I am a mixed goober, and always figured they were dogs. But also have only played D&D collectively twice in my life (and then the pandemic happened). So I only know them from fantasy stuff. One of which being Age of Wonders, which I played with a friend at one point in my life. And was confused as to why the dog guys were little gremlins. Also watched Lodoss Wars as a kid, but don't really remember it. I'm not sure how a->b but I always assumed they were dog folk.