Dogs
When you click on your dog's name, a new page will appear that shows everything about your dog and let you do different things with the dog.Name
The top of the page will give you the dog's name. If it is "unnamed", you can fill in the blank with a name you want. Dog names must be unique, there are no two dogs named exactly the same. So, if a name is already taken, it will not allow you to name it. However, you can add symbols, numbers or even the initials of your kennel to help make the name unique.
**If your dog is young enough, under 6 months old, there will be a release pup button
. This will delete all the dog's information from the game and cannot be reversed.Parents:
Underneath your dog's name is the name of its parents. By clicking on their name you can view their parents. If the name says "unknown" then it is a 'foundation' dog, and one of the first of its kind. Foundation dogs are awarded to sponsor players or can be bought as imports.
Age, Breed & Gender
Under the parents' names, is how old the dog is in years, months and weeks, what breed the dog is, and its gender. Each time you take a turn, the dog ages one week. Dogs can be Male, Female or neutered. To view more about its breed, click the breed icon on your dog and you will see a pop-up summarizing the breed. You can read about the different breeds on the breed pages.
Bloodlines
This link will bring you to the dog's family tree and any offspring it may have.
Adding an image to your dog:
This option is available for you to customize your dog a bit more. You can add in your own image link here. Type or paste the full URL of the link to the picture in the form box. Please note that VHR does not provide image hosting. You must find a place elsewhere to host your image, then add the link there. Make sure whatever image you use that it is free for use to the public. Using copyrighted images without permission of the owner can get you banned from the game.
For me to add in this picture of the dog Aysha, on internet explorer I right-click the image, then select properties. I would copy/paste the link from the browser pop-up's Address (URL) which is http://www.virtualpups.com/help/dogimage.jpg in to the form field to add in this image.
PS. This is a picture of Nefertete's special little dog in real life
Overall Condition This is the physical health of your dog. The greener the better. Things like neglect and exhaustion can lower it. If your dog suffers an injury, its health will improve week by week through the turns.
Energy This is the energy of your dog. It uses energy for training menu activities, and regains it over turn(s). Be careful about getting the energy too low, you can exhaust it, causing it health problems and a slower energy regain. The amount of energy it uses is determined by your dog's natural endurance and how much energy a training exercise requires. The more stars in endurance it has, the better it will recoup and the less energy it uses.
Mood All dogs need play. You will notice that your dog's mood changes when taking a turn or training. To increase its mood more in to the green, play with your dog! If the dog's mood gets too low, it will become too depressed to train.
Grooming Most dogs need a brushing or bathing here and there. Some breeds require a lot more grooming than others.
Total Earnings This is the amount of money your dog has won in events.
Competition Level Your dog gains competition level by competing in events. It is awarded a score each time it competes... The amount of score it is awarded is based on how well it did vs. how many dogs. So placing fifth place in a full event of 30, would give you a more score (and fame points) for your dog than placing 5th out of 7 dogs. Here is the list of levels:
Junior: Under 300
Novice: 299 - 1000
Regional: 999-5000
National: 4999-15000
International: 14999 and up
# of events W/P/S This is how many events your dog has entered. The "W" stands for win, the "P" stands for Place, or second place, and the "S" stands for show, or third place. It is only displayed for informational purposes and to see top dogs.
Number of Owners This is how many owners your dog has had in its lifetime. Each time it changes owners, it losses loyalty, the amount depends on its adaptation.
All starting stats are determined by 3 things, breed, parents' birth stats (the number in parenthesis) and the amount the parents were trained or actual stat (the number not in parenthesis), in that order.
The number or actual stat represents what you have achieved in your dog through training exercises. This is what events are judged on so all breeds have 'a shot' at winning, some may be tougher than others. Dogs are born slightly less than their natural potential. 200ish is about the max amount a dog can gain in these areas.
The number in parenthesis or birth stat represents the stats at birth. The better the birth stats of the dog, the more stars it will give.
[b]The stars represent an expert's rating of the dog's potential. The more stars, the more potential it has in that area. Certain stats, like hyperness and aggression, can be good or bad, depending on what you want your dog to do. The amount it gains and the starting level of the number, is dependent on these stars. All dogs are different or unique, one four star dog may be better than another in a particular area.
Stats themselves determine many many things... so this is important...read on!
Height This is the height of your dog, or expected height when it fully matures in centimeters
Color There are hundreds of possible colors... They are fun but do not effect the way your dog performs. When a litter of puppies is born, there is an 80% chance it will achieve one of its parents' colors. There is a 20% chance that one or more of the puppies will get a color specific to its breed. This allows some fun for the serious breeders to try and capture the colors they want! To look up possible colors for a specific breed, check The Breeds Section .
Build This is the weight of your dog in kilograms, or expected weight when it fully matures. A heavily built dog would obviously be stronger.
Group This is the competition group of your dog, its classification. We based our grouping of breeds on AKC standards and other resources.
Friendly This is how friendly your dog is, a dog that is not too friendly might just bite a judge.
Aggression This is how aggressive your dog is. The higher the number and more stars, the more aggressive. Sometimes, when very competitive, aggression can be a good thing... for certain events. However, it's important that they don't bite the sheep in a herding trial, if you know what I mean.
Adaptability is important when your dog finds a new home, or enters in an event. A dog that has a low number, or not too adaptive, may freak out at new surroundings and new owners.
Loyalty is important, the higher the number, the more loyal. A dog that is too loyal and aggressive however, may become too defensive.
Courage is basically your dog's confidence. A Big great Dane that hides from the chihuahua is not going to compete well. It is important for most event types, if not all.
Hyper The higher the number, the more hyper it is. The more stars, the more likely it becomes real hyper. A good thing in many events such as agility, a bad thing in an obedience class.
Strength is how strong your dog is, it will determine how high it can jump or pull a sled.
Intelligence is how smart your dog is. It will learn more if it is more smart. As important in events as it is for training.
Endurance or stamina, decides how long your dog can run for, or train for. It will recover energy faster if it has a lot of endurance.
Speed is also the dogs agility. It is important for, let's say, racing.
The skills are important for you if your interested in competing or having good puppies. Your dog can achieve only so many skills (around 280 total) in its lifetime, so choose where you want to specialize your dog carefully. Please see the Training or Events help files to see what you need for what events and what training affects the skills.
Discipline Skill Discipline skills are important for all events, especially if you want to show your dog, in anything. When your dog gets trained in more disciplines, then more training options become available. For information on what training options come up, see the training section.
Show Skill If you want your dog to excel in events such as Conformation or Showmanship, this is an important skill.
Sport Skill If you want your dog to excel in events such as Canine Disc, Flyball, Racing, Agility or Hunting, this is an important skill.
Working Skill If you want your dog to excel in events such as Weight Pulling, Tracking, Mushing, Schutzhund, herding or Hunting, this is an important skill.
This is where you can select what training to use on your dog. Each item affects different stats and skills on the dog, so you might wish to visit the Training help files to decide what to train in. As you train, more options will be available for you to train in.
The notes section is handy to remind yourself of what you've trained in, what you want to train in, as well as leave training notes if you send the dog to someone else to train.
This is how you put your dog up on the market either for sale or for stud.
No Orders is just that, it means your dog is not for sale or for stud.
If you wish to sell the dog, click the circle in front of Offer this dog for sale and fill in the dollar amount.
Do the same for Offer this dog as a stud if you wish to let other players use your male dog to breed their females to.
Feature this dog requires that you have business skill. It makes your dog appear in the pink box, in front of other dogs on Puppy Plaza.
Comments allows you to leave a note describing the dog, if it has special features you wish to point out to other viewing such as if it has special colors or is part of a winning line of dogs, etc.
Update is what you click when you are finished and are ready to put the dog up for sale or stud.
If you decide you no longer want the dog on Puppy Plaza, click the circle in front of No Orders and then Update .
Each dog is allowed one color change throughout its life. The colors allowed are only those colors specific to the breed. However, you can create your own color for your dog by using the "Buy Goodies" link in the top right corner. If a dog has already had its color changed once, it will be noted here.
If you do not wish to breed the dog, you can neuter/sterilize it using this button. This is not reversible, so make sure it is what you want to do. This button is a pretty good way to make money when starting out. Buy dogs on Puppy Plaza that are for sale for less than 500 and neuter, then release them.
Next will come a link or message that shows how able your dog is to breed
Dogs are only fertile between the ages of 1 year and 12 years, six months. If they are younger or older than that, you will not be able to breed them. Additionally, females have cycles, which means they cannot be bred at any time, they must be in heat. If your female dog is fertile, but not in heat, you will need to take turns until she comes into heat or send her to a breeding specialty sponsor to bring her into heat.
If your dog is older than 1 year, you will see this button. Dogs that are retired, are sent to the K9 Heaven kennel to be saved. This cannot be undone, you cannot get your dog back if you confirm that you wish to retire it.
Finally on this page is a description of your dog's condition and everything it has learned so far.