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.

We're happy to give you the last update on Markus' doggy training classes this week! Markus also got to meet toddlers for the first time, and it’s the beginning of Vancouver rain.

Markus Graduates from Doggy Training

Today was the last day of Markus' doggy training at My Fluffy Friend. As part of graduating from the class, Markus is required and graded upon a performance of all the tricks and commands that he learned in the class. At the end of the class and the session, he'll get a recommendation of whether he graduates and gets to move on or take the class again.

Markus has been pretty good learning and performing the commands throughout these weeks. We've been training him a lot at home too, so we were pretty confident about his ability to get most of the tricks down. The one command that we weren't so confident on was the pick up command where we have to physically pick Markus up and then be able to sit down on a chair. Markus has always been up and down with this command and we basically got limited chances to do it everyday until he got wise to what we were doing and wouldn't let us pick him up anymore. 

One by one, Markus performed all of the commands admirably. He passed the test with flying colours! Even with the pickup command and some of the other commands that he wasn't great with, he performed each one as if we knew he was being graded on it. It was especially meaningful because the other owners in the class knew of Markus' background and how timid he was from the beginning. They saw how much Markus wrestled with being picked up and they were all genuinely excited when Markus was able to pull it off perfectly for the test.

To wrap up these doggy training updates, I'm glad to have done it. It was 6 weeks of full commitment from our end to get Markus some proper training and this was what we committed to when we adopted him. It was part of our verbal agreement with the rescue shelter to teach him boundaries so that he can become a dog who plays well and can interact with other dogs. Going through this course and seeing Markus graduate was so validating that he deserved to be rescued, even for a dog that was labeled as aggressive.

What we didn't expect was the amount of training that we received as owners. This was the true value of the course. It wasn't just about getting your dog to pull off a command or a trick, but it's about teaching owners what behaviours to look for, how to sense when the dog is uneasy or frustrated and giving them a break. A lot of the class is teaching the owners to be patient, to reward good behaviour and how to correct bad ones. All in all, it was a lot of fun, it was rewarding and we're glad to have gone through these classes with Markus.

Meeting toddlers for the first time

Last weekend, we were invited to a small party where there was going to be a handful of toddlers. Having spoken with the parents ahead of time, we brought Markus so he could meet toddlers for the first time. Markus has had exposure to children, teenagers and even babies, but he's yet to meet toddlers. We've been apprehensive about him meeting toddlers because they still have that jerky movement and sudden movements startle Markus. They're also not as easy to reason with. Still, we felt that since there were only going to be a couple at this party and because it was in a controlled setting, it'd be a good opportunity to see how Markus faired with toddlers.

If we're being honest, the time wasn't great. Markus was okay being petted and touched by the toddlers, but they were fairly jerky with their movement and weren't the most gentle. He was still okay, but it was one little toddler in particular that was a bit rougher and louder than the others and Markus quickly become uncomfortable whenever he was around. We ended up having to limit Markus' exposure to that one toddler, but he was great with the rest of them.

We're glad to have tried this out. It wasn't the best exchange, but it was good for us to be able to see what Markus' limits were. It's no one's fault - that's just how toddlers move and some tend to be louder, but Markus show patience and interest with them, and that's what we were hoping to see.

The Vancouver Rain

We went quite a while without much rain in Vancouver, but the rain has steadily returned and it's not looking better for a while. Markus doesn't get bathed as frequently as other dogs seem to be because he's generally clean, but the rain seems to really make him smell. Because of how wispy it is, Markus' fur absorbs a lot of the water from the rain even if he's just out for a little while. 

On regular walks, Markus likes to explore by sniffing and will pull towards bushes and trees that are off the sidewalk. He'll generally take his sweet time working his way onto the grassy areas and finding multiple spots on things like branches or bushes. As crossroads, he'll know which way leads to the longer walk and which way goes home and he'll almost always try to do the longer walk.

When it rains, Markus' clean Shiba side really comes out and he tries to not be outside as long. He'll spend less time sniffing and goes about his business a lot quicker and then starts to head back towards the house. If we're walking along a sidewalk and there are puddles of water, he'll always walk around it and never through it. Rather than walking on the wet grass to explore the bushes and trees, Markus will just stay on the sidewalk instead. The result is that our walks tend to go a lot faster when it rains and I'm not complaining about that!

To get back to the fur thing, Markus tends to smell a bit more after he's been wet, as I'm sure a lot of dogs do. Since this is typical Vancouver weather, we wanted to be more prepared by picking up something for him to wear when it rains. We went into a Bosley's in our area and we picked up a cute yellow rain jacket from RC Pets for Markus and our hope is that this jacket will at least hold some of the smells at bay!

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!