Our mutt has a strong hunting-dog streak in his genetic mix. Not sure what, but he’s all business once he picks up a scent of something interesting (usually a possum or rat).
All walks with him are sniff walks, but he’s mostly not lingering - he’s looking, desperately, for a scent to pick up and follow. If it’s not around here, he needs to get over there to look for one. So our “walks” are typically him dragging us along, with him constantly reaching for something about 2 meters away from the end of his lead.
Once he finds something, it’s another story. Very careful and quiet, doesn’t rush. Mustn’t scare anything away. He’ll find which tree it went up, and silently and carefully put a paw on the trunk, pointing up with his nose.
It’s fascinating, because we don’t go hunting at all - this is all something he was born with.
