VAN LIFE |TRAVEL WITH A DOG for SOLO FEMALE | Pros and Cons

Hello everyone, this is Vivi and this is Marco. So today I just want to share with you some of my experiences that I have had for probably almost 3 years now traveling with my dog Marco. So if you are a solo traveler or if you travel in a family or a couple, van drivers, van livers and you have been thinking about getting a dog, I know that this is going to be very useful information for you. So make sure that you keep watching on. But before that, don't forget to subscribe to my channel so you can receive tips like this. There is a subscribe button on the right side of the video, it's a little red button on the right side. So you just click there and subscribe. So I'm talking a lot about my experiences during the past two years, over two years I've been traveling in the van and also my personal growth through the process. And it would be really helpful for you. And hopefully that will inspire you to live a free life as well. Okay, so traveling with a dog, what is it like to travel with a dog in a van? Would it be so much work or would it be costing you a lot of money? So if you haven't had a dog and you are on the road and you have been thinking about one, so you probably, you probably imagine what would it be like to travel with a dog on the pros and cons, right? So I'm going to share with you all the positive and negative side of traveling with my dog. I'm living in a van like this for over two years now. So let me share with you all the cons first, and then we're going to go to the pros. So the first thing that I noticed is that if you are active like me, and if you go on a hike a lot, then having a dog may limit you to some of the beautiful hikes that you that you may not be able to get to because not all the hikes, not all the trails are actually dog friendly. So especially in the summertime, because normally you would hike during the summertime, right? And it would be difficult for you to leave a dog behind in the summer. And for me, I just feel like it's hard for me to leave Marco behind because he loves hiking so much and he loves to be outdoor in nature so much. So even though if I had to leave him behind in the van, if it's not really a hard day, I do feel really guilty and honestly, I don't enjoy the hike as much because I always love bringing him on the hike with me. So that is one downside. But at the same time, it's like there are so many beautiful places out there. So it's like we don't, I don't feel like I have to see it all. So I want to see as many places as I can with Marco. And there's a lot of hikes out there that allow dogs and they're still very, very beautiful because we are in BC right now. And there's just like millions of hiking trails like everywhere. And it's just not impossible. It's just not possible to really see everything and go on every hike. So but there are a few hikes that I really, really wanted to do, but it's just not so possible for me to do it because of Marco. And also backcountry hiking as well, where I would like to challenge myself someday to do backcountry hiking for several days. But again, it's not really possible to do that with my dog. So I would have to get someone to take care of him first before I can do that. So that could be a little bit of a trouble. But for now, like I'm happy the way that it is. I can't just go on any trails or any places that are dog friendly. And there's still so many places to see. And it's just, yeah, it's not really possible to see everything. So I don't feel like I miss out a lot because I have my dog. Secondly, about food and space for the dog, because if you live in a van like me, a small space like me, having a dog can take up quite a bit of space because you would need some space for dog food. You may not be able to get like a big bag of dog food that will last for months. Like for me, I'm still able to get like about 7 kilogram bag that would last me for like about a month because Marco is about midsize dog. So luckily he doesn't require like a lot of food. I don't have to store up like so much food for months in advance. So it's still doable to like go pick up food for him like once a month. But definitely I cannot give him raw food and I would require to have like a big freezer to store it. So if you like to feed your dog raw food, then you would need to have a bigger space for a bigger freezer. Like my freezer literally like about this big. So I only have enough room for ice, like a bag of ice would like take up like the whole space of the freezer or just some bags of like frozen foods. So and some space like a storage for your dog's clothes and doggy bags and toys and all that stuff. And and of course their bed as well. So Marco does have his own bed. So it's like right by the side of my bed. So I can show you in the picture somewhere, but he he does like to sleep with me. So during the day he sleeps on my bed and sometimes he does like he would like take up, he would just like lay in the middle of the bed and just take up like the whole bed and he he would not like to move. I ask him to move. So space for your dog is something that you would have to consider whether your your place is big enough and section about one or two hours in your day to walk your dog. So if say if you are a digital nomad and you have to walk around the clock and you don't get to be so active that it may not be suitable to have a dog, especially if you are getting a puppy to it, they require a lot of exercise and that's also depend on the breed as well. But for me, we go on hikes quite often and I really enjoy to be outside, so Marco is outside with me very often. So it doesn't really bother me that much like to section a time, like a slot of time in my day to walk him like I would walk him early in the morning, like at least. Well, not really early, we don't wake up that early, but at least half an hour, half an hour in the morning when we wake up and then we would do hikes during the day and then I would give him like about five or 10 minutes walk at night before bedtime. So you just have to be mindful in grade or like in grade, but like, yeah, you just have to section those time and how to work it out with your schedule. So that's another thing that will be more time for your dog, right? And let's see what else I have to list in here. And the size of your dog. Oh, and if your dog barks a lot like Marco, it can be pretty noisy to sleep at night, especially if I when I stay in the city and if it's not like a quiet neighborhood and a lot of people walking around, people, because it's in a city, like people stay up very early at night. Marco would be barking all the time and sometimes it wakes me up like at two or three a.m. in the morning. And it's just. Yeah, you won't be able to get such a good quality sleep, so you will have to get like some go somewhere pretty quiet and pretty remote, so you have to know the city pretty well in order to find a quiet space. So best for me is in nature because Marco doesn't bark as much as nobody around, so I can have a much better sleep. And it's normally darker in remote places as well, like out here in nature is it's so dark and it's so quiet, so it's a lot easier for me to sleep. OK, so and the dog size. I think this is number four, number five now. Yeah, the dog size. So whether you should get a big dog or a small dog, what kind of dog you should get, right? So in my opinion, like about midsize dog or a bigger dog would be better for solo female traveler because it feels safer as well. And so that would bring me to. Discussing the pros, and so I can explain you a little bit better about the dog sizes, like whether what kind of dog size that you you should get. So the number one thing. And the other side of having a dog is absolutely having a companionship, if you are a solo traveler is sometimes very lonely in a small house or in remote places, if you are outside of the city all the time. Yes, it can be pretty lonely to be on your own. I don't mind being on my own, to be honest, sometimes I really enjoy being by myself. But having Marco is a just a plus to me and. And because of his unique look, it's like people will always come to me and talk to me and ask me about him, and sometimes I get to my friends that way as well. So it's like your dog is kind of like your wingman in a way, so so you can either make friends or like it's not it, it well. It can be pretty usual to hook up with by having a dog, I hear a lot of stories like that, people meet by their dogs. So definitely it would help to start conversation with other people a lot easier for having a dog. So that's a positive side, and the second point is safety, and this one is huge, especially for a female. For me, when I stay in the city and by the way, Marco happens to be a guard dog, so that's just extra helpful for me. I actually didn't know that when I adopted him in Vietnam, he was he was just kind of mixed with I don't I really don't know how he would turn out when I got him and dog in Vietnam, they are just I would say they are a bit untamed, like they are not trained like dogs here in America, in Canada, in US, because when Marco's mom has an owner, but like the guy, he's fairly old and he never really trained his dog, and he just kind of let the dog roam around on the street. So I wouldn't say that dogs in Vietnam are very trained and they still carry that wild instinct, I guess a little bit more than dogs here in America. So Marco is very stubborn, and he does have very, would I say that like, like he knows what he wants, and he would be very firm to let me know that that's what he wants. So he's very forward, very demanding. But at the same time, he's very cuddly and he's very protective. And he's really good being on his duty. It's like he's so passionate about being a guard dog. And so he tends to be more protective of me. So when I walk in the city and if there's any homeless that approach me or even like a big guy, we just happen to pass by a man that carries something or like a fishing hook, he would bark at them and he would not let them come close to us. So that's just one thing that I realized that it would be very helpful for especially females to have a dog because people would not attack you or less likely to attack you if you have a dog with you. But a guard dog is just like an extra way of being protective. And even here and in the nature, several times Marco actually alerted me if there's a bear or some kind of wild animal passed by. So it actually happened just so in Revelstoke that we were walking in the neighborhood at night. So I was just letting Marco out to pee at night before bed. And there was a bear that really passing by our van and we were walking back toward the van because it was dark so I didn't see it. My vision is not really great at night either. There was this street light, but I didn't expect to see a bear in the neighborhood. It's not even like in the jungle, in the forest or anything. We were not that remote. And Marco caught the bear before me and he started to growl. He didn't bark so loud, but he started to growl and he alerted me that there was something ahead and there was some kind of danger. And then I started to realize there was something moving like a black figure that was moving in front of us. And so I just retreat back the other way. I don't know if the bear saw us though, but we just retreat back and just wait for the bear to pass by the van. And there was like bushes around, so it was kind of hard to see whether it was still around the van, whether it would be safe for us to walk back. So I just kind of gauged, like as I stepped forward, I just kind of gauged the situation by observing Marco and like his behavior. Like if he sensed the bear is still around, like he would growl like louder or he would bark louder. But then like he didn't react as much and so I was like, OK, maybe it would be OK to get back to the van now. So there was like several, it happens like about two or three times like that in Revelstoke. Like one time we were in the van, so that was OK. But there was another time that I was just sitting on the bench like by the trail. And again, this is like a trail that's very close to houses and neighborhood. But there was like he caught like a black figure moving in the bush, like just across from us, like on the other side of the trail. And he barked like ferociously and he was, he went on barking for a few minutes. Like in the beginning, I didn't notice it. I thought he was just barking at people walking by for no reason. And then when he really stared at that specific size, like that bush. And then I and then I started to to realize and I watched the bush for a little while and I realized that there was some kind of animal that inside the bush and behind the tree. And it was moving. It was black. So it was hard to see. I know I was hoping it would not be cougar because I'm really afraid of cougar. But maybe it was a bear. Who knows? I couldn't see it. And but Marco was really, really nervous and he barked really loudly and and there was nobody around at that time. So I just took Marco to go to the other side of the trail and move away from it. And it was just right in front of my van, too. Again, it's like I had to wait for probably like 15, 20 minutes and just to observe the area to see whether it's safe to get back to the van. So it's like Marco really saved us like several times there. So I definitely really, really recommend for having a dog, especially if you are a solo female traveler and you go into remote places quite often like I do. And definitely it would be so much safer to to have a dog. And OK, and about that's the second point I want to make about safety. The first one is it would help you to avoid bugglers or people that would break into your van by having a dog inside. So Marco, he has really sensitive ears, so he would pick up quite a lot, like he would pick up like really little noise. So if he hears something really suspicious, then he would bark and he would let me know. So that's the reason why it's very noisy for me to sleep in the city. But out here, like in the wild, it's fine. And so people are less likely to break into your van at night if they hear a dog bark, like bugglers wouldn't break in or steal something if they know that there's a dog inside. It's getting more attention and also because the owner may be inside as well. And also, so that's also happened during the day when I leave Marco inside the van alone, like. And I just happen to go to grocery shopping or go to work when I still work in Vancouver, then I could just leave him outside my van alone and I would still feel a lot safer. And I know that people would not break into my van because I know that there's a few instances in Vancouver like people got break in quite often in Vancouver, actually, even if it's not in ghetto places. And so that is a huge upside of having a dog for safety. And lastly, number three is unconditional love. It's just like having Marco, it's just like the experience is so indescribable. It's like for me, it's like the first time I finally understand what it is to love unconditionally. It sounds really cliche, but it is really true. Like I never really know like how to, I never actually feel or even know that whether I could love like something or some being like this much by Marco. And I know that he really loves me, too. It's like I never understood what unconditional love is or what it is like to love unconditionally until I have Marco. And it took me a long way to get there. It took me a long way to finally understand that because it was a lot that we have to go through together. It was a lot for me to get him from Vietnam to U.S. and we did a road trip there to get to Canada and now living in a van. So it's like we learned to communicate over time, like in the beginning, I didn't understand him so much. And he's very creative in figuring out a way to communicate with me. Like I said, he's very forward and he is quite demanding and he knows what he wants. And so he would have to find a way because he cannot communicate with me by words. So he would have to find a way to express it either by the way he looks at me or like he would have to do something to get my attention and to get me to understand him. And so it's like the longer we are together, the more we get to understand each other. And he knows all my routine very well. And it's like I never really like because before having Marko, I was like I didn't know what it is like to love unconditionally. It's like even like if he upsets me or something, like I was like I would forgive him easily. And even if he runs away chasing the deers and not coming back and got me really upset and worried, I could still like forgive him easily. It's like I love him so much that it's like I don't know if I could ever possibly love any being this much. And and even if I step on his toes several times, like he got pissed at me. He made sure to let me know that he was like, I'm not happy. And he would just yelp and and he would let me know that he's not happy. But then a couple of minutes later, he would come and cuddle with me. So, yeah, that I yeah, it's it's kind of indescribable to to like, yeah, I don't know how to describe like what it is to in order to love a dog or being this much. But it's definitely feels really rewarding, even like on the struggles or other things that I have to give up when I have a dog, like I can't fly. So that's another downside as well. I can't fly or go somewhere else. Because if I fly somewhere, I would miss him so much so he can fly with me if I want to go to Europe or travel internationally. So driving on the road is probably the best way for for me to travel. And that's why van life is so perfect for us to travel together. But in the future, maybe we can figure out some way to probably fly somewhere to Europe, I hope, and explore and explore Europe together. But for now, I'm happy the way that it is with Marco. So now I want to look back about after I explain about safety, I just want to look back and discuss about the dog size and just to give you some more insight, like what type of dog that you should get. And because Marco is perfect for me to live in a van like this because he doesn't take up like enormous space and I wouldn't have so much space for myself. If I have like a bigger dog, like German Shepherd or like Golden Retriever, that would be a little bit too tight for me. It would be still possible, but yes, it would be really, really tight and I won't be able to walk around so much. So I think Marco is perfect. It's a mid-sized dog. So I would recommend to have like a mid-sized dog or a little bit bigger if you are going to have a guard dog. So after weighing on the pros and cons, in my opinion, every pros, like every point in the pros, feel like it weighs a little bit heavier than the cons, right? Because there's a much bigger aspect for having like a good and a better quality of life, in my opinion, like to have companionship, less lonely, safety, unconditional love and all that stuff. So I feel like those pros are more important to consider when you travel by yourself. And on the cons that having a dog, it seems to me like they are still solvable, like those are the issues that are still possible to be replaced or you can get creative to work it out for you somehow. So on these cons, do not weigh as much as on these pros. That's just my opinion, but you may have different values and some of these cons can be pretty important to you. So you're the one who to say like whether this point weighs a bit more for me or a bit less for me. So now if you are still consider about getting a dog, I really hope that you do adopt a dog at the shelter to really help dogs being put down by not having enough space in in the shelter. And if you do adopt a puppy, keep in mind that you would have to spend some time with the puppy and train them and all that stuff. I got Marco as a puppy and I would have to say that with puppy, they would be so much more attached to you as they grow up and they would not run away as easily. Like I know for sure that Marco doesn't run away from me, even if he does and he's had fun chasing all the squirrels, then he would still come back to me. The only one incident that I think he was chasing the deers for like probably 15 or 20 minutes and I was just running around. I was worried so much and it was actually a fence in area, but there was a couple of spots that it wasn't it wasn't completely fenced. So he jumped out of the open area and he was chasing the deers and crossed the street. I was so worried that he would get hurt himself because he ran so fast, I couldn't see like what direction that he was running after. And so I was just screaming, Marco, Marco. But like after he did come back to me, he was just so exhausted and he was just laying on down in the grass and he was like, I couldn't move anymore. So it's like I don't worry so much about him not coming back, but I'm more worried about him hurting himself if he goes off leash. So but if you do adopt like an adult dog, it's less likely that you can let them go off leash often because they may not be so attached to you and they may run away. Right. So having a puppy is an advantage for that reason. And I know that some shelter do have puppies if you prefer adopting a puppy. They are cuter as well. But having said that, I don't mean that adult dog is not attachable or they are not turnable. Like it really depends on the breed as well. So you just have to go there and feel them out and see which one would be a better fit for you. You just have to feel the energy. Right. And one last thing I would like to mention about a dog energy as well. So puppies tend to have more energy. It also depends on the breed as well. It's an adult dog, depends on the breed, the type of dog, whether they have they may have more energy than usual if these are guard dogs or herding dogs or hunting dogs. For Marco, he got a little bit of everything. So he actually had quite a bit of energy when he was younger, like around one year old or younger. Like I would have to walk him for like four or five times a day. But now that he's three years old, he's a lot less active. So it doesn't require me to exercise so much. But regardless, I enjoy being outside, like I said. So it doesn't bother me so much to give him a walk or going on a hike with him. And I think I covered all the points for the pros and cons and adopt a dog. So, yes, I really, really hope that you would consider adopt a dog at the shelter. That would be really helpful for a lot of dogs that are being abandoned. And if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to comment in the video. I know that would be very, very helpful, especially for female traveler out there. And I think in the next video or the next section, if this video is too long, I'm going to cut it and do it the next video. I will cover some tips during the summertime when it gets too hot, like what you should do, like how you should prepare for your dog. By staying inside of a van, especially one like me. So I hope that you learned some things in this video. I hope that this is helpful. And yes, don't be shy to ask questions. I will catch you in the next video. Have a wonderful day, everyone. Bye.