The idea behind having Scratch as a summonable familiar that can sniff out hidden objects is a wonderful one, but unfortunately it is TERRIBLY executed due to his uncontrollable Sniff condition which makes him entirely unresponsive and separates him from the group.

Once Scratch starts sniffing that's it... "game over man, game over!". He is no longer a part of the group because he is going to sniff whatever he wants to sniff no matter how hard the player tries to stop him, which ultimately leads him to either triggering and dying to traps or permanently separating from the group because his sniffing script takes precedent over any player commands. He is basically a catastrophy just waiting to happen around any corner.

The feature would be a lot better if his sniffing condition was instead separated into actual passive abilities that the player can control and activate, for example;
  • A passive ability so that Scratch just barks whenever there is a hidden object in vicinity
  • An ability so that Scratch sniffs out any hidden objects in a radius of 3m

This way he would still retain his usefulness without losing his unique feature.

Otherwise he will keep doing this and it's simply not fun having a familiar that doesn't care about player commands and dies immediately after, potentially killing the entire party as well... pure agony having him summoned;