You know... this might be freaky, but in my opinion? It so very well illustrates the way the Inuit look at their dogs, too. The dogs are life up there and tightly intertwined with so many aspects of it, at least on the coastal areas of places like Nunavut and Ellesmere where there's still some traditional fishing villages and the like.
And yes, this is definitely the Dog Mother myth. ^_^
I'm pretty sure that i'm actually familiar with a version of the story behind this one. As i recall, some of these dog people or their brothers are said to have went east over the sea and become the Europeans.
And yes, this is definitely the Dog Mother myth. ^_^