Can You Pet the Dog in Tears of the Kingdom? (TOTK)

During your time with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, you’re going to meet a lot of critters that become essential to your adventure, whether that’s hunting down a boar for your next meal, or finding your ultimate travel companion in a horse. But alongside the traditionally useful creatures, you might also find some friends in other four-legged folks. We all know dogs are a person’s best friend, and they’ve been an integral part of Breath of the Wild by just existing, but can we finally give them the attention they deserve in Tears of the Kingdom? 

Can You Pet the Dog in Tears of the Kingdom?

Unfortunately, despite our best efforts and wishful thinking as we ran up to the first dog we saw, you cannot pet the dog in Tears of the Kingdom. Regardless of the desperate pleas from players ever since the launch of Breath of the Wild in 2017, petting the dog is a feature that is yet to be implemented into the gameplay. However, as a compromise you can feed the dogs you meet by dropping some meat near them which will increase your affection for the animal, and even though that won’t result in head pats, these dogs can become incredibly useful if you know what to do. 

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Dogs in Tears of the Kingdom are actually capable of leading you to hidden treasure once you have earned their trust, so be sure to spend a lot of time around them and feed them to increase your bond. If a dog walks away from you once you’ve increased your bond, following it may lead to a buried chest or some hidden goodies, so it’s best to keep them close in case they know where anything is hidden. So even though they can’t be pet and rewarded for all their hard work in this game, they are still an incredibly valuable addition to Tears of the Kingdom for more than just looking cute.