Michelle Blanchard Ardillo

This is a direct quote of what I said this morning explaining to my husband how the daily battle of Cody vs. Pill went today: “The Love of Ham Prevails.”

As you may know from reading my posts, on New Year’s Eve 2025, we adopted a 9-year-old Yorkie via a rescue organization. The rescue organization primarily deals with Westies, but this was a special favor to help find a new home for an elderly lady’s beloved pet.

We were on a waiting list for a Westie rescue, but when we saw the photos of this little cutie, we just couldn’t resist him. And, so, that is how Cody came into our lives.

As I’ve said in other posts, Cody is a really good dog. He has many fine qualities: hardly any household accidents since the day he arrived, he eats his meals like a champion, he sleeps through the night and would linger in bed as long as a human is in the bed with him, he does not run out of the door when it is opened for guests, he gets along well with other dogs and even cats, and he hasn’t chewed up anything or tipped over the bathroom trash can. These are all challenges, slight as they are, we faced with our beloved Puccini, who was also a very good dog with a few little quirks.

Cody, however, only has one little issue. He barks A LOT. He barks at people wearing hats, especially tall men wearing baseball caps. He barks at the TV, especially people waving their arms around and even more particularly if they are wearing white. He barks at the tissue box on the end table in our living room. He barks at my hairdryer, my electric toothbrush, and the noise the fridge makes when the ice drops from the ice maker. He barks at all visitors, when they arrive AND when they depart.

So, we did what all new parents do: we made an appointment with his existing vet and talked to her about his barking and seeming anxiety.

Along with the barking he also does this nervous tic of a thing where he licks his lips (or the air?) a thousand times a day, his tongue jutting in and out of his mouth at rapid speed. The vet checked his teeth as that is sometimes a sign of a dental issue, and she listened to his stomach to see if there was gurgling or something to indicate a stomach acid issue. She said it could be anxiety.

We agreed to give him several more months to get used to our household and our normal noises and routines to see if the barking and the licking lessened.

When the time had passed that we had agreed upon, we returned and this time the vet suggested we try an anti-anxiety medication.

And, so, thus began the Cody vs. Anti-Anxiety Pill battle each morning.

Cody eats well but he is not a fan of cheese or peanut butter, items that normally get dogs to swallow just about anything. So, I tried a small piece of deli ham and it worked like a charm — for me.

When we went away for a few days, our daughter (after being fully instructed on the size of ham piece and the precise wrapping method of ham around pill) was not successful in getting this little gremlin to take his meds.

When we returned, back to normal and he swallowed his morning pill wrapped in ham with no issue whatsoever. He may be a teeny bit spoiled to me, per chance.

Today, however, I clumsily dropped the ham-wrapped pill on the sofa as I was holding it out for Cody. Cody, not missing a beat, grabbed the ham off the sofa and jumped down to hide with it under the coffee table. Because it wasn’t so tightly wrapped any longer he realized the pill was in there, so he swallowed the ham and spit out the pill.

My husband heard the commotion from another room in the house and called out, “What’s going on?” I hurriedly grabbed another small piece of ham, rewrapped the damp pill, and went through the same routine again: Get on your bed (the sofa, yes, I know, I know), up, up, sit, sit, and then held it out. Yep, swallowed it right down, ham and pill!

I shouted out to my husband what had happened, that I dropped the ham and pill, Cody grabbed it and ran, ate the ham and spit out the pill. But, I rewrapped it and voila, The Love of Ham Prevails!

Side note: He’s been on this anti-anxiety medication now for 35 days—minus the time we were away when the ham procedure didn’t quite work, and we don’t see (hear ??? lol) much improvement on the barking. The licking may have lessened ever so slightly. It’s quite possible that the vet’s initial observation was correct: “He’s a Yorkie, and Yorkies bark A LOT.”