Worth noting that Hera's (Zeus' wife) had animal familiars, namely the peacock and the cow. She was patron of the stars and the sky.
As was his habit, Zeus became attracted to a human woman named Io. Hera set her servant Argus to watch and guard Io, a task that he was particularly suited for because he had a hundred eyes. Zeus killed Argus so as to mate with Io, whom he turned into a white heiffer and with whom he consorted as a white cloud. (How he did this is not described, but he performed as a shower of golden coins elsewhere, so it can't have been a major problem.) Hera revived he dead her watchman by setting his hundred eyes into the tail of the peacock. Resonance here! BTW Argus Panoptes was a dog with a hundred eyes.
In fact it goes further. Hera found Io in the form of a cow next to Zeus, who claimed to have simply found her, freshly born. Hera demanded Io as a gift, and set Argos to watch her. Zeus, in agonies of randiness, recruited Hermes to get him access. Hermes transformed intoa shepherd, and played a flute to Argos, trying to send him to sleep with all of his eyes closed. (The flute proved insufficient and Hermes instead told boring stories until Argus finally slept.) It was Hermes who actually killed Argus. After the event and the "peacock resurection" of Argus, Hera plagued Io with stinging flies, driving her mad. Io's gadfly-driven wanderings had her cross the sea to Asia, by way of the Bosphorous, which means "cow crossing".
Later, she encountered Prometheus, chained to his rock by Zeus and having his liver devoured by a vulture. He prophesied that Io woudl be turned back into a human and bear children, one of whom would rescue him, Prometheus. Later, in Egypt, Io re-encountered Zeus who transformed her, and she bore him two chioldren, a son Epaphus, and a daughter, Keroess. Epaphus came to found Memphis, a sacred centre in Egypt, whilst Keroessa mated with sea god Poseidon - him, again - and gave birth to a son, Byzas, who went on to found Byzantium on the - yes - the Bosphorous. Keroess married the King of Egypt and has fifty (!) daughters, all of whom whom returned to Greece. A descendant of one of them, Hercules, eventually rescued Prometheus, fulfiling the prophesy.
Crete was first settled by Zeus, who abducted Europa there in the guise of a white bull. She married one King Asterion, and had no children. Asterion therefore adopted Minos as his successor. Minos exiled his variours brothers, and suffered a crisis of legitimacy. He prayed to Poseidon for help, and got it in the shape of a beautiful white bull. (Bulls again.) Instead of sacrificing it as he ought, Minos kept it. Poseidon turned it rabid, rampaging all over the island until Hercules (again) captured it and took it to Greece. Prior to this, Poseidon turned Eros on the wife of Minos, with the bull-fancying outcome that we all know. Originally called Asterios, the creature became the minos-bull, or Minotaur.