Hao
Born May 8, 2007
Died April 10, 2025

He was a very, very good dog, and lived a very, very long life.

Hao was one of the first Kahala dogs we met after moving into town from Kaaawa and continuing our regular early morning walks to the beach at sunrise.

And this is one of the first photos I have of him, taken in January 2016.

Hao loved the water, and love to hunt for fish, although he rarely caught one. Sometimes he would walk out on the reef at high tide until he was a tiny figure just inside the surf break. When he would find a fish, he would sometimes stand out there and bark at it. Occasionally, when the barking continued, Michael had to go out and retrieve him.

But over the past several years, Hao has lost his hearing, lost one eye and didn’t seem to have much sight in the other. He still enjoyed his time out walking in the morning until very recently, when he no longer seemed to understand where he was or why he was there.

I captured my last photo of him on April 2. It may have been his last walk.

But I would like to remember his good times. Here are a couple more.

Aloha, Hao. You had a long life, and we’ll miss you.