Going to the Park!

After the "oopsie" with the garage door, and the trip to the vet, Marcus wasn't necessarily happy with the concept of Aaron's car. it didn't help that his car is rather high, and that Marcus is somewhat strong willed. If he wants to get somewhere, he'll get there himself. He doesn't want you picking him up and helping him. He was a bit rambunctious today, even after going after 3 walks, so I decided to see if I could get him to jump into my car. My car is lower to the ground, and has more of a "step" for him to push up on. It also is out in the parking lot, and has more space on either side of it.

We've noticed in the past that Marcus can overcome fear by motivation. We'd got him steps to climb up to the couch (which I thought was too high for him to jump on), and he hated them until I blocked his access to me with a table, so the steps were the only option. Then he magically got over it. I didn't want to bribe Marcus with treats to get in my car because he'd gotten a lot at the vet's office (not to mention the big bully stick), so I put him on his leash, lead him to the car, and got inside the back seat. All I had to do was pat the seat once and he was in with me. Then I just slid over and got out the other side. I took him for a slow drive the one mile to the nearest park, and then we ran around on the walking paths like idiots until it started to rain. On the way back I got him up into my car the same way, and he was rewarded with Ice cubes (his favorite treat) when we got home.

I need to go back to the park with Aaron so he can hold the leash and I can take pictures of Marcus out in the wild!