Despite more recent accounts from the era of the Galactic Survey Corps, archaeologists generally hold that Hisuian Growlithe were originally carved not as gods of their own, nor as avatars of a Noble Arcanine, but as symbols of Entei's power and guardians for its shrine.
There was a considerable, long-lasting ritual dispute in Johto over whether to use live Growlithe or statues at the entrance to the Entei shrine, and many have seen the rocky texture of Growlithe in Hisui as a sort of compromise. If so, the statue advocates had the better argument – for statues are immobile, but Hisui's Growlithe have long since wandered away from the half-forgotten Entei shrine.
It is not at all difficult, when faced with the misery of Hisuian winters, to conclude that one has been abandoned by the gods – especially the gods of fire. The shrine in question could not sustain itself when its patron deity refused to wander through Hisui's cold climate, and was in time abandoned in favor of the Cult of the Noble Pokemon. Although this faith was considered heretical by the people to Hisui's south, who formed the core of the Galaxy Expedition Team, Arcanine at least had the prestige of a legendary pokemon; it is hard to fault the Growlithe, when Entei abandoned them, for evolving up one of their own number as a replacement.
And yet, tucked away in an inaccessible corner of Firespit Island, two Growlithe – two wild Growlithe of the increasingly rare Hisuian type in all accounts, which has nearly been replaced as pets by the Kanto breed throughout Sinnoh – watch over a shrine containing a box of Entei's own smoke. They greet the occasional pilgrim from Johto with nuzzles and wagging tails, and await the day when Entei finally wanders north once more.
