The correct answer is number 1. The reader gets an outside view on the role of dogs in Kiowa culture.
In the Kiowa culture, dogs were used to pull "travois", that was some kind of sled to transport things.
The Kiowa was a native tribe that lived in Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico y portions of Texas.
This tribe is part of the novel "The Way to the Rainy Mountain", written by N. Scott Momaday.