Three dog breeds are confirmed in Hunting Simulator 3, and each one has a speciality. The Labrador Retriever is the retrieval specialist, the Coonhound is the baying specialist, and the American Foxhound is the keen-nosed tracker. Choosing between them is a question about which part of the hunt you want to be easier.

Hunting Simulator 3 dog breeds: the three confirmed breeds

  • Labrador Retriever — the retrieval specialist. Its main strength is bringing back small game, and it also supports tracking.
  • Coonhound — the baying specialist, and the version you meet in the demo is the Bluetick Coonhound. It is built to run at a live animal and hold it in place, and it also handles tracking, scouting and flushing birds.
  • American Foxhound — the keen-nosed tracker, whose sense of smell is the headline, and which can also bay.

None of them is strictly better than the others. The Coonhound is the broadest worker because it can bay and still track, scout and flush; the Foxhound is the tracker that can also open a shot; the Labrador is the one that saves you the walk back to the lodge.

Where to get each one

Availability is not uniform:

  • The Coonhound and the American Foxhound were both added in the launch patch.
  • The American Foxhound also ships with the Classic American Hunter Pack as the pre-order bonus, alongside the Winchester Model 1892 Short Rifle and a Verney-Carron Woolchap hat.
  • A yellow-coated Labrador is offered as a MyNacon account bonus, which is a coat variant rather than a separate breed.

Whichever breed you end up with, the same five commands apply to all of them, and choosing the right one for the job is what turns the dog into a tool rather than a companion. The dog commands guide covers each order and when to use it.

No skill tree, so use the dog well

Neither the hunter nor the dog has a skill tree. There are no points to spend and no unlock ladder for your companion, so a dog's development comes from how you use it and which command you give at the right moment.

That makes the command choice the real skill. A Foxhound that is sent to scout when it should be tracking is wasted, and a Labrador that is sent to bay is worse than useless because it will run straight into the herd. The dog commands guide covers the five orders and the standard loop, and the dog overview covers what each of the four jobs looks like in the field.