[Karin]

All this reminds me of an incident 12 years ago with my first Rotti, "Jesse". It was always a nightmare getting pills down her, she was 13 years old at the time, I won her in court when she was 10 years old so she did not live with me her entire life, but her former owner had the same pilling problem *long story*.
Any how, Jesse was getting on in her years and I had to take her to the vet once again, he prescibed a pain killer for a few days and I begged him to do the honors with the first dose, afterall he knew her history also. He fought, pried her mouth open, pill ended up in his lap, he tried the cat food, no dice..then he tried the poke down the throat again and again it landed on the floor, but this time..before he could retreive the evil pill Jesse walked over and sucked it up from the floor! Little did any of us know she hated the fight but will take pills out of your hand..and that is how she got all her meds until the day she died from cancer..just hand them to her.
Ciara is the same way too, I am so lucky! I can draw my own blood samples on her alone and bring them to the lab or clinic.
Anytime meds must be given to a difficult animal speed & the element of surprise is your friend.
I found the blowing in the nose trick uneffective. Tap their nose with canned cat food after you have made the pill deposit works great, they still have to lick their nose to swallow and the urge is greater now, ummm...cat food. There are many tricks for pilling...one of best ones I use I'll save for later...the first vet I worked for taught me this trick decades ago and I still use it when needed.