Warden can't sniff if no entity nearby

before you say "this is intentional" i mean if you force it. i was in creative and i did this command:

/data modify entity @e[type=warden,limit=1,sort=nearest] sniff_cooldown set value 0

and the warden didnt sniff. there were no other wardens nearby btw. as soon as i go into survival, the command works.

make it so wardens can sniff if forced when no entities are nearby please. it would help map makers so much.