The dragons in House of the Dragon risk making Game of Thrones' mistake with the direwolves seem even worse. The Game of Thrones prequel takes place around 170 years before the story of Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen et al, with the focus very much on House Targaryen at the height of its powers. The events may be distant history by the time of Game of Thrones, but the upcoming spinoff can still have a real impact on its parent series, re-shaping and reframing certain plot developments and character arcs.
Much of that will primarily be focused around the Targaryens themselves, as it can add greater context and provide more explanations for things like Daenerys' villainous turn in Game of Thrones season 8. House Stark itself may not appear in House of the Dragon until season 2, as what's happening in the North isn't of primary concern to the story at the outset, before a pact is made between the Starks and Targaryens. Even then, it's unlikely there'll be any direwolves, but it can still change (and make worse) Game of Thrones' use of them.
One of the biggest mistakes made by Game of Thrones was the direwolves and how it adapted (or didn't adapt them) to the screen from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books. Each Stark has a special bond with their direwolf (and most can warg into them), and they closely link to their journeys and characters, but little of that made it into the show. Most of the direwolf elements were cut from Game of Thrones, due to a combination of budget constraints and a difficulty in creating them on screen and getting the look right. Neither reason did a great job of offering a satisfying explanation, and it'll be made even more difficult by the fact House of the Dragon will have 17 dragons (or at least, a figure in that ballpark), as per Martin himself.
There was already something of a feeling that Game of Thrones had put dragons ahead of direwolves, choosing the option that was bigger and overall more impressive in terms of look and what they'd add to the scale of the show, as well as being more marketable as the show progressed. House of the Dragon being able to create 17 dragons takes that to another level; it's an incredible amount of CGI, especially considering the promise they will all look different and showcase their own personalities, and suggests that's where the bulk of the Game of Thrones prequel's budget will be spent. That may not all be in season 1, instead building to the civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons, but it still means there are going to be points with multiple dragons on screen, fighting, flying, breathing fire, and yet Game of Thrones couldn't deliver a few more scenes of CGI direwolves.
Dragons and direwolves are not like-for-like in terms of CGI - again, a key reason for not using the latter so much is that there's more of a real life basis insofar as they have to look like wolves, only much larger - but given how good visual effects are, the money the show had, and how good it was elsewhere (not only with dragons but things like its wight polar bear, for instance), then it could have pulled it off if the desire was there and it was seen as truly important to the story. House of the Dragon needs so many dragons, because they're integral to the plot and the characters, and so it's great that HBO is delivering in terms of budget and the team behind it can make the CGI work. But if it can have 17 dragons, it feels even more like Game of Thrones could've had more scenes of Ghost, Nymeria, and Summer etc in action.