While the print's pencil inscription gives the artist as "Kenojuak" and the image features her chopmark, Sandra Barz, identifies the artist as Johnniebo. In the 1960s, simply put, Kenojuak was paid more for her images so it made perfect financial sense to claim the work as hers, rather than her husband's.

In John Ayre's James Houston and the Making of Inuit Art (2022), the author shared that Johnniebo playfully claimed that the complex visions of spirits by Kenojuak were a result of "the devil whispering in her ear" (p. 163). Ironically, the present Sea Dogs, to our eye, are rather more menacing with their sense of frozen frenetic energy!