Khuno was around 2 years old when I got him. I was looking for a companion for Shiva at that time. I was interested in maybe getting a German shepherd and I also had a weakness for white wolves, at that time. So i opened up craiglist and looked over the ads. To my big surprise, and by pure coincidence, there was a picture of a young, white, wolf looking dog looking for a new home, in Sweet Home, Oregon. I had just lost my father a month before. Needless to say, Khuno came at just the right time in my life. We contacted the foster home that was keeping him outside, on 2 acre land. Khuno’s owners were getting rid of him because the wife was pregnant and they were concerned about him around young children. We went to see him, driving from Florence, Oregon. When I saw him, my heart was filled with excitement and I knew Khuno was going to come home with me. The only tricky thing was that he was completely wild.
Khuno was let loose on the property and unfortunately turned wild. He was very skittish and would not approach anyone, or come close to anyone, not even his caretaker. He was pacing back and forth looking at me. I got down on my knees and he actually, after 20 minutes, slowly came to meet to sniff my hand. I was pretty amazed by that. I noticed he was very skinny, almost bones and skin. The foster person told us that it was the first time that Khuno actually got that close to someone. He was scared of everyone. My husband and I decided to adopt him. We couldn’t get a hold of him because he was really scared. So the owner told us to come back the next weekend, that she would try to get him on a leash so we could bring him home. The next weekend we got her phone call and we came to get him. He was super well behaved. He was following very well on a leash.
He and Shiva got along really well. They became brothers really quick and started playing together a lot. I did not have any experience with wolf hybrids at that time, it was very new to me. But I was ready to work with him and embark on a wild adventure. Khuno was still very young. He wanted to burn a lot of energy and had a lot to burn. We had a huge backyard but it was not enough for him. So he bolted out many times, to go out back in the woods behind our house to go on a wild run, but would always come back. He would stand at the top of the hill, almost smiling and panting really hard, proud of himself, while he was making me cry, because I thought I’d lost him ! He was SUPER fast and would slip between our legs to bolt out.
He didn’t do that because he was a bad dog. He did that because he had a lot of energy to burn, being a young dog. Walking just wasn’t enough for him, he needed to burn more energy. The main reason a dog will behave badly is because they are bored. It makes sense ! They cannot do anything unless we decide to take them for a walk or go to the park. Otherwise they are just bored, couch potatoes and that is very unhealthy for a dog. It brings bad behaviors brought out of boredom. Not long after that, we moved to Salem. I started bringing Khuno everywhere with me. Pet store, feed store, to get him used to the new environment and as enrichment.
He was a very smart and curious animal. I was looking to take some training classes with Khuno to train him, learn tricks and things like that to help him. The worker at Petco talked to me about a fenced dog park in Keizer and i was very happy to learn that, because i did not trust Khuno off leash still, at that time. I did not want to lose him, he had a history of bolting. So I made the 30 minute drive, from South Salem, to Keizer dog park, every single day. There, we met a lot of people. Khuno was super happy ! He finally burned his energy, and he loved playing with other dogs. He loved other dogs. After a while, his dominance, from being a young dog popped out and he started trying to dominate very large dogs.
That was making people mad, because it looked bad ! Although he never bit a dog, drew blood, or hurt a dog, he scared the owners and often I would get yelled at or called overprotective because I was trying to protect him. I was trying to protect him, because it was obvious he had a wolf in him and I did not want anything bad to happen to him, even though it was legal to keep him where I lived.
At around 5 years old, he started filling out and looking a lot more like a wolf. He started to mellow down as well. I often noticed that he was a lot more mature than most dogs. He would get up and play with them, but would often lay back down and just prefer to watch. He loved having a howling session with his best doggy friends. Yes he did have best dog friends ! He had 8-9 dogs that he was always excited to see when he saw them. Layla, Kawaii, Kanuk, Brick, Freya, Noki, Kodi, Loki, to name a few. He would start howling in excitement, jumping left and right, and being really happy to see them.
Khuno had an amazing personality that touched a lot of people. He made a lot of human friends as well. I made a lot of new friends too because of Khuno, friends that I still have to this day because of this wonderful, amazing animal that changed my life. He changed me, and taught me patience. Because with him, I had to have a lot of patience ! But through him, I learned a lot about wolfdogs. I did a lot of research and educated myself on wolfdog behaviors, appearance, content, etc.
Khuno might have just been a low content wolfdog, but boy was he behaving really wolfish and looking more wolfy as he was getting older. Khuno would also always protect Shiva, even sometimes pulling Shiva by the tail to try to make him stop fighting with another dog and get him out of that situation. Khuno and Shiva’s best activity was to go to the beach and run on it for hours. They would have fun digging, running after each other and playing dog o war.
Then one day, Khuno’s health started going down. He had a lot of arthritis in his body. He slowed down a lot. He was losing a lot of weight. He became paralyzed in his back legs and couldn’t move much anymore and keep his balance. He was in pain and it was too hard to watch him like that. Unfortunately that is a big problems with large dogs. Their backs and legs start giving up early in life. Arthritis sets in, it slows the dog down, and the lack of exercise is just the final straw., on their older bodies.
I had to make the hard decision that it was his time, to join Shiva over the rainbow bridge. I was depressed for months after that. The hardest part of having a pet, is losing them. It breaks your heart in a million pieces and makes you feel as though your life is also over. The loss of a pet, hurts me more than the loss of a human, anymore. Through my years of existence, I learned that animals are so much more compassionate, loyal, loving than humans can be. You are their life and they love unconditionally. They never give up on you. They are always there when you need them. They make you feel better when you are sad. They can feel how you feel.
Khuno always knew when I was about to get mad. He could sense it. He would also know when I was sad. He wouldn’t come to me to make me feel better, like Shiva did, but he knew. Dogs are very sensitive to our emotions. Their companionship is the greatest gift God could give us. My life has felt empty ever since I lost Shiva & Khuno. Love your pet as much as you can. Pet them, make them feel loved, because you never know when their short life will take them away from you. Their only flaw is to not live long enough.
I was just a pup when we first met,
I loved you from the start,
You picked me up and took me home
and place me in your heart,
Good times we had together,
we shared all life could throw
but years passed all too quickly
my time has come to go
I know how much you miss me
I know your heart is sore,
I see the tears that fall when
I’m not waiting at the door
You always did your best for me
your love was plain to see
for even though it broke your heart,
you set my spirit free
Please be brave without me
One we shall meet once more
For when you are called to Heaven
I will be waiting for you at the door.
