i assume this is carved with a rounded knife, not a straight blade, the dexterity of the wittiler seems to have suffered as hey worked down toward the feet, the notch showing the ankle is efficient a technique repeated with the front claws but not the back digging out the belly is square so i doubt it is a burnout more a chiseling job, so the craftsman(s) had metal, hammer, multiple knives. the lack of pigmentations is odd given the complexity of cuts and detail neck nose mouth defined bow in the rear hunches.
if this was molded, witch upon closer inspection seems more likely the depressions are fingers and the notches being so uniform suggest a tool maybe something i would see in the day of cuneiform, both a dull blade and a stamp.
i would like to know the material so i can settle on a discipline, but either way the lack of hanging edges or cantilevered parts suggested to me that it was expected to be handled so unlikely to be a object of significant importance to the people at large post metallurgy, maybe post agrarian. i feel comfortable in saying it is an effigy of a four legged animal with claws in the caniformia.
those ears are adorable, omg i want to pet them.