SNEAKY LITTLE BASSET

 I have been giving LEO daily doses of St.John's wort to try to treat his severe & chronic anxiety. (He's anxious about absolutely EVERYTHING) He has destroyed thousands of dollars worth of carpet by peeing all over it, but I have to laugh when I think of what the carpet cleaning man said to LEO the other day, "You're a DOG, what do YOU have to be anxious about?" Good question I thought but JUST like HUMANS, dogs get anxiety too. Poor Leo has PTSD (Post tramatic stress disorder) and we would too, if we had a shotgun pointed at our heads. His previous owner was ready to shoot him because he BARKED too much (well why was he barking you jerk? because he NEEDED love!) well thankfully a concerned brother rescued him from the man on the brink AND relinquished LEO to the Basset Rescue! I've tried a million different things to help poor LEO with his anxiety but nothing so far has worked. Currently we are doing the all natural St. John's Wort.  He is never thrilled about swallowing the pills but he always gets a treat when he does it successfully. Several times he has spit the pills back out on the kitchen floor. I have tried opening them and sprinkling into food, wrapping them in cheese, placing them way down in his throat, giving him one at a time, etc etc. it's always a struggle. Lately I have had to stand there, as much as I hate it, and hold his nose while stroking his throat. I have to watch him like a hawk and check his mouth to make sure he's not "cheeking the pills" (I feel like Nurse Wratchet on "One flew over the Cukoo's nest" Well, last night, as usual, we did the routine. He finally swallowed, I checked his mouth, pills were gone, so off he ran with his snickerdoodle (yes homemade cookies for LEO) he carried his cookie into the living room. Suddenly my daughter started yelling, "Hey, Leo spit his pills out!" I didn't believe it, I saw him swallow. That LITTLE BASSET faked me out. He pretended to swallow, yet somehow still grabbed the cookie, ran into the other room, dropped the cookie just long enough to spit the wet slimy pills on the (newly cleaned carpet) picked the cookie back up and ATE IT! followed by a BIG BASSET SMIRK!