Orion is improving with lots of TLC

Orion is doing really well. His big achievement was becoming brave enough to venture into the house about four days ago. We had carried him in when he was first here, but he didn't like being indoors at all and had remained living in the backyard and the garage (where we carried him) at night. Anyway, earlier in the week, I was walking inside from the yard and turned to close the door behind me, and there was Orion with his big paw on the step. He walked up and came gingerly inside. Now, of course, he only goes outside to relieve himself!!
He likes looking out the front windows at the goings-on in the 'hood. He loves lying on the various dog beds in the living room, and although they are extra-large, he can't fit his whole body on, so either his butt or his head lolls on the floor. I bought two queen-size egg crate foam pads and put them down for him with a quilt, so he can stretch out completely, without rolling off!

I took him to the off-leash park yesterday and he loved it. I was afraid that he wouldn't be able to make it all the way around the circuit, but he did, and he wasn't overly-tired afterwards. His stamina has greatly improved.

His other milestone is that he had a bath in the back yard last night, so he is clean and relatively fluffy. He tolerated the process much better than I thought he would.

My biggest dilemma is that he has practically every disease/parasite, but I don't want to give him too many drugs. Right now, I am treating the Lyme's and the Giardia only. Unfortunately, the Lyme's medicine decreases appetite, so he is not gaining as much weight as I would like. It's a trade-off, because his joints are better, which could be a result of the Lyme's treatment. Once he is over the diarrhea from the Giardia, hopefully, he will gain more weight.

His favorite foods are hamburger and cottage cheese, and his eyes light up when he sees his big silver bowl coming four times a day.

Of all our dogs, he chose the 12 year-old Dachsund, Darwin, to be the focus of his first (and only) play attack. He put his giant paw and maw on Darwin's back and was not received gracefully. Darwin squealed in terror, and scared Orion to death!

His drooling is much reduced now that he is feeling better, but I remain vigilant on drool patrol after he eats and drinks.
He is scared of the camera, so getting pics is a challenge. One has to pretend not to focus on him and hide the camera while shooting, but I have attached two photos taken on the fly.

DeeDee