turns it into a routine the dog tolerates rather than a routine the dog avoids.
4. Mixed into a lick mat or food puzzle
Underused and very effective for dogs that have become suspicious of the dropper.
Spread it thinly across a lick mat with something the dog likes. The licking is calming in itself, the dose disappears into the process, and there is no confrontation. The one drawback is that you need to be sure the mat is licked clean.
The mistake that ruins your dosing
If you put drops in a full bowl of food, you only know the dose was delivered if the bowl is emptied.
A dog that leaves a third has had an unknown amount. This matters less than it does for cats, because most dogs finish, but it matters a great deal for:
- Fussy eaters and dogs that graze
- Multi-dog households where bowls get swapped or shared
- Any dog whose appetite is variable, which includes most older dogs
The fix is a small portion you can watch disappear, or a treat handed over directly.
In a multi-dog house, dose the dog separately. Not in the same room, not in adjacent bowls. Otherwise you have a dosed dog and an undosed dog and no way to know which is which.
When the dog refuses
Try a different food. Palatability is individual, and the third thing you try is often the one that works.
Try before a meal rather than after. A hungry dog is more cooperative.
Try the lick mat. It works for a lot of dogs that have started avoiding the dropper.
Give it a week off. A dog that has decided the dropper is bad news will often reset.
Then accept the answer. If a dog has refused everything for a fortnight, forcing it is not the right call, and the daily stress is likely to outweigh whatever you were hoping to gain. Talk to your vet about alternatives.
Mistakes worth avoiding
Do not use a human product because it is what you have. Concentration is built for a human body, and some human products contain xylitol.
Do not put it in the water bowl. You cannot measure what a dog drinks, it degrades in standing water, and in a multi-dog house you have dosed everybody.
Do not change the method and the amount in the same week. You will not know which one did anything.
Do not chase the dog with the dropper. You are building a lasting association for a marginal gain.
Do not dose a dog that is unwell without talking to your vet. A dog that is off its food or behaving abnormally needs a diagnosis first.
Storage
Keep the bottle cool, dark, and out of reach of pets and children. Dogs are considerably better than cats at getting into things, and a chewed bottle is both a dosing problem and a poison control call.
Do not let the dropper touch the dog’s mouth or the food and then go back into the bottle.
Check the certificate of analysis for the bottle you are using. Proof publishes test results per-product.
The short version
The short version
- Small portion of strongly smelling food, mixed in properly, is the default.
- A treat handed over directly gives you the most certainty.
- Never use a full bowl. You lose all confidence in the dose.
- In a multi-dog house, dose separately.
- Check any human spread you mix it into for xylitol, every time.
- Direct-to-mouth goes into the cheek pouch, slowly, followed by a treat.
- Store it where the dog cannot reach it. Dogs open things.