What? A dog? Why on earth would you relate howling to a dog if you could relate it to a wolf, especially when the image is in the moonlight. There's nothing wrong with calling a robot something because of a slight similarity or relation. For example, my character the Rustbug is obviously not a bug, it doesn't even have 6 legs, and it isn't even meant to be rusty, it's only named so because of it's paint-job.
Perhaps have the robot standing on a hill or cliff-edge to relate it further? I'd avoid cropping the image so closely, make the canvas at least 300% that it is now and have a proper scene, perhaps? The leg on the left is too far outwards. You could research wolf anatomy and perhaps add a stylistic flair to the robot by creating similar legs to the beast (but with metal joints instead). Pull the tube mouth closer to the centre of it's face so it looks more like a mouth rather than an antenna.
That's all i can think of now. Good luck.