My poor Jojo started digging at one ear about three weeks ago. It went on about two days before I realized he wasn't just being silly and DH took him to the vet. It was yeast in both ears. So we had a bottle of drops and instructions to put drops deep in the ear canal t wice a day.
Now Jo is a honey, but very, very touchy. And I've let him get away with it. (My bad) So I anticipated a horrible fuss with the medicine. When I shave him there is a bench downstairs that we put him on and that signals that we are in a different sort of mode. He quiets down and lets me use the clippers for however long it takes. So we leashed Jo and took him down to the bench and put him on it and DH held him while I sugar talked and tried to hit the ear with the drops. He wasn't snarly, but wriggling for all he was worth and not happy.
I couldn't see going on that way, so came time to dose him next morning, I had goodies in my pocket. At each part of the process, if he was good, he got a goodie popped into his mouth. And at the end he got two.
Again in the evening, same way.
Morning again, bless his little heart, when Jo saw me get the bottle he came on over and smiled. He couldn't help wriggling a bit when the ear hurt, but he was sooooooo good. He would let me hold his head between my thigh and arm and squeeze the drops into the ear. Lots of treats, lots of ear rubs.
By the end, I had a puppy that was loving his ear drops, LOL.
I've had a lot of dogs through the years, and generally I've been able to teach them what was needed pretty quickly. Then I got to thinking, my methods with dog training could apply to life:
A pocketful of goodies, firm resolve and sugar talk will get you just about anything you ever want!
Hope you get a smile out of this, Sunny