Christmas time, Daylight Savings & Naked Beasts
Markus choosing the dehydrated whole quail from Naked Beasts
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.
It's that time of the year! Well, kind of. It's still fall, but is it ever too early to celebrate Christmas? Yeah, probably. Besides, it’s almost as if Christmas came early this year with Markus' order of Naked Beasts Snacks arriving! They're whole prey dehydrated meat treats and we're excited to be sharing about them with you.
It's Christmas time
Our Christmas tree with Markus’ stocking (right) hanging above his toy chest
It's after Halloween so you know what that means: Christmas time.
In our household, Christmas is our favourite season of the year, so when it comes, it comes early. In fairness to ourselves, we’re pretty good at taking the decorations down almost as quickly when Christmas is over, so we basically have the decorations up as long as the average household.. right?
I do wonder if Markus remembers these decorations. When we adopted him last year, the decorations were already up and they wouldn’t still been up for another month or so. I also wonder if dogs ever pee on the trees inside the house, but it's not like our tree is real anyways so Markus isn’t likely to be doing that. Any of you ever had that experience?
Our Christmas decorations are fairly basic. We have a tree and we like to decorate the mantle with Christmas garland and stockings - one for each of us and of course one for Markus! What type of gifts will Santa Paws have for Markus this year?
The Daylight Savings Thing
Markus looking at the ponding from rain at our neighbourhood park and wearing his rain jacket from RC Pet Products
Okay, so it's still fall out. In Vancouver, fall just means there are long stretches of rain and a lot of fallen leaves everywhere. During times like this, the days are shorter, dark and wet and we're glad to have a rain jacket for Markus to keep him even a little bit drier.
This week was daylight savings where we gained an hour back. I actually can’t remember the spring one where we lost an hour, but we definitely noticed daylight savings with Markus this time around. Since dogs are impervious to daylight savings time changes, Markus is still waking up at the previous time wondering why we haven't gotten up to take him out yet. He ends up getting up well before we do and he comes to the door whining.
I think the worst part of the time change is the fact that by the time we get home after work to take Markus out for the evening walk, it's already so dark out even though it's not that late. I feel bad for Markus because it’s dark when we go for a walk in the morning and it’s dark again when we go for the evening walk. During the work week, there really ends up being not that many opportunities for him to see sunlight unless one of us is working from home. Coupled with the fact that it's always raining, it's really not our favourite season in Vancouver.
If you’re wondering why we jump the gun and decorate our interior to be more Christmas, this is probably why!
The Naked Beast Delivery
Markus posing with his new Naked Beasts snacks before diving in
Markus is a picky eater, which is interesting for a dog that once lived on the streets and spent the majority of his life in a rescue shelter. We assumed he wouldn't be picky since he didn't really have his choice of food. Unsurprisingly, he prefers his meat snacks more than anything else like cookies or baked goods. We learned this almost immediately after adopting him when we were trying to feed him treats after a long flight. We offered him dog pepperoni sticks and cookies and even though he must've been starving, but he still wasn't taking the cookie treats.
We've been on a quest to find treats that are both single-ingredient and don't break the bank. To try to make treats last longer, a lot of manufacturers use a lot of preservatives and ingredients with names so long you’d expect to see them in a lab than your dog’s treats. These were the type of ingredients we’ve been trying to avoid and that’s when we came across Naked Beasts Snacks on Instagram. We liked what we saw, so we inquired more about their products.
Naked Beasts Snacks stood out to us because their snacks are dehydrated. The dehydration process allows the snacks to last longer naturally without having to use preservatives. Their snacks also come in whole prey, which means they'll dehydrate an entire animal like a quail including the organs, head, bones, nails, etc. The dehydration process dries out the bones and nails in a way that it becomes very brittle and safe for dogs to eat.
Dehydration also preserves the natural essential vitamins and minerals that the prey come with. This way, it makes sure that all the essential nutrients get transferred to your dog rather than getting stripped out. Being able to consume the bone and nail also helps with the dog's digestive system.
Having inquired about their products, we ordered a few different products for Markus including 2 whole quails, the Omega3 Pack (which includes whole sardines) and the Sea Pack (which includes a grab bag of seafood items like shrimp, oysters, mussels). The package finally arrived and we got Markus to discover what was inside. Having examined the quality of the food and their process, I think humans could eat it! Looking at the Sea Pack, which includes some of my favourite seafoods, I just might have to take some for myself. No one tell Markus!
Jokes aside, Markus has been so happy with these treats. To date, they're probably the highest level treats that we've found with Markus, which says a lot for the picky eater that he is. We're going through these treats quickly and we look forward to making another order soon! The best part of all of this is that we know the treats are safe for Markus, so while we still give it to him in moderation, we also aren't afraid to give him a bit more.
If you're interested in Naked Beasts Snacks, you can check them out and make an order here.
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!
