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.

Since our last update, we made an impromptu trip to Bellevue with Markus. It was a quick overnight trip, but we managed to squeeze a lot into the two days. We also brought Markus back into the office again this week and we discovered the horse brush.

An Impromptu Trip to Bellevue

My birthday happened to land on a Friday, so we decided to take the day off to spend it south of the border. We didn't really have a place in mind, so we just looked for a good hotel deal around the Seattle area and we went for it.

We ended up staying at Hotel 116, which is next to one of my favourite places - Chik-fil-A. We've passed by this hotel before, but this was the first time we're staying here. You can read about our stay here, including some of the other things that we did on this trip like our visit to Snoqualmie Falls Park.

We're happy to say that Markus has been doing a lot better with these types of trips. He still doesn't settle in the car when we're on the road, but we think we've improved his setup now so that at least he's both comfortable and safe in the moving car.

One of the things that's still been hard for us is that Markus doesn't always sleep well when we're at the hotel. Whenever he hears noises like footsteps or voices in the hallway, his guard dog mentality kicks in and he'll sometimes bark at the noise if he feels threatened by it. 

On overnighters like this, it's not too bad if we don't get to sleep all the way through, but part of the reason why we actively do trips like this is so that Markus can get more exposure to staying in places that isn't his home. At the very least, we also want to be courteous to the other guests in the hotel as well, so we're hoping this is something that he gets used to quickly.

The Office Dog

Lately, we've been bringing Markus to the office a lot more. We feel that it gives Markus a bit of extra stimulation on an otherwise plain stay-at-home workweek. Bringing him into the offices is good for development as he gets to meet new people going in and out of the office.

What's also fun is that some days there are other dogs in the office too. It's always good for Markus to get more exposure with the new dogs, since it is the biggest thing we're training him on.

We're comfortable bringing Markus into the office a lot more now because he's such a good dog and he genuinely brings joy around the office. He can get through the day without ever barking at people or the other dogs, so people don't mind that he's there. We're at the point now where other employees are stashing treats (that we've approved) at their desks hoping Markus makes a stop.

Markus is a hit around the office. Even though he still gets startled by noises or people every now and then, it's nice to see him settle in to new places.

The Horse Brush Thing

At a recent get together with our dog friends, one of them was getting groomed on a bench when we arrived. We noticed that instead of the typical dog grooming tools, the owner was holding onto what looked like a wooden block that we haven't seen before. The thing that impressed us were the chunks of fur getting brushed off at a time.

After that session, we got to try out the block, which was perfect since it was also Markus' shedding season. After our first session, we went on Amazon and purchased a SleekEZ Grooming Tool for ourselves. My goodness. This tool shaved off so much time per session and for dogs like Shiba Inus who have infamous shedding seasons, it's a godsend.

Let me just clarify here because it's not just a wooden block. It's a block with a blade on one edge. The blade is what grabs the fur and brushes it out of the dog.

We discovered in our research that the tool was originally made for grooming horses. A subset of dog owners started using it for their dogs and they've taken off as grooming tools for dogs too. They have since released smaller brushes that are fit for dogs and we can attest to its effectiveness.

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!