I think this might be paper piecing, and very complicated paper piecing at that. I made two small wall hangings - a Westie and a Scottie- as gifts for a friend of mine some years ago using Sharon Malek's patterns. They were hard, but with a lot of patience (and a sharp seam ripper) both my dogs turned out just fine. I'll have to see if I took their pictures.
She's got a lot of dogs and cats, and some other animals on her website. Go check it out.
http://www.malec-designs.com/index.html