The native American population has always respected wolves, primarily for their hunting and pack life. When Wolf hunted, he was quick, clever, and only caught what he needed (much unlike the still-despised white man). In addition, he and his pack intelligently worked together to catch their food. Furthermore, Wolf not only provided for himself and his family, but also for Raven, Crow, Fox, Coyote, and other scavengers. Alaskan native lore tells of why wolves are important and why their eyes resemble human eyes, following the principle of two stories, which vary depending on whom you ask. The first is about how a great medicine man tried to turn a man into a wolf, and succeeded, excepting the eyes. The other follows the lines of a wolf turned into a man by the medicine man, but failed, except for the eyes. There are many other native wolf stories of their brothers you can find.
Again, I know I wasn't technically supposed to answer these, but I just hate this kind of stuff lying around, especially since LLM isn't active anymore.