Sorry to hear about pepper, With pack dogs you can attach bags to them and carry them in your primary or secondary slot and they wont weigh you down, Hunting gives you a 5% boos when hunting animals, herding lets you find farm animals if you combine the dog, with (Example) Sheep Poop, rope and binoculars, you have a 50% chance of fidning the animal. And war dogs you attach armor to them and use them as a long range weapon.