The thing about the year a town is founded is a newer feature. It is not really meant to be the only piece of evidence to use, but you would line it up with others, like the latitude/longitude, or being nearby other aberrations/events.
I do like the idea of a list of towns ... I will have to think about that.
About the dogs ... each kind of monster has a slightly different behavior pattern. So as you play, you will unlock lore that gives some hints about how things work. The lore will stay through multiple plays, so it serves as a kind of meta-progression. Sometimes you will need to take a wild guess as to where a monster is located. Over time you will learn about the best ways to guess each monster and get skilled at tracking them down.
Games are supposed to be relatively short so you can get more skilled with each playthrough.