Is there a point to the dog?

[Nori]

The dog is annoying me so far, I feel like it had no use but to eat up random items I might need :/

[Miacidae]

If you don't want to feed the dog, you don't have to.
Once you level him up, he can do 2 things (One he might be able to do from the start, memory is a bit fuzzy there)
-Track people down. Tell him to find someone, anyone in town, he will lead you straight to them. Kinda handy when attempting to find someone you haven't seen in days.
-Eventually, he will go and dig up piles in the field for you. This gets you extra materials. Some of which, if you don't want to use, he will eat, which doubles as food (Because he won't do either of these if he's hungry)

[Blender]

He can track people down at about 50% of the way to lvl 2.

there is a quest where you need truffles, so you will want to level him up early, or atleast get him to 2 before the ice region