This small votive soapstone statuette of a dog, discovered in Tello (ancient Girsu), was offered by a doctor from Lagash to the goddess Ninisina “for the life" of the king of Larsa, Sumu-El (1894-1866 BCE). It dates from the Amorite period. The container above the statuette could be used to prepare remedies.  The dog is also the animal symbol of the goddess of medicin, Gula, because the saliva of this animal was thought to have healing properties. 

(Louvre, AO 4349, Mission Cros 1904)