Most of the natives had dogs around these parts. I don't think they'd be all lovey dovey about them like we are but they coexisted and benefited from each other.
A some years ago when they discovered the feral Carolina Yellow Dog or “Carolina Dingo” folks leapt to the conclusion it hadda be some sort of Indian dog, genetic testing showed different, just a feral Euro dog after several feral generations.
There was a popular assumption that Indian dogs had to be wolf-life (completely ignoring the existence of chihuahuas) as if a largely unbiddable and independent dog would be of any use at all in the woods. Worse, in hostile country such a dog could give your presence away and possibly get you killed.
You prob’ly already know about the Tahltan Bear Dog, a knee-high Indian breed resembling a short-tailed spitz type, and reportedly a fine companion dog in the woods. Sadly extinct, likely due to disease. A fate which apparently befell a number of native dog types..
Less well known is the fact that in Eighteenth Century accounts and portraits of the Iroquois and other Eastern Tribes, similar dogs to the bear dog in size and appearance appear, often a single dog sitting or standing (no leash) close by its presumed master.
IIRC one account from Canada had this sort of dog ranging about forty yards out front of an Iroquois hunting party, much as one might expect a American rat terrier to do today.
I’m on a iPhone right now, but if you google up Southwestern Indian dog mummy, you’ll see an image of one lop-eared medium sized brown and white dog that could pass for a modern spaniel. No idea if that one retrieved.
