The original idea behind the Fur-Skins world, the idea that started it all off, is that humans and wolves are two social species that are different biologically but a significant chunk of both species are attempting to live together. Consider it a social symbiosis.
So from the canine point of view, dogs are wolves that initially tried join in human society and arguably got royally screwed over in having done so. Whatever they were several thousands or more of years ago, modern dogs are basically permanent wolf-children in an artificial world.
The first werewolves, on the other hand, were humans who envied what they saw as the freedom of wolves. Human life is very structured and nuanced and a lot of us have difficulty with that nuance. What we don’t often realise is that other animals that are just as social have their own sets of rules. So, by both human and wolf standards, werewolves are effectively feral and usually killers – using their new found strength and speed to prove their dominance over weak humans.
The initial story arc, the Alex & Conn series of short stories, started off as a way to explore an obviously fantastic (in the related to fantasy sense) continuum between wolves and humans. Although there are racial overtones to the mental geography, it springs out of my own pack life as much as anything. Any unfortunate overtones are simply down to my own idiocy and blind privilege.
The second gateway character to the world, Elkie Bernstein, was a much more conscious effort to tackle a few issues but, as they don’t directly relate to the wolf-human continuum, I’ll save that for another post sometime!