Like how the disease you created is very realistic. A dog can easily obtain a disease from another animal and infect the family in which it lives with. It is very easy considering the amount of time humans spend with their dogs if they own one. We wash them, give them food, sometimes their slobber get on our hands, and pet them all the time. This disease also makes me wonder if squirrels do carry any serious diseases. I've never heard of them carrying any serious disease, but if they did it would be a major epidemic because they're all over the place in the U.S. Dying of dehydration is a pretty rough way to die, but the disease is very creative and realistic.