The Sims 3 Pets: Dogs Guide
Canine Companions: Hunting and Training
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Sims can at last have a canine companion around the home with The Sims 3 Pets expansion pack. This guide will teach you about dogs, how you can find one, and train it to be a well-mannered and helpful pet.
Getting a Dog
The most obvious choice for getting a dog is to make one in create-a-sim when creating a household. This allows you to make an adult male or female. You can then choose a dog breed to get started, or make your own custom dog. Dogs can be adopted by Sims using the computer or cell phone. Sims who are giving them away will also put an advertisement in the newspaper. You can see the home offering a pet on your map, indicated by an orange marker. The selection of pets will change a little each day, as pets find a home.
Of course, you can also come across strays. Sims can easily befriend and adopt a dog from the streets, if you can find one. If it has a last name, it likely belongs to another family. I have not found a way to get someone to give away their dog without cheats, but know that using testingcheatsenabled true and shift-clicking a pet will allow you to move it to your active household. It only works for cats, dogs, and horses.
Breeds
Most popular dog breeds are offered in the game. You'd have to desire a pretty rare dog to find it unavailable. Breed does not really matter as far as gameplay is concerned, although it does ensure you get the product you'd expect when breeding dogs. Dogs do not have a value to Sims. They are not sold nor is there a market for studs or even cooperation between Sims in breeding them. Finding a particular breed of dog in town is no easy task, so if you want a beagle or golden retriever, you're going to want to make one from the start.
Dog Life
On normal lifespan, a dog is an adult for around 25 days. With the Animal Expert Lifetime reward it is increased by 50%. Dogs will turn to Elders, and will eventually die of old age. They can swim but will not drown. In fact, they'll teleport out of the pool before this ever happens. Their ghosts will be red or blue. You can stop this with the Pet Young Again reward, or even clone the dog. I doubt it is easy for them to get electrocuted. Life fruit nor ambrosia will restore a pet's life. The best you can do for them is fulfill their wishes so that they can afford one of the alternatives.
Dogs can be brought back as playable ghosts, and can make ghost puppies following the information on the Ghosts page.
Behavior and Trait Training
You should make use of the reinforcement system to praise good and scold bad behaviors. It works the other way, too. Getting by with no punishment for bad behavior can lead a dog to take on that trait. Overeating or using the bathroom in the house could lead to the Piggy trait, and chewing on furniture could make a pet destructive. Unless you tell them so, they'll think they can keep doing it! You can learn about Dog Traits here.
Puppies
Puppies and Kittens will have their own page, along with information on breeding animals. For now, know that puppies need help up stairs. The best they can do to avoid going in the house is to head to the porch unless you assist them. Play with your puppy and build a relationship between dog and master. You can teach a puppy to be neat and discourage aggression and other annoying traits like destructive during this phase.
Fleas
While outdoors, dogs can get fleas which of course can make them miserable. You can give them a flea bath to remedy this, and there is a lifetime reward for an automatic flea bath machine. Spending any length of time around the dog can spread them to your Sim. Get the dog to a flea bath as soon as he's ready to come around your Sims. If your Sim gets fleas, treat the dog first. I've had them jump right back on to my Sim.
Adult Dogs
All grown up, dogs can do more. They can learn tricks, guard the house, and even find things that can bring the family more money. If you keep an eye on them, you can do a lot for behavior but a dog born destructive is bound to be that way. That is why there is an option to reset your pet's traits with a Lifetime Reward.
Tricks
You can teach dogs to perform up to six tricks: sit, sit up, play dead, roll over, speak, and shake. Each trick takes a while to master. These are only for showing off to friends and don't really serve a purpose. You can't command the dog to sit or stay in any useful way as it requires your Sim to be standing in front of the dog. When you've unlocked all six tricks, your dog can put on a trick exhibition show.
Dog Hunting Skill
About Hunting
I originally labeled this skill as though it couldn't be used to support a Sim family. I was very wrong about that, as proven in this forum thread. In the comparison of dog and cat earnings, it is clear that dogs take the win because the gems they find can be cut, and space rocks can be worth far more. You could train a pack of dogs to go after collectibles for you all day. Here's how the dog's hunting skill works:
Learning to Hunt
Upon reaching adulthood, dogs can be trained to hunt. Your Sim will teach them to identify smells. When they've gained a couple of levels in the skill, click on open ground and select Sniff Out Collectible. Your Sim can also order the dog to go find something. They'll set out, following their noses, and eventually come across something. It could be a gem, metal, space rock or something valueless that is interesting to a dog, like a maple leaf or snake skin. Around level five, you can tell the dog to find a specific type of item. While controlling the dog, you can also use Locate Gem, Metal or Rock to see where these items are located in map view. With a little training having a dog is like owning a pocket Collection Helper.
Dogs with the Hunter trait do better at this. I have not been able to train a dog to have the Hunter trait due to an apparent bug. I lost the ability to praise the dog for Hunting, and even after dozens of hours spent hunting he has not taken on the trait. On another dog I tested by removing hunter and was unable to get it to reappear. It seems dogs may need to be born with a good nose in order to really excel at this. All cats can develop the hunter trait through training as far as I can tell.
Occasionally, dogs will find pieces of larger objects that can be reassembled. The dog himself can do it, just carry out this command on your lot. The little statues can be worth thousands. There are several different kinds that you can collect. This will reward people who spend extra time hunting.
There are three hunting skill challenges. Dogs can get better at finding each kind of object. If you prefer one type over the other, such as Gems, you can tell the dog to focus on that type so you can unlock the bonus faster.
Dogs and the other Pets are a great addition to The Sims 3 experience. If you have a tip for this guide, you can send an email to carl@carlsguides.com or register at our Sims 3 forum.
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