The Story of a Dog of a Non-Existent Breed and His Owner

It seems we have found the most artistic dog. Meet Kayoshi, a cross between a Siberian Husky and a Japanese Akita Inu. After looking at such a handsome fellow, you can’t help but wonder: “Shouldn’t I also get a “husky”, preferably right now, without delay or preparation?” A NN.RU correspondent spoke with the funny dog’s owner, Ekaterina Loginova, and found out why this is not the best idea. He also listened to Kayoshi’s difficult life story, which had everything: unscrupulous breeders, irresponsible owners, and a long process of raising a real “samurai”. What is it like to live with a charismatic but wayward dog and why “you don’t need another one like him” – we tell you in this article.

A stubborn man from the north or a Japanese samurai – who is Kayoshi?
Huskita is an existing term, but not official: the world cynological community does not recognize the cross between a husky and an Akita Inu as a breed. Kayoshi is a cross between two aboriginal breeds, and he took a little bit of everything from each. Activity and love for people – from his northern mother, concentration and self-sufficiency – from his Japanese father. It is impossible to predict at what moment one or another side of his personality will win, admits Ekaterina.

— In his childhood and youth, he especially showed a noticeable “hushy” energy, which was overflowing and sometimes spilling out onto those around him. With age, somewhere around three years old, the “Japanese samurai” finally woke up. Now both breeds coexist in him 50/50 — you constantly need to catch the mood. Today he can be calm and reserved, and tomorrow he can demonstrate an example of such classic reckless “hushy” behavior. During the day, we try to find a balance between these extremes, — the owner shared.

Kayoshi is not the only husky in his hometown: he has a sister living with a good family here, and a brother named Kaiko has been registered with local animal rights activist Ekaterina Piskunova. Kayoshi’s older relative is kept on a chain somewhere in the region, and another dog happily lives in Moscow. This entire “pack” is the result of the work of unscrupulous breeders who annually crossed a female husky with a male Akita Inu and indiscriminately sold the puppies. A dog of an unrecognized breed is always a risk of an incomprehensible combination of genes, health problems and the impossibility of predicting its behavior, the Nizhny Novgorod resident once wrote in her blog.

“Of course, it’s hard to call those people breeders. It’s more like a breeding ground that existed in the Gorodetsky district for a long time. Unfortunately, I don’t know the fate of the other dogs,” the girl said.

“Even my husband couldn’t resist”

Kayoshi is our heroine’s first and only dog. Before that, she only had cats in her life, but she always dreamed of a faithful four-legged friend. True, not a husky or an Akita Inu, but a devoted and smart shepherd.

— In life, everything turned out a little differently. I had been following Ekaterina Piskunova’s channel for a long time, and in the spring of 2021, she told me that she had picked up an atypical puppy. It was impossible not to fall in love: the photos showed a small blue-eyed fox with a mischievous look. Even my husband couldn’t resist — and he doesn’t like dogs at all. He said: “If you want, let’s try. Call and find out.” But at that time, I was afraid to take the dog: we weren’t ready, we were planning a vacation… And while I was thinking and rushing around, Kayoshi was taken.

“It’s not meant to be,” thought Ekaterina and wished the unusual puppy happiness in his new place. But just a few months later, sad news appeared on the animal rights activist’s channel: the baby had been abandoned – for the second time. The first owners had left Kayoshi to his own devices and he ran around the streets of Vladimir, eating from garbage dumps. The second owners were not prepared for the fact that the dog had behavioral problems, and after living together for the spring and summer, they returned her back. At that time, Kayoshi was about 10-11 months old .

— They posted his photo on the channel against a dark background: an impossibly sad expression on his face and bright-bright blue eyes. I couldn’t resist, I quickly called Ekaterina, and they invited us to meet him. We went to their place on the weekend, looked at this wonderful creature and decided that we would take him, but not right away — after all, we still had to prepare the apartment, — the dog’s owner noted. — Kayoshi was ready to go with us that same day: we walked with him through the forest through mud and puddles and, before getting into the car, began to wipe his shoes with napkins. And he, looking at us, began to lick his paws, as if saying: “I’m with you too, here I am washing myself.”

A few days later, the pet moved to Ekaterina and her husband’s two-room apartment. He has lived with them for almost four years and during this time has come a long way from a disobedient puppy with behavioral problems to a well-mannered and smart dog, who, however, can sometimes show character.

“The rotten stuff is certainly tempting”

Even before the baby moved in with them, the family found a good dog trainer so that they “wouldn’t go crazy and do something bad.” The couple knew that they were taking in a problem dog: Kayoshi was not at all good at staying home alone, he howled, trashed the apartment, and even bared his teeth at his previous owners. That’s actually why they gave him up.

— He took apart a size 5 iron cage in 15 minutes. And before that, we had already worked with a dog trainer, using positive reinforcement to teach him to stay alone. While I was in the apartment, Kayoshi sat calmly in the box, everything was fine. As soon as I left the house, he seemed to lose his mind. That’s how strong the unprocessed separation anxiety was, — says Ekaterina.

Working on behavior, according to her, is not a quick and rather tedious task. You need to control yourself all the time and perform certain actions, while the dog can relapse at any moment.

— That is, you can’t say that you dealt with this problem once and everything will be fine. Once a year, the little dog can remember its old experiences and say that it doesn’t want to be alone. So life with a dog, especially with one like this, is a daily job, and there’s no getting away from it.

Another problem that Ekaterina faced was Kayoshi’s craving for everything he finds on the ground. Edible or not – it doesn’t matter. Before getting into safe hands, the baby wandered around garbage dumps, and he developed a certain behavior mechanism.

— He sucked up plastic bags in front of me in just a second, and right when he was working with the dog trainer. He could stand next to us on a short leash, and at one moment something would end up in his mouth, — the owner shared. — Now, apparently, Kayoshi has already realized that he is our favorite pie and is well fed at home. But from time to time, of course, the rotten stuff beckons, although not so often. At least he doesn’t eat bags anymore.

Kayoshi behaves calmly with strangers and allows you to pet him, but he is not so good-natured with animals. According to Ekaterina, he shows zooaggression towards most dogs. He is always under supervision and does not attack anyone, but if any pet runs up to him from behind without warning and permission, he may react quite harshly – up to and including biting. The family continues to work on this problem now.

— Kayoshi is not perfect, like any other dog, and I try to talk about it. Because idealization, in my personal opinion, leads to many pets ending up on the streets. Life with a dog is romanticized in culture, and the real picture — that it is daily work — remains hidden from view. Some do not want to see it, they write that we are a nightmare for the pet. But this is not a nightmare — this is work that is necessary.

According to the dog’s owner, behind the funny face and piercing blue eyes there is a lot of cunning and willfulness. Cunning is generally the first trait that comes to the girl’s mind when asked to describe her dog.

— At first he was really cunning. At first he tried to force us, fought with us for a piece of rotten meat, and when he realized that it wouldn’t work, he started looking for other ways to achieve his goal. He pretended that it happened by accident, he just didn’t hear us. As if he was saying: “Oh, what, you couldn’t do that?”

Huskies can’t be kept in an apartment – a myth?

Ekaterina works as a lawyer in a company, and her husband is an engineer, so Kayoshi is left home alone during the day. They have arranged a large cage for him in the apartment, where he spends time when his owners are away. First of all, this arrangement ensures the safety of the dog itself, and only then the safety of the apartment.

— Perhaps now Kai will calmly stay at home without all this, but to give up boxing is to break the developed system. This is not very good and can lead to a rollback. Let’s say everything is fine for five or six days, on the seventh I come back – and the apartment is gone. To hell with the renovation, it is not safe for the dog. Because dogs that chew the sofa stuff their bellies with foam rubber, — says Ekaterina.

The rest of the time, Kayoshi moves freely around the apartment, and is only forbidden to enter the bedroom. This, according to our interlocutor, was the original plan. If the couple wants to lie down with the pet, they call him to the sofa or, conversely, go down to his bed. In general, the dog lives peacefully in the apartment, because he manages to release all his energy during walks.

— The myth that you can’t keep a husky in an apartment because it will run around all the time is not true. If you give the dog a good workout, it will sleep at least 16 hours a day. When should it run around?

Started a blog and got on a sled – how having a dog changes your life
With the arrival of Kai, the family’s life changed dramatically: the daily routine had to be adjusted to walks with the dog, additional activity appeared, new friends were found. Thanks to the pet, Ekaterina decided to keep a blog about the everyday life and adventures of the charismatic husky – “Kaiyoshi/Samurai Stories” . She had thought about this before, but could not bring herself to do so.

— My job is paper-based, with letters, and I thought: “Why not try?” Many people do the same: “Maybe I’ll be able to write something other than lawsuits?” I wouldn’t say that we spend a lot of time on the blog, it’s more of a hobby for self-development. Naturally, we put effort into it: we write articles, shoot videos, but this is not our main job at all. It’s probably something for the soul, — Ekaterina shared.

Along with Kayoshi, sport came into her life, and not just any sport, but sled sport. To ensure that her pet, whose northern ancestors once carried people in harnesses, had enough activity, the Nizhny Novgorod resident first stepped on a sled.

— He was about two years old at that time — that’s the peak of the “energizer”. And if in the summer I could walk with him for an hour or an hour and a half, then in the winter spending so much time in the cold is not an idea. And he didn’t get tired from these walks. So we started teaching Kayoshi to get up in the sled and pull me. He runs in the harness alone, because his weight and mine allow such a load, — the owner explained.

In the summer, the sled is replaced with a bicycle, and Ekaterina also does canicross with her pet – a joint run in which the athlete and dog are connected by a special cord. All this helps Kayoshi get thoroughly tired on the street and come home not for destruction, but for rest.

The pleasure is not cheap

Keeping a large dog at home is not a cheap pleasure, Ekaterina honestly admitted. She spends about nine thousand rubles a month on a large bag of food, and in the summer she adds expenses for tick and helminth treatment – another thousand rubles. Veterinary care is a huge expense item in the budget, because you never know what can happen to your pet.

– He ate a bag, twisted his paw, got otitis. Anything could happen, because he’s a living organism that’s always trying to get into something. Kai is insured now. It’s better to have this money in case something happens.

Of course, you can’t do without treats and new toys, which require about a thousand rubles more every month. Thus, the minimum you need to budget for if you plan to get a similar dog is 12 thousand rubles.

— I am glad that people can look at the seamy side of life with a dog, draw some conclusions for themselves. Because we all understand that Kayoshi and his brothers and sisters, who grew up in this breeding ground, were simply a source of income for those breeders. Beautiful puppies sell well, but often end up on the street if the owners are not ready for behavioral risks and character traits. That is why I dream that someday the demand for such non-existent breeds will decrease, and they will breed much less of them. This dog is beautiful, but we do not need another one like it.