There are a ton of dialects between communities. And my family's roots touch northern mushkego Cree on James and Hudson Bay while also being in touch with inland Ojibways towards the height of land south of James Bay. On the Cree side, their dialects change from Quebec to Ontario and to Northern Manitoba. Ojibway is even more complicated because there are the northern tribes like mine that share some with Cree but less with southern tribes around the great lakes. And Ojibway go all the way to Manitoba and wrap around the great lakes down into the northern American states. I can barely understand any Ojibway from Minnesota and Michigan but I can hear how our languages are the same. I know people from Manitoulin Island who speak a dialect of Ojibway that is mixed with Algonguin, Odawa and several other great lakes languages because their cultures communicated with people all around the great lakes.

As far as the word for horse. I think we just used the reference to a dog because we never had any horses in our parts because we're mostly near water and swamp. We wouldn't have seen horses until about 100-150 years ago, so it was a new animal to us.

Even personally, I'm terrified of horses. I respect them but I'd never ride one. I ride motorcycle and I've often told my friends that riding a horse would be like riding a motorcycle with a mind of its own .... and that's a scary thought for me.