The Roadtrip and the Coronavirus

Markus looking unimpressed watching other dogs pass by outside while stuck indoors

The Road Trip Thing

Markus sitting in his hammock in the middle seat of the car

We just got back from a two-week long road trip. It was the longest road trip that we've taken with Markus to date. It was interesting to watch him as we got deeper into the trip. At the beginning of the trip, he had a harder time settling and was more on guard and very interested in where we were going. As the trip went along, he got very good at settling into new places, but was still always keen on exploring. There were some long driving and tiring days, but Markus was a trooper throughout the trip and especially in the car.

For day-to-day travel, we usually leave Markus in the back of our SUV since there's a lot more room for him. For road trips, we put him in the middle seats with seat covers, a bed and blankets for him to settle. We use like to this seat cover, which is great because it’s a hammock style and he can’t fall forward onto the floor. It also prevents him from coming forward to the front, which can be dangerous. We usually set it up We do this so that he's closer to us and we're also able to give him attention if he needed any since we drive for such long stretches at a time. Markus seems to enjoy looking out the front windshield, but will settle when he realizes there's really nothing much to see. We did find that towards the end of the trip, he was beginning to settle more quickly whenever we get into the car.

We also make sure to stop every two hours or so - for all of us to stretch our legs and to get some fresh air. As much as possible, these stops tend to be at parks that are closer to the highways, which gives him a chance to explore and for us to actually use our legs to walk around. This also allows us to enjoy the community, even if it's a quick stop, as opposed to just stopping at a gas station.

Our road trip took us from Vancouver to Los Angeles (through Eugene and Sacramento), over to Las Vegas, Arizona to see the Grand Canyon and Utah to see some arches, Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon. On the way back, we made stops at Lake Tahoe and Crater Lake (with stops at Redding and Mt. Hood). Being able to visit all these states and national parks were something that we've wanted to do, but up until this road trip, we really never considered driving. Obviously Markus isn't able to comprehend the significance of these locations, but it is special for us to see him at these places considering he was abandoned and then having spent so much at the rescue shelter unadopted.

Since some national parks have restrictions for dogs, our visits were limited to the things that we were allowed to do with Markus. As part of our updates, we will be sharing about what you can do with a dog with each of these locations. We also plan to break down some of the places we stayed at so that you can have some sort of a guide if you're ever planning on doing a similar road trip. The trip as a whole was an incredible, but tiring, experience and we are excited to share everything with you in the upcoming weeks!

The Coronavirus Update

Since we've been back from our the road trip, we've been in self-quarantine. The Coronavirus is rocking the world right now and although we don't have any symptoms and spent most of the time to ourselves in a car, we wanted to play it safe for those around us. We're a few days into the quarantine and it's been a massive contrast going from 14 days on the road to 14 days without leaving home. That said, having spent all that time on the road, it's actually not a bad thing to just sit and relax at home (although we didn't expect this much). We'll see how long that lasts.

Part of me wonders if this will change anything with Markus. He's used to us being out of the house for long stretches of time during the work day, but we will have been together for a full month by the end of our quarantine. When we adopted Markus, he quickly adjusted to being left alone at home likely because he had spent so much time at the rescue shelter where he was left alone. This is the first time where he will have spent nearly all hours of the day with us for about an entire month, so we're hoping he doesn't get too used to attached to this when things go back to normal.

Markus practicing his best meerkat at home with a little bit of assistance

We're taking this time away from dog parks to keep Markus active by training him on new tricks and letting him run around the yard. We're trying to teach him to wave and to sit pretty (which, we calling meerkat since "sit pretty" is too similar to "sit"). He's picked up wave pretty quickly and he can do it with both hands, but he's struggling a bit with meerkat. When he sits upright, he starts to fall backwards. That's okay since there's plenty of time to work on training up his core strength.

Stay safe out there (or in there, rather)!

Raising Markus is the series where we share stories about our time raising Markus. Said to be aggressive and having gone unadopted for over a year, Raising Markus is the story of a rescued dog from Korea given a second opportunity, now in Vancouver, Canada. This series will include the lessons, joys and struggles of dog owners fumbling our way through our first adoption. The hope is that if you're considering rescuing a dog of your own, our stories are useful to you.

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!