Hunting

Cats and Dogs in The Sims 3: Pets have one skill of their very own called "hunting". Cats can hunt for minor pets (rodents, reptiles, birds, etc) and beetles. Dogs can "sniff out collectables" to pick up rocks, metals, gems, and "special" fragmented collectables.

Both cats and dogs can "fail" at hunting and pick up worthless junk, usually (shed) snake skins, feathers, maple leaves, and chip bags.

Pets must learn the hunting skill before they can hunt out in the world. Cats learn the skill by "practicing" on a toy from the pet toy box, and dogs are taught by their Sims. Cats and dogs can continue to gain hunting skill points in this manner up through level 10.

The Skill Journal for pets is like that of normal Sims, with the exception of pets only having one skill.

After the pet gains some amount of hunting prowse s/he can be ordered by a sim to gather specific collectables (such as "rocks", "gems", "rodents" or "reptiles"). This works similar to the pet hunting on his own, however, he will try to present the object to the Sim that sent him out for it.

Dogs cannot do much with their finds, but hunting can often prove quite lucrative as they tend to bring home the more valuable gems and metals. If a dog finds 3/3 pieces of a fragmented collectable, the object can be "assembled" for a unique object to decorate your Sim's home or sold for a decent sum of §§§.

Dogs with a hunting skill of 4 or higher can be told to "fetch date" and will bring back an attractive member of your sim's prefered gender.

Cats on the other hand do have the option of eating their prey if your Sims do not want to keep it as another pet, sell it for cash, or release it back into the wild.