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.

This week, we wanted to do a check in with our mid-year update for 2019. It’s been a really fast moving, but fun year for us and we always look forward to these moments where we almost force ourselves to pause and look at and appreciate all the things that we've gotten to do so far this year. 

The Raw Food Diet Update

Checking in to our 2019 New Year’s Resolution post, the top thing that we wanted to do with Markus was switch him to a raw food diet. We’ve been on this diet for about 6 months now and it’s been such a success that we regret not having started it with him sooner!

In the beginning, there was admittedly a lot of hesitation from our end, but once we got started with it, we got into a good routine and got used to the mess that it can sometimes create. Markus has been fully enjoying the food and he gets excited for his meals, which was something he never used to previously have.

When we were feeding Markus the dry dog food, it didn’t matter the type of protein we were giving him. He would eat his meals, but he usually didn't fully finish it. Only towards the end when we were giving him Valens was he starting to finish his meals more consistently. 

Since switching Markus to raw food diet, we’ve tried him on chicken, beef and turkey and he's finished everything (except one time) that we've given him so far. The one protein that he didn't like was the raw beef, but we still managed to mix it into his other raw meat and over the course of two or three weeks, we managed to get through all of it. Looking ahead, we also want to try duck with him and seeing how he already does with his other birds, we think he’ll enjoy it as well.

An update on exploring the PNW

Even though we’re only halfway into the year, we’ve taken Markus out to a few trips already. The farthest we've gone this year was all the way down to the Woodburn area (about half an hour south of Portland) in Oregon to see the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival. We got to spend a few days in downtown Portland and its surrounding areas and we had a blast. In true Pawcific Explorer fashion, we also managed to do some hikes and visited some tourist attractions in the area. 

We wrote about our time in Portland and the surrounding areas which you can read about here!

Aside from Portland, we've also already been to Bellevue (again) and Issaquah in Washington earlier this year and we have another trip to Sunshine Coast planned in the next couple of weeks. It's awesome to see that in half a year, we been able to travel up and down the I-5 throughout the Pacific Northwest a handful of times with Markus already.

Looking back, it's always striking to contrast these trips and adventures with Markus back to his rescue shelter or street dog days. When we first adopted him, we were told that he would be aggressive or reactive and we suspected that our travel plans could end up changing significantly and we were prepared for it.

Last year ended being quite a learning experience and we got to know Markus and his quirks and ticks in our first full year together. Coming into this year and having gotten to know him, our goal was to ramp up the travelling to what we were previously doing before we adopted a dog.

It’s been so rewarding to see Markus go from the rescue dog who spent over a year in a cage at a rescue shelter to a dog who is excited to hop into a car to see where we go next. For us, although travelling is a bit different now, it’s been a lot of fun making these overnight trips with Markus. He’s become an explorer of the Pacific Northwest as much as we have and he’s really wearing the title of the Pawcific Explorer.

As mentioned, we have a trip planned in a couple of weeks and a few more for the rest of this year. With all of these trips lined up, we can’t wait to take those trips and to share them with you afterwards as well. 

We hope that you’re able to get out there and to explore the Pacific Northwest with us. If your dog is reactive, we hope that our blog has been helping to act as a guide - at the very least to give you a few things to look out for or maybe things to expect while you're there.

We thank everyone for all your support and if there’s a place you think we should visit, you can let us know! We’d love to hear them!

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!