Going on a Trip, More Grooming and the highest of fives

Markus sitting on the side of the BC Ferries on the way to Salt Spring Island

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.

This week's update will be quick - we write about our first overnight trip with Markus, trying out a new dog groomer's location and teaching Markus the high five!

The First Overnight Trip

Markus enjoying the beach on Salt Spring Island

Two weeks ago, we had our first overnight trip with Markus! We have been incredibly excited to make this trip because prior to adopting Markus, my wife and I had done a lot of road trips in the Pacific Northwest. Since we've adopted Markus and as we've been preoccupied with training him and going to doggy classes, we haven't had the opportunity to go on a trip with him yet. We finally got the chance to go to Salt Spring Island in British Columbia over the Victoria long weekend and we shared about our experience here.

As a whole, it was a great experience for us and there’s relief in knowing that we can bring Markus with us on our travels. There were a few things that we had to plan differently (like finding accommodations that allowed pets, researching on BC Ferries rules for pets, etc.), but nothing too out of the ordinary. 

For us, the greatest reward is seeing Markus in this new life. If you've been following his story, Markus had been brought over from a rescue shelter in Korea about 7 or 8 months ago. Prior to landing in the shelter, Markus' history was unknown, but dogs in Korea typically came off the streets or came from the dog-meat trade. He then went unadopted for over a year at the rescue shelter because he was labeled to have aggressive tendencies with other dogs.

Since we've rescued Markus and brought him over to North America, we've been training him endlessly and we've been socializing him with dogs at dog parks. For him to come on a trip with us wasn't something that just happened overnight, but something we've worked towards. The reward of riding the ferry, doing hikes and exploring the Pacific Northwest presents such a stark contrast from what he was doing a year ago and we're so proud of how far he’s come.

Trying out New Groomer's

After the trip to Salt Spring Island, Markus was in need of some grooming. The usual place we take Markus to in the Kitsilano area was fully booked, so we decided to try a new place in Steveston, Richmond, which has had some pretty good reviews. We ended up taking Markus to Sweet Paws Grooming in Steveston Village and we were happy with the result!

The most obvious thing is that Markus looked clean. He looked almost brighter and he was definitely floofier when he came out. What's nice was that they spent a lot of time and attention grooming and trimming areas like the fur around his paws and the fur around his private parts, areas that I haven’t seen other places to this point. It was very nicely cleaned up and clear that they spent a lot of time with the trimming and cleaning up.

The best part, in my opinion, was that they also express the anal glands. This came as a surprise to us since we didn't realize that this was included in the service that we were paying for, but it explains why Markus couldn't wait to leave when we went to pick him up. Two months ago, it was the first time we encountered anything with Markus' anal glands, so now that we’re aware that it was part of the service, we were very grateful to have had it done!

In general, we were very happy with the service that we got at Sweet Paws Grooming. The price was a little bit more than we're used to paying, but the fact that Markus looked exceptionally cleaner coupled with the fact that his anal glands were expressed is something that I'm willing to pay a bit more. Since it's closer for us, we'll likely bring Markus back here.

Teaching the Highest of Fives

Markus dishing out the highest of high fives

Earlier this week, we taught Markus the high ten! Markus had already had the high five down pat and he was good doing it with both paws. We've been working with him to do the over-excited double high five, which requires him to stand on his hind legs and he delivered with the highest of fives. Markus picks up commands very well and he’s quickly adding more tricks to his repertoire!

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!