Most dog owners handle parasites without thinking about it. You buy a tablet, hide it in a treat, done. In remote tropical communities where the nearest vet is hours or days away, it is not that simple, and the consequences run deeper than a sick dog. A field trial published last year asked a plain question: when community members run the treatment themselves, which programs actually work? The answer matters well beyond one stretch of northern Australia. Anyone managing parasites in free-roaming dogs, on an island, in a village, or in an under-resourced shelter, can learn something here. Why this is a public health problem, not just a dog problem…