Nintendogs lab and friends instruction manual

You can view each one's profile and delete them from your list, if you wish to do so. Trainer Accomplishments: Here you can view how you've done in each contest. Your best score for each class is displayed. System Settings: Here you can change four settings. The first is Battery Save Settings. If you turn this on, the system's backlight will turn off after 10 minutes of inactivity to save battery power. The second option is Mic Sensativity.

This is normally set to High, and I'd recommend keeping it at that. Next is the Time Display option. If you turn this off, the time and date will disappear from the top screen. Finally there is the PictoChat Search option. Turning this on makes your DS search for active PictoChat sessions near you. You can choose how the game will notify you as well. If you read all that, you now know how to get around in Nintendogs. There are quite a few menus, but after playing for a bit, you'll be able to navigate them instantly.

So, despite knowing everything you can do, I haven't said much on how to do anything. Let's start with the essentials: food and water. You can also see how clean they are, as well. Dry Food is the standard food. Remember that if you have three dogs, you need to buy three of the food item. Return home and open up your Care Supplies. Find the food and tap it to give it to your dogs. They'll happily eat until they're full, and then you can tap the open box on the left side of the touch screen to put away any leftovers.

Treats are not meant to be given to a dog when its hungry, but it's still feeding. After buying treats for example, jerky , take them out of your Care Supplies and toss them to your dog s. If you have more than one dog, try to get the treat close to the dog you want to have it. If your dog is Famished or Hungry, it's time for a meal.

Water Bottles are the standard drink, so stock up! If your dog is Parched or Thirsty, give it a drink. If your dog gets too dirty, you might start seeing fleas on it, so you want to keep it clean. First, check your dog's status screen to see if it has long hair or short hair. Then go to the Pet Supply or one of the Discount Shops and purchase the appropriate shampoo. In addition to shampoo, buy the appropriate brush rubber for short hair, wire for long hair.

Once back home, go to the Care section of your Supplies and find the shampoo. Tap it and select the dog you wish to wash. You'll be taken to the bathing screen. First you must soap up your dog.

Poke the sponge in the center of the screen and rub it along your dog. The faster you go, the less time it takes, but don't get so vigorous that you scratch up your screen. Once there is enough soap on your dog, the showerhead icon in the top-right corner of the screen will begin flashing and you'll hear a beeping noise. Poke the icon to get a surprise! Grab it and use it to wash all the soap off. The game tells you your dog is beautiful and you are whisked back to the main room of your house.

There's one more step, though. To make sure this beauty last for decent amount of time, go into your Care Supplies and find the appropriate brush for your dog. Tap it, choose the dog you wish to brush, and brush away! It should take only a small amount of brushing before you are told, once again, that your dog is beautiful, and back to the main room you go.

After selecting a dog to take, you must draw a path to take. A mini-map comes up on the touch screen and you must decide where you will take your dog. This is done by drawing a path to take. At first you can't go very far, but the more walks you take, the farther you'll be able to go. The path must begin and end at your house, and you can erase paths you've drawn by tapping them or poking the eraser in the top-left corner this erases the entire path.

The map is randomly generated although it is possible to get similar or even identical maps , but there are always certain things on it. These are: Question mark blocks, two parks, two discount shops, a gym, and, of course, your house.

Get as many question mark blocks as possible. Make the walk as long as possible. Get to any other locations you want to go to parks, the gym, shops, etc. You may have to redraw your path a couple times to get it perfect. NOTE: If you're looking to get as much stuff as possible on your walk, go to the Frequently Asked Questions section and find the "Is there a way to get extra items on walks?

This is how you control your dog. By yanking forward, your dog will begin running. By yanking backwards you can make your dog stop. While walking, your dog will randomly stop and go to the bathroom. A drumming will start in the background, your dog will sniff the ground, and then it will begin relieving itself.

If it pees, you can just wait and then continue. If it poops on the sidewalk, though, tap the poop with the stylus to clean it up. If you don't clean up after your dog, you'll eventually be chewed out by another dog trainer and lose trainer points. So obey the scoop laws! When on a walk, your dog may run into several things. If you find a brown box or some trash, make sure to pull your dog away from it!

Yank forward on the leash to keep your dog from eating from these. If it does, it will become sick and walk slowly for a short while. Although not particularly dangerous, it slows you down and no one wants their dog to feel bad. Sometimes a present will be lying on the sidewalk. To get it, stop your dog. It will pick it up and bring it to you. This nets you a random item. If you're making your dog run, you'll most likely only see the present for a second as it zooms by. Yank back on the leash as soon as you see it and your dog will spin around and go back to get it.

For more tips and tricks regarding these presents, look in the Frequently Asked Questions section for "Is there a way to get extra items on walks? I recommend running during walks. It makes your dog get thirsty faster, but you can give it some water as soon as you get home. It also makes sure that even very long walks take only a few minutes assuming you aren't making long stops anywhere. Just pay attention so that if a present is lying on the sidewalk you can pull your dog backwards in time to get it.

Your dog either finds a present and gives it to you earning you a random item or you meet up with another dog. The first one is pretty self-explainitory, but the second is more interactive. You'll be taken to a new screen where you'll see your dogs barking at each other.

They never start out friendly. The trainer will give you some friendly advice tips, in other words , and then you'll have the option of either leaving or trying to get the dogs to play together. Since playing gets your dog in a good mood, you should try. This is more likely if the other dog is lying down and not jumping around. Once they start sniffing, a nice, cheery tune might start playing and they'll walk around together.

That means they're playing, and after a small amount of time you'll be told your dog is glad it got to play and you'll continue your walk. Now, if instead of sniffing each other, the two dogs start chasing each other and pouncing while a quicker, more tension-filled tune plays, you should get out of there right away by poking the red arrow, because that means they're fighting. You dog can't get hurt in one of these, but it's best to break them up quickly.

They're the big, green areas with trees and a pond, in case you couldn't tell. One of them has little dogs on it, which means if you go there you'll get to interact with one or two dogs. Although fun, the main purpose of the park is to practice the flying disc, and this is best accomplished in the empty park.

I'll have more on flying disc training in the contest section of this guide. On the map it appears as a large building with a picture of a dog jumping over a hurdle on it. The gym is filled with various equipment, but it's always the same kind your dog will be faced with in the Agility Trial it can currently enter. Inside is a mix of hurdles, tubes, double hurdles, seesaws, and slaloms.

I'll talk about this area more in the contest section of this guide. These shops sell all the items you can find at the Pet Supply shop but at reduced prices. The prices vary from just slightly lower to dirt cheap. I rarely buy anything from Pet Supply, considering these shops can save you quite a bit of money. On top of that, they occasionally sell items you can't get anywhere else, such as the Keyboard.

After just one walk, though, you'll notice blue dots of various sizes around the map. These mark where your dog has stopped and marked its territory in other words, gone to the bathroom.

You dog will always stop at this and sniff them, occasionally renewing their ownership. If you run into a dog near one of these dots, the dot will being flashing. This means that the other dog is challenging your dog's ownership. Dogs competing like this are much more likely to fight when they meet, so beware. As you progress they get increasingly difficult, to the point that you must perform perfectly or be eliminated. Beginner contests require only simple abilities. Championship contests push your dog to its limits and require perfection.

Contests are very important as a source of income. That's with just one dog. If you raise a whole pack of champions, the money will just roll in. Remember to give your dog food and water before entering ANY competition, in addition to the recommended training. A starving, parched dog isn't going to perform as well as a full, quenched one. Obtain a flying disc you can buy one for cheap at a Discount Shop or at the Pet Supply and go to a park on a walk.

You can throw the disc at home, but you need more space to really practice. When drawing your walk path, make sure to go to the park with no other dogs. Other dogs will simply get in the way. Once at the park, take out your flying disc. Wave it around a bit and your dog come running and wait for you to throw it. My technique is to hold the disc near the bottom of the touch screen, then quickly move it upwards and release it about halfway up the screen.

If done properly, the disc should fly straight for a few seconds, then begin to rise up. When it comes down, it will be near the end of the park. Experiment a bit to find what works best for you, but try to keep the throw as straight and as long as possible.

When you throw the disc, your dog will run under it. At first it may have trouble keeping up, and it may or may not jump up and catch it. This is fine. In any case, your dog will either catch or pick up the disc. It will probably walk away and lie down with it, maybe chew on it. Although cute, you don't want your dog doing this in a timed competition. You can call it back by saying its name or tapping the touch screen. I highly recommend tapping the touch screen.

You can start doing it as soon as your dog has the disc and there's not chance that it won't respond. Once you have its attention, your dog will run back to you. Pet your dog on the head when it returns wait for it to sparkle , and then take the flying disc from its mouth. Your dog will growl and you may have to pull a bit. Once you have it back, throw it again. Practice throwing it as quickly as you can after you get it back.

So, to simplify it all, here's what you need to do at the park: 1. Throw the flying disc as far as you can. Wait for your dog to either catch it or pick it up. Tap the screen once it has the disc to call it back.

Pet it until it sparkles once it returns with the disc. Take the disc from your dog. After a while, your dog will get faster, catch the disc more often, start making jumping catches, return without you calling it, and releasing the disc without a fight.

This may take a couple trips to the park, but this is what you want to happen. If you're not sure how ready you are for the Disc Competitions, ask yourself these questions: Can I consistantly throw the disc to the far side of the park? Does my dog consistantly jump up and catch the disc in mid-air? Does my dog return the disc to me as soon as it catches it without needing to be called? Does my dog release the disc as soon as I grab it without growling or pulling?

Can I throw the disc immediately after I get it back from my dog? If you can say "Yes" to all of those, then you have the skills necessary to complete the Disc Competitions.

One last note. After a while, your dog will get tired of chasing the disc and simply sit around. Although your dog may be tired, you can continue throwing the disc. Your skills are as important as your dog's, so don't ignore your own training.

Keep in mind that you have a limited time at the park, and eventually you'll get a message telling you to continue your walk. Don't feel rushed, though. You get plenty of time. The colors act as a scoring system.

You stand in the green section and throw towards the blue section. The farther the disc gets, the more points you recieve. Of course, your dog must catch the frisbee to recieve any points, but if your dog is well trained, your throws are what matter now.

Chances are you'll just barely make it into the blue with your best throws, but in the later classes you'll need to get those ten points. Red Jumping Catch: 8 Points Normal Catch: 7 Points If you're good at throwing the disc, your throws should get to the red without much trouble.

For the first few classes this is more than adequate. Get eight points on every throw and you're a shoe-in. Only in the toughest classes is this not enough.

Aim for the blue, but red works too. Sometimes, in the heat of competition, you can let the pressure get to you and end up here. Although six points is fine early on, once you reach the Expert Class it becomes lacking. Sure, it doesn't take long, so you could throw the disc here repeatedly and win Beginner or Open, but why aim for this when you can simply try to get the disc as far as you can? If you find yourself hitting this more than once a lone fluke is understandable , you should probably go back to the park for some more practice.

Green 0 Points If you accidentally drop your disc without throwing it, your dog will get it here. Even if it's a jumping catch, you get nothing.

The good news is, it only takes a couple seconds for your dog to give it back, so you can recover. Just try not to drop it, though, okay? Therefore, you must be quick.

Don't bother petting your dog when it returns the disc, and if it still doesn't come back automatically when it catches the disc, start tapping the touch screen as soon as your dog has the disc. If the disc is in the air when time runs out, you'll still get the points from that throw if your dog catches it.

Even if you just have one second left, throw that disc! Sometimes aiming for a lower score is actually a good idea. Let's say you need twelve points and time is running out. You could throw the disc as far as possible, but if you manage to get ten points, your dog won't return in time to get another throw in.

However, if you aim for the orange section, you'll get six points and your dog may return in time for you to get one last throw in. Since even a throw you make at the last second counts, you can use this strategy to make the most of your time in desperate situations.

There will be times when you screw up, and unless you're very good or very lucky, you'll end up dropping back to lower classes occasionally. I once made it to the championship, totally messed up, and ended up in expert by the end of the day.

You can always turn off your DS and start back from your last save, but that is cheating, in a way. In every contest you'll recieve commentary from Ted Rumsworth and Archie Hubbs. Ted is a smart, helpful individual. Archie is loonier than a fruitcake. Well, maybe he's just eccentric, but in any case, you'll get to know them well in your contest career. The Beginner Disc Competition is easy. The required score is low and even a couple good throws will result in a win.

If you've been practicing, you can win this with just a few throws to the red or blue sections of the arena. If you're still having a bit of trouble, fear not. Even if you only get four or six points per throw, you should be fine. If you lose in this competition, either your throws are poor, or your dog isn't very good at chasing and catching the disc.

Either way, head to the park and practice. Key word is few. You shouldn't have much trouble here, even if your dog is still undertrained. All I can recommend if you lose is to keep practicing. If you're not reaching at least the red section on most of your throws, it will be tough. Make sure that your dog can return as soon as it catches the disc without prompting and that it releases it without a fight. You may need those few extra seconds.

Your throws are getting more and more important as well. Stay calm, throw accurately, and you should be fine. It all comes down to your throws. Now, the point value you must reach to win varies somewhat, so you may need to just hope for a lower number. If you get a high number, you'll need to get some blue throws in, or at the very least a large number of eight-pointers.

With a lower necessary score you can manage with even a six-pointer, but you still most get most of your throws in the red or blue. If you pass this, you're on to the highest disc competition level. Even if you get lucky and only need a 45 or so, you'll need and 8-pointers if you want to win. If you end up needing Do your best, and even if you get something ridiculous like 50, at least try to stay in the championship by getting a high score.

Hopefully next time you'll get something more reasonable. Keep practicing at the park and make sure your dog has mastered the flying disc. It's all up to you now. Throw as far as you can as quickly as you can, and you can scrape up a win here. As far as the championship disc competitions, you mention that 'Chances are you'll just barely make it into the blue with your best throws, but in the later classes you'll need to get those ten points.

But getting a score of say 52 isn't all that hard. All you need is a dog fast enough to bring you the disc back, just make a throw for 6, just barely in orange, then three 10s, you should have about 12 seconds left, not enough to throw a 10 and throw it again, but you can throw a six, and then a final 10 making your score So far, the best dogs I've used are the Shiba Inu 6 consectutive championship victories and the Labrador 4 consectutive.

My pinscher can't run fast enough to catch it, and my poor Corgi gets to the disc after it's been on the ground for a couple of secs despite lots of training it's hilarious to see him try though.

I've noticed that other dogs, such as the Lab, can get to the disc on a far throw, even though they can't catch it, even very early in training. So, I don't see a Corgi ever being able to catch a 10, while I have dogs Shiba Inu, Boxer, Lab catching 10's after they have only been trained a little and are in the Beginner Class, and then win the tournament with 25 points. Also, if you have to beat a score of 50, you still place first if you get It says 'Oh it appears there's a tie for first, what a pair of winners,' or something like that.

So, just like some dogs are better show dogs, some are definitely better at the Disc Comp. I really like his 52 point strategy, which I can summarize thusly for those with no attention spans: Tricky to perform, but a garaunteed win in any class if you can master it.

Now, as for some dogs being better than others, this is true. However, I believe any dog can be a champion. My brother also has a Welsh Corgi in his game, and it has managed to catch a ten before. Now, the dog's personality might make a difference as well, but in any case, it shouldn't be impossible. Then again, it's not like you get more money if you win with a Corgi, so you might as well use a dog that's easier to win with.

My Welsh Corgi was able to consistently catch 10s after only a couple of trips to the park, so it's definitely not a breed trait that they're bad at the competition. I still contend that any dog can win any competition, but it appears personality is a deciding factor in how easy it is. There are some discs that throw easier and farther then others. The standard color discs such as the camo discs seem to throw the shortest distance when compared to the sponsor discs and the aerodics.

The dartboard is one of the worser choices to use since it's heavy and flies a shorter distance. I found that they also have a longer air time if you throw them. But, when I enter her in the actual contests, she fails me! She does absolutely terrible I think that how much your dog likes you and how much Trainer Points you have may effect the way your dog performs in contests. Also, how large your dog is may effect it, too. I think Dalmatians and Labradors may have a harder time performing in certain competitions; because mine is always so clumsy and awkward I didn't want to make another section.

Anyway, I've noticed this too. It might also seem harder because you're under pressure when you're in the contest.

You must guide your dog through various obstacles. Although you are controlling your dog in a way, without training your dog will mess up every step of the way. So you dog's skill is at least as important, if not more important, than your own in this contest. It's the large building with the picture of a dog jumping a hurdle on it. Inside you'll find a variety of obstacles for you to practice with.

After a while you'll be kicked out of the gym and be told to continue walking, but you have plenty of time. To control your dog, tap where you want it to go. If you tap an obstacle, your dog will head for it and try to pass it. Just keep tapping constantly to keep your dog moving. As you progress through the classes, more items will show up here. Make sure to practice before you enter a new class, or you won't be ready for what's coming up.

That includes beginner. Don't jump into the contest without visiting the gym first. They are the low bars that you dog must hop over, in case you've never seen a hurdle. Tap them to make your dog jump over them. At first it will have some trouble, knocking over the hurdle without showing much effort.

That's fine. Just keep trying. Before long your dog will hop the hurdles every time with no problems. When approaching a hurdle, make sure your dog is headed straight towards it.

If you try to jump it at a bad angle, you'll miss it. Tubes The tubes may be the easiest obstacle. They are long, curved tubes. Tap one side and your dog will run in.

Watch the arrow pointing at your dog and keep tapping ahead of it. Once your dog comes out the other side, you're done. Seesaws After you beat the Beginner Class, seesaws will appear at the gym. They are the long planks with one side touching the ground and one up in the air. These are tricky if you don't know how to deal with them.

Tap the side touching the ground to get your dog onto it. At first your dog will take these very slow. It will shake and slowly walk across as you tap ahead of it. Once on the other side, the seesaw will begin to tip towards the ground in front of your dog. To keep your dog from jumping off, tap behind it.

This will make it stop moving so that the seesaw can finish tipping. Alternatively, you can tap and hold the stylus behind your dog to make it stop entirely. Once the side in front of your dog is touching the ground, tap ahead of your dog to make it walk off. As you practice this, your dog will get faster and faster until it runs over the seesaw with ease.

Double Hurdles These also show up after the Beginner Class. They are quite possibly the most annoying obstacles. They are simply two hurdles together. It won't take long for your dog to get the hang of jumping over them, but that's not the hard part.

You have to have your dog run straight at it. If you come towards it at an angle, your dog will probably miss part of the hurdles and you'll get a miss. As a result, it's worth practicing approaching these in many ways, so that you know how to straighten your path out in a contest. If you need to take extra time to get in position for these, do it.

A few more seconds in a contest is better than a point deduction. Slaloms Once you reach the Expert Class, you'll be face with a row of poles sticking up out of the ground in straight lines. Theses are slaloms. Although intimidating, they're not that bad. Tap one side and look at where the little "marker" is. This is the side your dog must enter on. If you have it approach from the wrong side, it will get confused and you may end up with a miss.

Approaching the slalom head-on works well too. Once into the slalom, you must guide your dog inbetween the poles. At first your dog moves slowly and you must tap in the direction it needs to go over and over and over, carefully guiding it through in a zigzag fashion. If you stray too far from the poles, you'll miss. These can be hard to navigate at first.

After some practice, though, your dog will get faster and need less guidance. Eventually you can just tap ahead of your dog as it runs through the slalom. I've noticed that once your dog gets good, it occasionally stops and looks at you during the slalom.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong, or maybe this is normal. I'm not sure. In any case, if this happens to you, keep tapping ahead of your dog and it will continue in a second. Gameunreal tells me that more practice fixed this. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's the same place. Various obstacles are arranged on the show floor, just like at the gym. When you're in the contest, you must guide your dog through the obstacles in the order shown on the top screen.

If you make a mistake, you lose 5 points. If there is a tie in terms of points, the winner is the one who finished faster. It can be tough to use it while guiding your dog on the bottom screen, but you lose points for doing obstacles out of order. Glance upwards to check where you need to go whenever you get lost or just want to make sure you're heading in the right direction. Put points above speed. If you have no mistakes and 30 seconds, you'll beat someone with -5 points and 23 seconds.

After a certain point, additional seconds cause point deductions, but I have never hit that point during the agility trials. Is it because you have a cold? Is the dog just being bad?

Sometimes it's all three, or none of the above, but you'll never know for sure. And it's something about the design you'll have to accept. Though Nintendo's usually downplayed the Nintendo DS system's graphical capabilities, no one can say that Nintendogs can't keep up with current generation visuals.

This product features some seriously impressive 3D that really make the puppies come alive on the Nintendo DS screen. These guys and gals , though adopting a slightly stylized look, appear incredibly lifelike thanks to the attention to detail both in their modeling and in their animation cycles.

The developers clearly looked at the behavior of real puppies and employed them in Nintendogs. It's hard not to become emotionally attached to these dogs right from the start because they truly act the part of looking adorable and latching onto their owners. What's also very impressive about Nintendogs is the physics engine employed in the environments. There are literally dozens of objects that can be found on the puppy's walk around the neighborhood, from balls to bones to toys like remote controlled helicopters.

And players have the ability to use these items to interact with their pet by throwing them or moving them around the enclosed room. Each of these items reacts in their own, very realistic way, behaving as a tennis ball, soccer ball, rubber toy, stick, or other dog toy would after it's thrown and knocked around. Hopefully Nintendo can put this physics engine to use in other DS games, because even when limited, it's pulled off extraordinarily well in Nintendogs.

This virtual pet game does offer a lot of little things to discover, but as a whole there's not a lot to Nintendogs. There are only three different competitions to enter your dog in, and once the different difficulty settings have been mastered you can simply retire that dog in the Dog Hotel and work on a new puppy. So, while there's a bazillion little trinkets to collect across the hours you can invest in playing with and training your dog, you'll hit a brickwall of progression pretty early on in the gameplay.

Nintendo does extend the experience with "Bark Mode," a function that you can set your Nintendogs in that will seek out other puppies using the Nintendo DS wireless capabilities in its battery saving "Sleep Mode. Here, the other player's dog will visit your system and interact with both you and your dog.

By building up the friends list, players can collect gifts traded from visiting dogs, as well as unlock the other dogs in their kennel for future training. You're obviously limited because other Nintendogs players have to be in this mode for it to work, but it's still a neat idea that adds another level of interaction to the overall product.

Can a bunch of juvenile canines make the Nintendo DS a need-to-have system? Our full review. As the dogs are owned by the Kennel, they cannot be bought. Once the player has adopted their first dog, it will need time to get used to the surroundings around the room.

After some time has passed, the player will need to think of a name for the dog, by saying it via the Nintendo DS's microphone. Once the dog recognizes the name that the player has given, they will need to call the dog via its name without using the whistle in order to advance.

After the dog has learned the name, the player will need to teach the dog a Trick. That can be done by making the dog sit, tapping the light-bulb icon at the top-right screen and saying the command. When the command is learned, the player will have to make the dog sit, using voice commands rather than manually making the dog sit.

Once the dog recognizes the command, the player will be able to go out and do various things with their dog.

Just like in real life, dogs need basic care. Every now and then, they will need to eat some Dry Food and drink a Water Bottle to quench their thirst. Dogs also tend to get dirty at times, either from neglect forgetting to care for the dog for too long or eating Trash. Depending on the dog's coat length, the player will need to wash the dog with the right shampoo for grooming to be fully effective.

Using brushes is also recommended, since a brush can help make the dog's coat clean without having to spend Money on shampoo, and is more likely to reward the player with Trainer Points. Unlike real life or other pet-simulation games, Nintendogs cannot die or have puppies.

If they're neglected for too long, however, their friendship with the owner could decrease. After the player has taught their dog to sit, they can visit some shops to cater to their dog's needs by tapping on "Go Out" and "Shopping" on the Touch Screen.

Walks are a way for the player to take their dog to special locations. While on a walk, their dog may find a present or encounter a neighbor. The player can make their dog participate in three different competitions: Agility Trials, Disc Competitions, and Obedience Trials. Using Bark Mode, players can communicate with someone else who owns a copy of Nintendogs.

It allows the player to send a gift, and gives them the option to play a five-second message they have recorded on the White Record. This process can be done many times, and is a way to get version-exclusive items. The player can interact with the other dog in Bark Mode for as long as they like, in a location that isn't seen anywhere else in the game.

Unlike other Nintendo DS titles with wireless communication, this one doesn't keep track of the timing between the happenings of the two owners. Once the information from the other system's save file has been downloaded, the player's copy of the game stops communicating, and they get to play with both dogs theirs and their Bark Mode partner's alone.