[Lilred]

Well..I would say that if first depended on how old that dog is..he sounds like a hoot to be around!
My opinion..and it is just that..is that he's got some cattle dog in him fer sure...sneakin & roundin things up..and you might could put those 2 together to git him huntin somethin.

Squirrel would probaly be my first thought..it seems as tho he's playin alot..you say he runs game up to yer backyard..how exactly does he do that? I mean..does he try to round em up there, or does he stumble upon them and chase em? Yer best bet would be to take him out in the woods and watch him closely. Take him out alot..you caint judge him the first few times you take him out. See what interests him..see how often he's trailin anythin, iffin at all. See what his reaction is to game.
There's a diff tween huntin and playin..and you dont want to waste yer time trainin a dog that aint really huntin. IMHO, a huntin dog..er a good one anyway..takes his/her responsibilities very seriously.

On the other side of the coin, I have taken dogs that folks have called werthless...and had em run like they had tin cans tied to their tail..and held their weight very well in the pack. A few of those even took it upon themselves to run just as hard w/o any other dog with em. If the instinct is in em..all you gotta do is find it. Sometimes, the dogs find it themselves. Once that light comes on tho..all it takes is some refinin and some schoolin..and you'll have a good dog.