I know that this is going to be a homebrew. I can't find the right base species for it. I have given my party 2  dire wolves that have a legendary background. They are destine to be of service for a "project". They are right now in "training". I plan them to unite together and become an edrichet knight (NPC). The knight will be a humanoid form. As a knight it will be a protector and champion to another NPC, along with my party. Together they will escort the protected NPC to her destination. The problem I'm having is finding the base race. There isn't wolf folk, dog folk, or canine folk. I don't want it to be a werewolf or lycan. Suggestions please. I should note I would like it to maintain some of its wolf like appearance and possible abilities.

Appearance is completely up to you, you do not need to follow the suggestions in the book, and honestly you don't need to use any official species from a book for and NPC. They can look however you like and have any abilities you like.