Another easy way to give a dog a pill is to wrap it in a little bit of cheese. I usually give my dogs a piece of cheese without a pill first and so when they get the 2nd they yum it up quickly.
Giving a cat a pill is another thing completely. My brother is a vet and he has shown me how to do that, it is a bit more complicated.
I used cheese to "hide" the pill before I hit on the Vienna sausage. It works. I've never found a dog who wouldn't snarf down cheese. But you have to unwrap the cheese, cut a piece off of it, and dig out a little hole or something to put the pill in. The VS just seems to work a little easier for me, and the cans will keep forever as long as they are not opened.
Besides, I can resist the VS easier than I can the cheese. ;)