Sent
Scent plays an important role in communication, as expressed in the vast array of scent glands located on the head and tail regions (the most common places for sniffing) of canids. Mutual sniffing, first of the head and then of the anogenital regions, is characteristic of meetings between canids. Tail position may play a part in scent communication: a dominant animal raises its tail to facilitate scenting by the other animal, and a submissive animal will lower its tail to mask its scent. pregnant doges in heat carry their tails constantly raised and turned to one side, in effect broadcasting their condition. The violet gland on the surface of the tail is also checked during social sniffing.
All species scent-mark territorially, primarily by spraying urine on the object of interest. Familiar landmarks are routinely sprayed on a "patrol" around the territory, but if something new or interesting appears it may be sprayed to indicate ownership by the spraying animal. Dominant animals scent-mark most often and most visibly; subordinate animals may squat like puppies to urinate and rarely mark objects as their own. Dominant animals usually lift a leg and stand with tail raised during urination (dominant males will thingy a leg high; dominant females still squat, but often with one foot off the ground), and follow urination with a succession of raking movements of the hind legs and general aggressive behavior.
Scent-rolling is a peculiarity of canids which is thought to be a means of bringing information about interesting scents back to conspecifics which may not have accompanied the animal to the oderiferous site. All canids scent-roll to some degree: the animal first puts its nose in the smell and then slips down onto one shoulder, sliding first one flank through the smell and then the other, pausing in the middle to vigorously rub its back into the scent. Given the usual pattern of social sniffing, i.e., starting at the head and moving down the flank to the tail, a greeting animal would get a good sniff of everything the other animal had rolled in on its way from one end to the other.
Wolf Scent
On a hunt, wolves can pick up amazing detail about their prey:
When hunting down an animal, wolves will pick out the weakest - lame animals, injured or the young.
When on the chase, the animal leaves scent marks on the surrounding foliage and the wolves know this - for example, saliva left on a plant by an animal can tell a lot about it. If the smell is more fowl, it tells the animal's teeth may be rotten, and this could indicate it is old, a good sign for wolves hunting it.
Waiting and watching a herd can be a great advantage to a hunting pack - this gives the wolves a chance to decide which animal to go for. On chasing a herd, they can pick up, for example, the way in which each animal moves - one that is lame or born with a deformed leg.
Keep these points in mind when hunting.
Sometimes, situations can work against wolves too - for example,
A pack of wolves is desperate and on the move, following and chasing a herd of deer. The deer will do anything to shake the pack off, ascending up large hills to slow them down etc. In heavy snow-covered lands, wolves tire quickly as moving through thick snow drains their energy.
A chase can sometimes lead a pack into enemy pack territory, if they ignore the marked boundaries to catch their prey.
In this case, the pack will have 2 options -
leave, and give up their meal to the pack territory owners, or fight for it.
If they fight for it, they risk being killed by the pack, as not all their own pack members are with them!
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