Duck, duck, MOOSE

[a.k.a. Rodney]

I was walking DerbyDoodle this afternoon, and on my neighbors drive was a full sized male deer.
Man, did I take a double take. He was standing quite still...and his antlers were fuzzy and looked immature ...as if they were growing
I prayed DerbyDoodle. Didn't make a sound or freak out when she saw him..she did neither, but here's the kicker.....how dangerous are they? Could he have charged us? Think you have a tic problem....we have at least a dozen living in the small wooded area near our house. That's why I a.m. In con flight over using a flea/ tic preventative

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Thanks, Joanne. This was very helpful. 

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Cook County?
35.96% tested were positive. Geesh, this makes me feel awful.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Jeepers.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

But the stats warn to take into account lifestyle ( such as hiking in the woods or dogs living outside), and if the dogs are given flea and tick preventative ( which we do!)

[F, Calla & Luca]

Yes, I understand that but in the past, usually worst in the fall my dogs have gotten ticks in the yard and have even had ticks embedded.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I was surprised by that. Although Cook County does contain some extensive forest preserves and encompasses a lot of the most wooded suburbs. 

But you don't normally have a dog tested for Lyme disease unless there is a reason, like they have symptoms, lol. That doesn't mean that if you tested all the dogs in Cook Co., 35.95% would be positive. 

And the whole state of Illinois only had 2.43% of all confirmed cases of Lyme disease. 

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

True, it never says how the stats were collected. Was it random selection in someone's thesis or they tested because a dog was sick?
I suppose you would need to read the true research where the stats came from.

[F, Calla & Luca]

BTW, I heard something about a possible new vaccine for humans for Lyme.

[Lynette Main]

Kinda  scary. I've seen what they can do when watching Animal Planet ..