COEUR d’ALENE — Junkyard dog.

Think a large, ferocious, snarling, nasty old mutt roaming around at night, guarding car and truck parts, ready to attack anyone or anything.

Then, along comes Dyno the Junkyard Dog.

Sure, he’s big, 100 pounds, so his size might put a scare in you. But Dyno doesn’t growl and rarely barks. Most of the time, he’s smiling. He loves it when you pet him.

Owner L.T. Jones of Pegasus Auto Recycling chuckles when asked if Dyno really is a junkyard dog, as advertised.

Well, he is. But not in ways you would imagine.

“The junkyard dog used to be a killer. He’d bite your leg off,” the Coeur d’Alene man said. “Now, he’s just a nice little greeter.”

“He’s the evolution of the junkyard dog,” added Susan Paré, Jones’ daughter. “We’ve evolved the wrecking yard business,” she added, laughing.

Leave it to Dyno, 86 percent tundra wolf, 14 percent Malamute, with long, snowy white hair, to be a game changer. When he stands on his hind legs, he resembles a polar bear.

The 9-year-old Dyno isn’t just a mascot at Pegasus, which sits north of Hayden off U.S. 95. He’s the face of it.

People stop by to see him. They don’t need any auto parts. They just want to meet this famous junkyard dog they’ve heard about.

“Where’s Dyno?” they’ll ask.

Like Waldo, he’s everywhere.

His picture is on the Pegasus Freightliner truck.

The license plate says “Dyno 53.”

“Welcome to the home of Dyno, the junkyard dog!” says a sign at Pegasus.

The 66-year-old Jones said it always happens. Drivers will be looking at Dyno’s picture on the truck, then glance up and seem stunned when they realize they’re face to face with the real thing, staring joyfully from the truck’s back window.

Dyno’s even been used for photo shoots by professional photographers.

“He’s semi-famous for being a junkyard dog,” Jones said.

And Dyno delights in the spotlight.

When he pokes his head out from under a desk at Pegasus, folks clamor for a closer look and he happily obliges, stretching his long body, often rubbing up against their legs.

“He just goes around and makes people happy,” said Susan, who owns a 120-pound nephew of Dyno who also hangs out at Pegasus, but is shy and prefers to stay under the desk, away from the crowds.

Jones, a Vietnam veteran who worked in Army intelligence and was a former race car driver, received the tiny tundra wolf as a gift when it was a six-week-old puppy, the runt of the litter. Thieves had killed the former junkyard dog, a German shepherd, so a breeder who heard what happened offered the pup to Jones.

He accepted. The name Dyno was after a friend of Jones, and it stuck.

Jones took him to obedience classes early on.

“I knew he was going to be big. I wanted to be sure he wasn’t out of control,” he said.

Far from it.

Dyno was in charge.

“He was just the star of the show. He loved it,” Jones said.

For a few months, the wolf dog was shy and hid under a desk. Then, a woman reached down to pet him, and he liked it.

“A light went on,” Jones said. “He realized, ‘If I come out, people will pet me.’”

Most wolf hybrids aren’t exactly known for being warm and welcoming.

“He is the total exception for any of the people I know that have a wolf hybrid,” Jones added.

Dyno remains leashed when outside because, as part wolf, he would likely wander off, which wouldn’t end well for him.

“If people saw him out in the wild, they’d shoot him instantly,” Jones said.

Jones, who has owned Pegasus 25 years, initially planned to leave Dyno at the junkyard to act as the overnight security. Problem was, Dyno didn’t like being left alone and whimpered each night.

“He’s not a guard dog. I don’t want him to get killed. Wolves are nonconfrontational. They will hide if something comes up.”

So the soft-hearted Jones relented and took him home, which he’s been doing ever since.

The two are most often together.

“He’s like my son,” Jones said.

When Jones is on a run, picking up parts, cars and trucks for his 13-acre wrecking yard, Dyno goes along.

One recent customer was surprised to see him.

“I thought it was just a picture,” she told Jones. “I didn’t know it was real.”

Oh yeah, he’s real, all right.

If you have any doubt, just drop by Pegasus Auto Recycling and wander inside the office.

When that white wolf/Malamute wanders up, don’t cower. Just put your hand out.

Dyno will lay a high five on you.

“He’s our goodwill ambassador,” Susan said.