A two-year-old Bernese Mountain Dog was just trying to have some good, clean fun with its owners at popular canine haunt Fort Funston.
But Pat Schoof and her husband tell KRON4 that their pet pride and joy, Norm, began acting strangely when the couple brought him home from the beach.
Norm ran up and down the halls. Norm spun in circles. Norm bit and snapped and things that were not there.
Schoof took her dog to the veterinarian with a rapid heart rate and other mysterious symptoms. Tests determined Norm had ingested the drug PCP — and weeks later, the now docile dog is still occasionally lashing out. He's now being tested for brain damage and other lasting effects.
PCP, also known as angel dust, Love Boat, lovely, and elephant tranquilizer, has quite a history San Francisco. As Howard Abadinsky writes in Drug Use and Abuse: A Comprehensive Introduction, the dissociative anesthetic gained street popularity here in the 1970s under the dubious name of the "peace pill."
Norm's incident, however, is reminiscent of the evil meatball poisoner targeting dogs as recently as the end of last year — a sick puppy if there ever was one.
The PCP ingesting thing is likely unintentional and not malicious, but it's nonetheless dangerous. Schoof isn't passing judgment, though. She and Norm just want drug users to do their substances safely and, keep them out of the way of others — specifically children and pets — who might be harmed in the process.
Related: Is San Francisco Rec & Parks Giving Your Dog Cancer?
