I get what you're saying here t c. My old dog used to do something similar on rabbits, yep, rabbits lol. Hares and deer he'd literally bust a gut trying, every time, rabbits he couldn't really be bothered with.
Written about this sort of thing before. I think if a dog isn't that 'tuned in' to a particular quarry, they simply don't try hard enough, or, as in the case of my dog, just couldn't be bothered lol.
Don't know about dogs 'jacking' on 'teeth' as I've never been interested in all that stuff ?