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The effigy dogs symbolize faithfulness to God, their Christian faith, specifically.  The lions symbolize that the person defended their faith, and, the crossed legs, as expressed correctly in an earlier post, was thought to represent Crusader Knights, or Knights Templar... I am personally of the belief that it represented or designated a Knight Templar as it is always portrayed in Templar Church effigies.  William Marshal's effigy would be such an example.