This painting is similar in subject to Shoshone Girl with Dog (CR # 465), and is more explicitly related to CR# 468A and CR# 468B. All four works depict an Indian girl with a dog. In this version of the scene, the young woman sits just outside of the entrance to a teepee alongside her canine companion, demurely cross-legged and gazing out at the viewer.
Miller mentions in several places in his notes that the Indians he encountered on his western expedition kept dogs. They employed them as porters for their travois (Ross, 66, 128) and occasionally used them as a food source. (Ross, 128, 143) In this painting, Miller suggests that dogs were also viewed as companions among the tribes as the rendezvous.
