Far Cry 5 lets players recruit of a wide variety of colorful guns for hire, but, let’s be real – your canine companion Boomer will probably be your favorite sidekick. Far Cry 5 associate producer Phil Fournier revealed a bit about the creation of the fuzzy fella in a new IGN First video, which you can check out below.

　　"When we landed in Montana, we noticed -- everybody seems to have a dog. That relationship people have with dogs is so strong, and I think that's something we wanted to bring to the game. To create Boomer, we did a lot of research on dog breeds. He's a mix between an Australian Shepherd and a Blue Heeler and we really started to recreate him, and define his shape, his size, his interactions. The experience was amazing. The technicians on the mo-cap set loved the interactions with all the dogs. The dog that did the most Boomer was an Australian Shepherd who was super-sweet."

　　Fournier also detailed how Boomer will help you on your cultist-annihilating adventure…

　　"[Boomer] is very good as a stealth option. You can send him in front and he won't get detected, because [enemies] don't really know if he's a threat or not. Boomer's AI, we want him to feel useful. We don't want him to be penalizing to the strategy of the player. Boomer's greatest skill to me is just, walking around in a dense forest, you never know what's going to be around the next corner -- it might be a bear, an NPC, a VIP. Boomer walks just ahead of you, and he has that sixth sense, and he'll detect any sort of enemies. He'll even growl if there's a really special threat coming. He's your ultimate protector."

　　Good boy! Sniff out that bad guy! Tear out that jugular! Good Boomer!

　　Far Cry 5 scampers onto PC, Xbox One, and PS4 on March 27.