Dog Skills and Inventory

Dogs have two skills: Hunting and Tricks. Obviously, dogs can’t read skill books or take classes in town, but they do have one advantage: Their Sim guardian can teach them to hunt, and teach them tricks.

Hunting Skill

To teach your dog to hunt, direct your Sim aged teen or older to click on the dog and choose the Teach to Hunt interaction. The dog looks attentive while the Sim gestures and points. A meter appears over the dog’s head showing the progress. Once a dog has learned one level of Hunting skill, the skill appears in the dog’s Skill panel, which is similar to a Sim’s.

Hunting Skill Journal

All breeds of dogs can learn to hunt. Proper training will prepare any dog’s nose to sniff out the rarest of collectibles hidden throughout the neighborhood.

Statistics: Number of Gems Found, Number of Metals Found, Number of Rocks Found, Number of Collectible Fragments Found, Number of Fragmented Objects Assembled.

Challenges:

Gem Finder -Gem Finders have found more than 50 gems and have developed the ability to find rare gems more easily!

Metal Finder - Metal Finders have found 50 or more metals and have developed a knack for finding rare metals more easily!

Rock Finder - Rock Finders have found 50 or more rocks and have gained a boosted ability to find rare rocks more easily.

Hunting Skill Progression

Teaching your dog to hunt takes time and attention, but it’s fun for the dog, and potentially lucrative for the Sim. Once a dog has learned the Hunting skill, new interactions become available. With the dog selected, click on the ground to access the Sniff Out Collectable option.

The Sniff Out Collectable option.

Your Sims can also direct a dog to go hunt for a specific item. When your Sim clicks on the dog, a Hunting option now appears on the main menu. Click that to get four options: Go Find Some Metal, Go Find Something, Go Find a Gem, Go Find a Rock.

Click the Hunting interaction to access these choices.

Whether self directed or Sim directed, this command sends the dog racing across nearby yards and fields, seeking goodies to dig up. When the dog finds the right spot, she digs up the item.

Not every hunt digs up something, and not not every dug up item is particularly valuable. At first, dogs dig up... interesting... items like snake skins, colorful leaves, or empty chip bags. But as your dog learns to hunt more, either from actually hunting or from your Sim’s hunt training, they get better at finding valuable items.

When you command a dog to Go Find a specific collectable, Genius dogs are more likely than Clueless dogs to understand what you want, and bring back what you asked for.

A pink diamond worth §1,421? That’ll buy a lot of dog food!

Highly trained hunting dogs can dig up more than gems, rocks, or metal. They can actually sniff out valuable collectables. These come in fragments, much like relics from World Adventures. When the dog has located all the fragments of a collectable, a Reconstruct interaction becomes available. Fragmented collectables include: Mini Dinosaur Skeleton, Stone Hydrant Sculpture, Diamond Dog Sculpture, “Early Sim” Skeleton.

Locate Collectable

Another option available to a trained hunting dog is Locate Collectable...<type>. Available types are metal, gem, and rock. If there are collectables to be found nearby, the dog trots off to sniff them out. The view then changes to Map View, with map tags pointing to spots where these valuables can be found. These tags have the Dig Up interaction.

The dog’s level of Hunting skill determines what type of collectables can be found.

Fetch Date

Dogs that have been taught to hunt have another fun interaction: Fetch Date. This interaction is only available when a young adult, adult, or elder Sim clicks on the dog and there is a single, age appropriate Sim of the initiating Sim’s preferred gender on the lot.

When these conditions are met, the Fetch Date interaction appears when the Sim clicks on the dog.

Spot found me when my husband issued the Fetch Date command. Good dog! And btw... you better not be fetching anyone else!

Tricks Skill

Sims can also teach their dogs to do tricks. Direct your Sim to click on the dog, and choose the Teach Trick interaction. The first trick your Sim can teach is Sit. Your Sim patiently repeats the command, with gestures. After a while, the dog catches on.

Have your Sim click on their dog to access the Teach Trick interaction.

Genius dogs learn faster, while Clueless dogs are harder to train. Dogs learn tricks faster if they’re in a good mood. And the higher the dog’s relationship with the Sim doing the training, the faster the dog will learn.

Although Tricks is a hidden skill, trick progress is tracked on a tab in the dog’s Skill journal. When your dog has almost finished learning the current trick, another trick shows up in the menu when you choose the Teach Trick interaction. Keep training your dog to unlock all the possible tricks.

If Spot knew any tricks, they’d appear here.

Once dogs have learned a trick, they can perform the trick for a specific Sim. For example, a dog who has learned to Sit gains access to the Sit For... interaction on a Sim.

Dogs can learn these tricks: Sit, Sit Up, Shake, Roll Over, Play Dead, Speak, Leap into Arms.

Command to Sit/Sit for... Once dogs learn to Sit, they Sit on command from a Sim. They can also go up to a Sim and Sit. Sims respond positively or negatively, according to their traits.

Command to Sit Up/Sit Up for... Dogs trained in the Sit Up command can perform it when requested by a Sim, or you can direct the dog to perform it for a Sim. As with the Sit interaction, the Sim will respond according to their traits.

Command to Shake/Shake for... The dog offers a paw to the commanding Sim, or the Sim the dog has chosen to do the trick for. Once again, the target Sim responds based on traits.

Command to Roll Over/Roll Over for... Like all the above tricks, the dog performs this upon command or as directed, with the target Sim’s response based on their traits.

Once a dog has learned the basic tricks and starts learning the harder ones, the dog and training Sim start reaping some benefits. And a really will-trained dog can bring in some Simoleons by exhibiting a clever series of tricks.

Command to Play Dead/Play Dead for... This trick builds relationship between the commanding Sim and the dog. The dog also gains Trick skill. When performed for another Sim, the dog gains Fun and increased relationship with the Sim, although the performed-for Sim gets a little Stressed. (Oh no!... Ah! it was just a trick, phew.)

Command to Speak When commanded to speak by a Sim aged teen or older, dogs vocalize with a series of barks and howls. Sims who see this react positively. This trick increases relationship between the dog and the Sim, and builds the dog’s Trick skill.

Howlin’ Along

Howl with... isn’t actually a trick, but it is a fun interaction. This dog-only interaction (either autonomous or user directed) is used on a Sim who is playing an instrument. This is a dog only interaction (either autonomous or user directed) on a Sim playing an instrument. The dog sits and howls along with the music. Sims watching this react positively or negatively based on their traits. Hyper, Loyal, and Genius dogs do this more often. Lazy dogs do this less often. This builds Fun for both the dog and any Sims who are playing instruments. It also increases the LTR between the dog and target Sim.

Command to Leap Into Arms/Leap Into Arms... When a Sim asks a dog to leap up, the dog rears back and leaps into the Sim’s arms. The Sim pats the dog while other Sims react excitedly. This increases relationship between dog and Sim, and builds the dog’s Trick skill. User directed dogs can also perform this trick on Sims aged teen or older, which is is Fun for both the Sim and the dog and builds LTR.

Trick Exhibition

Once a Sim has taught the dog some tricks, they can perform a trick exhibition. To do this, have the Sim click on the dog, and choose Trick Exhibition. They find a likely spot nearby, the Sim puts down a tip jar, and the dog starts working through learned tricks. Sims will gather around, and maybe toss some Simoleons in the tip jar!

Performing a Trick Exhibition is Fun for the dog and his Sim, builds LTR between them, and gives them both Energy.

Dogs love to learn skills and tricks, but they can only work at it for so long before they become fatigued. Once fatigued, they can’t gain any more skills or do any tricks.

Dog Hunting Chances by Skill Level

Metals

World Adventures Metals

* Because dogs can’t travel, they can’t hunt gems found only in foreign locales.

Late Night Metals

Gems

World Adventures Gems

Ambitions Gems

World Adventures Gems

* Because dogs can’t travel, they can’t hunt gems found only in foreign locales.

Rocks

Fragments

Inventory

Dogs have an Inventory panel, just like Sims (and other pets) do. This is where you’ll find the objects dogs recover while hunting. Make sure to check your dog’s inventory for valuable items after a hunt.