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 the last update, Halloween and all its little costumes came and went! We brought Markus into the office again and we're getting closer to Christmas season.

Halloween and its Little Costumes

For Halloween this year, we ended up going to the same place that we brought Markus last year. We went for a walk down West Broadway in Vancouver for their annual HOWL-O-WEEN Kids & Pets Trick or Treat event.

Any guesses for who Markus was dressed up as for Halloween? Well, based on some of the descriptions we overheard parents telling their kids, Markus wasn't wearing a costume - he was just a dog with a yellow jacket and a red balloon.

It's funny because those who got it, got it. They loved the costume and thought that Markus was a cute version of Georgie, but those who didn't know who he was supposed to be really thought he was just a dog with a red balloon. Either that or parents didn't want their kids to know about IT.

As part of the event, we made our way down West Broadway and we stopped at the stores that had treats for dogs. We were impressed that some of the treats were some of the single-ingredient treats that we like to feed Markus!

Markus can also be rude at times. Some shops will have pre-packaged dog treats that store owners will hand out to us as we walked by. Some of them will ask if they can give the treat directly to Markus, which always goes well (or not) depending on what the treat is.

Since he's so particular with his food, Markus usually only accepts the meat treats from strangers. For other treats like cookies or milk bones, it takes a little bit more convincing. Markus will usually smell the treat, pick it up from the hand and then drop it on the ground. It's honestly more of a slap in the face than not picking it up. For these treats, we end up having to pick it up off the ground and we usually just give it to him when we're at home.

By the end of the walk down the street on one side and then back up the other side, we had a nice haul of treats and it was a great day for all of us. We wanted to give a special reminder that the event collects non-perishable pet food or donations for the BC SPCA!

Identifying one of Markus' pet peeves

On Halloween Day, I brought Markus into our brand new office space. For work's Halloween, we gave Markus a different outfit. Although people in costume must've been confusing for Markus, he did really well throughout the day.

Markus would follow me into meetings and throughout the day, he mostly stayed on the floor by my desk. People would come by to greet him and he never really wandered too far away from where I was.

He did have a round of barking, though, which gave me a clue into something that Markus doesn't like. One of my coworkers stood from a distance and watched Markus as he laid on the floor. He was probably there for maybe 10 or 15 seconds, but it was enough for Markus to feel threatened and snap into a barking fest.

I realized from this moment that Markus feels threatened when people (and other dogs once we really thought about it) stop and stare. Thinking about a similar time when something like this happened, I'm beginning to see the trend.

My assumption is that this was something he picked up while living on the streets or at the rescue shelter where dogs see each other and freeze to wait the other dog for the first move. My guess is that when somebody stops to stare at Markus, his mind takes him back to those moments where the next action is either a fight or flight response.

During walks in our neighbourhood, we sometimes end up crossing paths with another dog and the two dogs freeze and stare. Sometimes it's playful and the other dog will lie down and surrender, but I assume that didn't happen very often with street dogs. This is something we'll be monitoring to see if it is a trigger that we can work with.

It's Christmas Season

Whenever this time of the year rolls around, it's a reminder of the time we adopted Markus. We've been known to put up our Christmas decorations and tree up a little bit earlier and this was the same two years ago. We had adopted Markus right around this time 2 years ago and if you were to look at our early posts and pictures with him, they were beside the Christmas tree.

Since we adopted him weeks before Christmas (he was the ultimate Christmas gift that came early), this Christmas will mark the 3rd one we've shared together. I can't believe how quickly everything's happened, but the decorations and trees are up and we're ready to ring in the season together!

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!