By talents, do you mean CP (character points)? Talents are what you can breed or customize onto a wolf which gives them 20 CP in a certain attribute, but the CP itself is what helps your wolves become better explorers, and you can add it on in more ways than just talents.
If you do mean CP, here's the game guide's list of each attribute and what they do/help with:
Dominance - Pack Happiness, Chasing Packs
Stealth - Tracking prey
Perception - Discovering things while exploring
Luck - Discovering things while exploring
Maternal - Number of pups born (only applies to females)
Social - Befriending familiars
Empathy - Healing animals and other encounters
Morals - Fixing the Beaver Dam and other encounters
Resolve - Offensive battle ability
Composure - Raiding the Farmhouse and other encounters
Wisdom - Discovering things while exploring, Identifying prey, avoiding quicksand
Battle - Offensive battle ability
Charisma - Number of pups born (only applies to males)
Agility - Defensive battle ability
Spirituality - Discovering things while exploring, spirit ancestors, other encounters
For your second question, I say look for wolves with high agility, resolve and stealth, in addition to battle. ^^