It all started with a tiny motorhome and a rescue dog.

In November 2019, Tom and I moved from Australia to the USA to explore more with our rescue dog, Alaska. We weren’t able to explore many public lands In Australia, since dogs aren’t allowed on any National Park land, and that’s a majority of the continent.

Before we adopted Alaska, we had decided that exploring with our rescue dog was the most important thing to us. Alaska’s life was too short to not take her on every adventure possible. So we did the sensible thing: sold everything, moved across the world to the USA, and bought an RV to live in. We felt that this was the best way to travel with our rescue dog so we could seek out dog-friendly National Parks and towns. We started a blog, YouTube channel and Instagram called The Dog in Us – we wanted to find the dog in the USA and in ourselves.

As we traveled across the USA, the pandemic was spreading across the world. So we decided that after this adventure we would find somewhere to settle. In August 2020, we visited Bend for a month in the RV. We had heard intriguing things about it, but we wanted to see for ourselves. Even though we weren’t able to do much inside, we discovered Bend’s dog-friendly natural wonder and fell in love. After Alaska was given a dog treat at the recycling center, we were sold.

So we wanted to bring something to Bend that might help local dogs and their adventure partners. A resource that can strengthen the Bend dog community during a time when we all need to come together – so we started The Dog Guide Bend.

This resource is our homage to this incredible high desert center of Oregon – the most dog-friendly town in the USA. Come with us to discover the dog-friendly in this beautiful town, because our dogs deserve it.

Do you love Bend and are obsessed with exploring with your dogs? We would love to meet you and your dog/s! Send us an email at ely@thedogguidebend.com.