Parkside Pet Corner: Bailey Purcival

By Judith Sanders

Bailey is the furry family member of longtime resident and councilmember, Shirley Purcival. He is a 10 years young, feisty Toy Yorkie weighing in at a svelte fighting weight of 5lbs. Bailey was diagnosed with a canine form of Leukemia, an immune system (or blood) cancer at the tender age of 3 years old. If you think that diagnosis slowed little man down, you'd be sadly mistaken. With the careful supervision of his human mother, Shirley, which can mean management of 3 to 4 medications a day (based on his remission) and numerous tests including bone marrow on his hips, Bailey remains just as spry and playful as ever. That doesn't mean any of this is easy on either human parent or our valiant pup. For that you sometimes need a superhero wearing a white coat.

Enter Dr. Laurie Prober of Pinnacle Vet Specialist, who has brought not only her expertise to the management of this health crisis but also her compassion for both patient and parent. With her aid, pet mommy and pet were able to navigate this illness with style and a little bit of sass. As to the sass part, Mr. Bailey has it in spades. He regards himself as something of a street guardian, watching over our little borough from the comfort of his recliner and letting the trucks and the pedestrians that dare pass by know who's the boss of the West side. It's not all looks or personality with this pup either, he is super smart, like possibly Wyle E. Coyote smart.

Bailey does all his commands with verbal and non-verbal cues and can even 'high five' if you are cool enough to deserve one. He knows exactly where his treats come from and when he thinks it is time for him to have one, he will park himself next to the treat bowl and refuse to move until he is thus favored. And if you can't tell from the pictures…he's a bit of a ham.

If you know a pet you would like featured in the newsletter, contact aguy@parksideborough.com