At what point in Parker's cat-like tormenting of a junebug should I take the insect away from him? Apparently they're not very tasty, and they seem to fight back.
I never thought I'd actually have these kinds of questions before I got the dog. Odd.
I forgot to mention how Parker is feeling. The antibiotics (only one of which had to be re-inserted in his food after he spat it out) seem to have done their job. Of course, on the way to visit his friends Sam and Hershey last night, he got to eat his dinner a second time. (Yeah, ew.)
Here's the problem: there is no effective way to keep him from eating rabbit poop. He will get another crypto infection; and he'll have to be on heartworm pills year-round to prevent hookworm. He's not likely to grow out of it, either. But at least now that it looks almost certainly like parasitic infections and not something with his own plumbing, I can start re-introducing him to non-prescription dog food next week, and I don't need to worry as much about him eating sticks.
Finally, I promise, really I do, to post about other topics over the weekend.
Yeah, you the dog:
No ParkerCam tomorrow, so tune in now while he's there.
I like rodents, generally. As a kid I had gerbils. My college roommate Sean's wife raises angora rabbits. They're fuzzy, small, and the subject of cartoons we all grew up with.
Rabbits, however, carry Cryptosporidium canis, a single-celled protozoan that causes bad butt. Parker, garbage dog that he is, finds rabbit poop as delicious as any other kind, and so he managed to give himself a lovely infection that has now cost me almost $100. (This figure includes the $10 the trainer charged me for cleaning up his dining room when Parker shared the experience with the entire day camp.)
You know, I feel bad for Parker, but I think somehow his life (and mine) would be more comfortable if he didn't eat rabbit poop. Now if only he had a working memory and could understand English...
I need a caption for this:
Possibly, "I am never drinking again..."
Parker is at day camp today, but he's not feeling great. I'm waiting to hear back from the vet on what, exactly, he ate last week. Our money is on rabbit poop, again.
Warm morning, park, big stick. Parker is happy:
And because everyone is back home, the ParkerCam is on today.
Nothing like a happy puppy running across a field at 6:30 in the morning...
No ParkerCam until next Thursday, and possibly no Daily Parkers until then, either. Sorry. Rest assured that Parker will be having as much fun as his fuzzy butt can handle at Day Camp during his absence from the Internet.
And come to think of it, with The Daily Parker around, on the Internet everyone does know you're a dog...
The Chicago Tribune published a short list of dog-friendly beer gardens this morning, but left Evanston's Tommy Nevin's Pub off the list. I guess Nevin's doesn't qualify as a beer garden per se. The omission notwithstanding, Parker and I will work our way through the list as the summer goes on.
No one (and no dogs) got hurt the other day when, according to my dog-walking service, someone mistook the accelerator for the brake pedal and plowed through their storefront in Evanston. Said the owner: "fortunately [our greyhound] Jupiter was staying home that day. He likely would have been doggy mush if he had been stationed in his usual place...!"
And the driver? "Oh, she's fine. And her car had hardly a scratch."
No word on when they expect their storefront to be repaired. All of the windows were destroyed; it's now a bunch of boards. Parker, totally unconcerned about this, will still have his usual walk today.
Watching for his buddies at the morning play group:
