It's about the time of the year where I usually like to make an update on how things are going and to reflect on the past three months of training and working with Markus. We originally started this as a way for us to remember that no matter what happens during training, it’s always good to pause and look at how much progress we’ve already made together.

As I write this, we've been going through one of the most unusual and unprecedented times of our lifetime due to COVID-19. Before I go further, I want to take a moment to thank all the frontline workers and those who put themselves at risk to keep the rest of us healthy and safe. For those of us who have been practicing social distancing, keep it up! Better days are ahead.

I want to make sure I’m putting everything into perspective. Many people around the world are going through tough times and my heart goes out to them. Our days have been unusual for the past two and a half months, sure, and we’ve been fortunate so far. The worst part is the social distancing and staying at home, which really isn’t even that bad. I still get to do the things that I enjoy doing, only now at home, and for that, I am grateful.

While writing for this blog, I've thought a lot about publishing updates from our road trip (from which we came back over two and a half months ago now) during these times. Is it in poor taste since people can’t do any traveling? Does it make it look like we're taking COVID-19 lightly? I hope not.

Instead, I hope that our posts serve as an escape of sorts, or thinking about better days when we can go out to explore again - to do hikes, trails and to take in the Pacific Northwest. When the travel restrictions are lifted, there are places we’d love to go to, but they’re still a long shot for now.

Looking back, I feel so fortunate about the timing of everything. Throughout the entire trip, we were keeping an eye on the latest developments both in Canada (since we're from Vancouver) and in the US since we were traveling through there. We were fortunate that we didn't have to cut our trip short and we were back well before the traveling restrictions were set. 

After spending two long weeks on the road, with 10-hour driving days visiting through national parks and state parks, we were glad to be home. If there was ever a good time mentally to be indoors for as long as we have, it would be coming off a vacation. At the time, we didn't think it would be for this long. Stepping back again to put everything into perspective, I'm grateful for the timing of everything and that we came back healthy.

Throughout these strange times, I’ve often wondered about Markus and his development. As far as we know, Markus has spent his entire life either on the streets of South Korea or at a rescue shelter. Then when my wife and I adopted him, we transitioned to leaving him at home alone pretty quickly since he was used to it from his rescue shelter days. Markus grew accustomed to having his alone time, so I can't help but wonder what a moment like this does to his development.

Basically from the start of the road trip until today, we will have spent nearly 3 months together with Markus (except for when we go out for errands like picking up groceries). I can't help but wonder if all this time together changes anything for him when things go back to normal.

I also wonder about his development interacting with other dogs. If you've been following this blog, you'll know that Markus was labelled as an aggressive dog by the rescue shelter. He went unadopted for over a year for that reason. We took a chance on him and committed bring him back to a place where he can play around and interact more naturally with other dogs.

Since bringing him over from South Korea, we discovered that he's not actually aggressive, but what would be considered reactive. He's a very calm dog, but there will be triggers that get him growling, barking or snapping at other dogs. We’ve been working with him to figure out what are the things that trigger him and and we’ve also been intentionally exposing him to stranger dogs so that we can become familiar to greeting and be greeted by new dogs.

We've really limited Markus to going out and meeting other dogs at the moment and that’s been a bit hard. We've extended his walks around the neighbourhood to try and offset the lack of doing to parks, but nothing beats being off-leash at a dog park to run with the other dogs. We’re hoping that this doesn’t stunt his development and all the work we’ve put in already.

Two weeks ago, we brought Markus to a dog park and to our relief, he did really well with the other dogs. It was a park/beach that had an open off-leash area (and Markus doesn't do well off-leash), but he was approached by many off-leash dogs while he was on-leash. He did surprisingly well - I might even say he did better than usual - and I both was very encouraged and relieved to see that.

Since we’ve been back, we’ve noticed Markus getting a lot more stubborn around the neighbourhood walk as well. He’s a smart dog, so at this point, he knows the turns in the neighbourhood, so he knows which turn leads to the short walk and which turn leads us further away from home. These days, as soon as we hit the corner, he'll start walking towards the long walk without missing a beat and if we tell him we’re doing the short walk today, he'll sit right down on the sidewalk.

Since we haven't been taking him to dog parks as much these days, we try to compensate by doing longer walks. We try to go through less familiar areas, but the more we discover new places, the more Markus is willing to just bypass these now familiar areas without stopping to sniff. Since we get to these new spots so quickly, we suddenly need to take a longer walk just so he can fully drain himself. We just hope that this doesn’t start a precedence for when things go back to normal and he’s just bypassing everything quickly so he can go farther.

I must say that I love this curious nature of Markus and it's a big part of why he’s the Pawcific Explorer. Whether he’s curious or just a hunter at heart, he loves to poke his head into bushes to see what he might find or pull me into eerie back alleys that even I don't want to go down. If we go to dog parks, he’s more likely to explore the perimeter of the park than play with other dogs. He's a little scout who just loves discovery.

So for that reason, I'm glad to have been able to bring him on a road trip to California, through Las Vegas and all the way to Arizona and Utah. I can’t help but to think about the contrast of what his everyday used to be - sleeping in a cage at the rescue shelter and being alone - to sleeping in a car and waking up in a new city or national park with us. My heart is full just thinking about his second chance at life.

Markus also did so well on the trip. As you would expect, he got more tired towards the end of the trip and he was able to fall asleep easier in the car and at the hotels. Even though there were so many new locations with unfamiliar people, Markus did extremely well staying by our side and meeting new people.

Most of all, I'm glad to have been able to do this trip with Markus. Without a dog, we likely would've just flown and we likely wouldn’t have hit as many spots as we ended up doing. To be able to do a two-week road trip and to get to say we drove all the way to the corner of Arizona/Utah is special. Considering the fact that immediately after the trip, we've now spent two and a half months (and counting) staying indoors and social distancing, it's a moment we're going to appreciate for a long time!

In our development with Markus, we’re constantly pushing for the next thing. We’re always trying new things to train and work with him - so much so that when something doesn’t go the way we expect it to, we can become discouraged or even frustrated.

Taking the time to reflect where things began helps us to appreciate where we are today and it gives us the boost for another day. Putting in perspective that Markus was a rescued dog who had difficulty being adopted because he was labeled as aggressive helps us to appreciate how far he’s come in his time with us.

The Paws & Reflect series is our way of pausing to appreciate all the progress Markus has made from his days as an aggressive dog at the rescue shelter. We revisit his past to help us put into focus all the great things he’s already accomplished with us.

We’re so grateful for your support of The Markus Project. We mostly choose our locations through searching and word of mouth. If you know of a park, trail or location you think we should check out, please share it with us. We’d love to know!