+--------------------------------+ NINTENDOGS DACHSHUND AND FRIENDS CHIHUAHUA AND FRIENDS LABRADOR AND FRIENDS Contests FAQ +--------------------------------+ FAQ version 2.15 Last Updated 10 April 2006 Copyright: 2005 Jasmine Sng Written By: Jasmine Sng Hi and thank you for looking at my first FAQ. This is a guide on how to go through the 3 competitions in Nintendogs. I only own the Lab and the Dachshund versions, but from what I observed, the competitions for all 3 versions should be the same. -------------- UPDATE NEWS!!! -------------- (10 Apr 06) Added some stuff in the Agility Contests section, about dogs that run so quickly people cannot control them. :) Also updated some hosting information. (04 Apr 06) Small update this time. Not many things to add I think, thanks to everyone who contributed so far. :) For those who love dogs, take a look at my blog: http://dogdogco.blogspot.com (11 Feb 2006) As the prize money table is already complete, please DO NOT send me any more information regarding that. I would however, welcome any contributions regarding items, trick and strategies etc. For everyone who's been sending information and reading this FAQ, here is a big thank you. :) Also, as I check the mailbox even less regularly now, please don't expect an INSTANT ANSWER to questions you have sent me. If you want an instant answer, do what the Questions section says: go ask the kind people in the forums. Also, I got many questions that are non-contest related. I don't mind answering them for you but please try the walkthrough FAQs or the forum first. Or else send me an email and don't complain if I reply late. ========================================================================== Contents +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 1. Introduction A. In Brief ... B. About Competitions C. When You First Start ... +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 2. Disc Competition A. Description B. Preparing for the contest C. The Contest Proper D. Strategies for the Championship +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 3. Agility Competition A. Description B. Preparing for the contest C. The Contest Proper D. Strategies for the Championship ** Additional Notes: Puppies That Run Too Quickly +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 4. Obedience Competition A. Description B. Preparing for the contest i. Basic Tricks ii. Advanced Tricks iii. Intonation and Recording Your Voice C. The Contest Proper i. Contest Structure ii. Contest Strategies (Beginner Class to Master Class) D. Strategies for the Championship +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 5. Additional Notes A. Prize Money B. Maintaining Your Winning Streak C. Re-doing a Competition D. Other General Competition Tips +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 6. FAQ +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 7. Information/Contact/End Credits +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ========================================================================== =========================================================================== 1. INTRODUCTION =========================================================================== A. In Brief ... =============== Well, if you don't know already, Nintendogs is a game that allows players to keep and interact with virtual puppies on your Nintendo DS. Of course part of the game, as most games go, is to earn (and possibly squirrel away), money. This guide will go in depth into how as to go about this: placing in competitions. Each competition will be covered in 4 sections: - Description: A detailed description of what the contest is like, what to expect when you take part in it, and how the point system works. - Preparing for the contest: Every contest needs some preparation, be it in real life or not. This section goes into depth on how to train your puppy to prepare for the competitions. All the important obstacles/tricks required in the competition are listed and described here. -The Competition Proper: What takes place during the contest, what to expect, more in-depth of point/score-counting. Strategies and aims/agendas of the contest, also the different parts (if any) in a contest. - Strategies for the Championship: Every last stage has its challenges, and this part tackles just that. Strategies and tips on how to place in the last stage and reap in the profits. B. About Competitions ===================== There are 3 competitions available for your puppy to take part in Nintendogs, namely the Disc Competition, the Agility Competition and the Obedience Competition. The prize money differs for all 3 contests in the later (more advanced) stages, with the Disc Competitions earning the least and the Obedience Competition earning the most. The contests can be entered anytime of the day, but every dog can only take part in contests 3 times in a day. However, this is not restricted to which of each type of contest your dog can enter (ie. your dog can enter any combination of contests, as long as it does not exceed 3 times). To go take part in the contests, tap the "Go Out" button on the Home menu (that is the screen you start with when you begin the game), and in the Go Out menu, tap the "Contests" button. This will bring you to a screen that is divided primarily into three spaces, namely the Disc, Agility and Obedience contests. Just tap on the contest that you want to take part in. If you have more than one dog, select the dog that you want to bring into the contest in the next screen. Contests are divided into several stages or Classes in Nintendogs, and your dog is only allowed to progress to the next stage/Class if he/she places either 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the contest. The stages for all the contests follow the same order: - Beginner Class - Open Class - Expert Class - Master Class - Championship C. When You First Start ... =========================== There is a reason why the prize money for the later stages of the competitions are so different between categories. In general, the Disc Competition is the easiest to train your puppy for, followed by the Agility and finally the Obedience contests. Personally, I thought that both the Disc and Agility contests are relatively easy, while obedience might take a longer time, since your dog performs better one it gets more attached to you. Thus, I recommend that you try the Disc or Agility contest preparations first, taking your dog to the park/Gymnasium on walks while teaching your dog tricks during the 1/2 hour "rest break" in between walks to prepare for the Obedience contest. ============================================================================ 2. Disc Competition ============================================================================ A. Description: =============== In the Disc Competition, the main goal is to score as many points as possible within the given time frame of 60 seconds by throwing a disc (frisbee) and getting your dog to catch it in one of the several colored zones on the competition field. The more points you score, the higher your chance of winning the contest. B. Preparing for the contest: ============================= Before even preparing for this contest, it s essential that you buy or get a disc (frisbee). If not, you cannot even enter the contest! To find a frisbee for free, take your dog on walks and try to pass as many "?" squares on the map as possible, some of them may hold a gift, and it might be a frisbee. Also watch for presents on the street, if you spot one, just tug on the leash and your puppy will pick it up. To get the frisbee the easy way, simply go to the Pet Supplies store in the Go Out menu or the Discount Store when on walks. There are always 2 discs for sale, a red one and a blue one. It would be a good idea to first let your new puppy go to the park before attempting the Disc contest. To go to the park, take your puppy for a walk and draw your intended path to one of the large green patches in your map, that is the local park. Each map (there are different ones for each version) has 2 parks. You would notice in our map that typically one park would have either 1 or 2 little dog icons in it while the other one is empty. To train your puppy for the Disc competition, take it to the empty park so that other dogs will not distract it. Practice throwing the disc first at the park, to do this, simply hold on to it with the stylus and then throw it with a quick flick of your wrist. Your stylus should leave (take off) from the surface of the touch screen at about 3/4 of the screen. Try throwing shorter distances first, since your dog is not born an expert, and as it is able to catch the throws, throw the disc further. The distance thrown depends on how quickly you do the wrist-flick thing. Try to hold the stylus in a comfortable position or experiment with different methods of throwing if you are experiencing problems. The ideal throw should be straight and fairly low, so as to allow your dog to catch the disc easier. C. The Contest Proper ===================== After skipping or going through the dialogue that takes place before the contest, the main aim as mentioned is to get your dog to catch your furthest throws, and as a result, earn more points. There are several colors on the contest field, and they are as follows: - Light Green (score 0 points) - Dark Green (score 1 - 2 points) - Yellow (score 3 - 4 points) - Orange (score 5 - 6 points) - Red (score 7 - 8 points) - Blue (score 9 - 10 points) Besides doing good wrist flicks and getting your dog to catch the disc, your dog would also have to bring the disc back to you, and most of the time, inexperienced or untrained dogs simply take the frisbee to a corner of the field to play with it, not knowing the importance of the crucial time during the competition! To remedy this during the contest, tap on the screen to get your dog's attention and tap another time if necessary to get it to rum towards you and bring you that frisbee: fast. To get your dog to run back to you with the disc "automatically", be sure to tap the screen whenever it run off with the disc when training at the park. When it does bring back the disc by itself, try petting it so that it associates being a good dog with bringing you the frisbee after a throw. D. Strategies for the Championship ================================== The points required to maintain (ie. not being downgraded to Master Class) the Championship position would be about 40 points and up. To place first in the Championship, try to get more than 50 points, since the "rival" dogs sometimes score 50 points (never seen them score more than that), but the usual range would be about 45 to 49 points. This would mean trying the average a 10 point throw every 10 seconds or less (that figures to about 60 points and give or take some points when you are delayed or throw too close). Depending on your dog, if it is not able to catch many 10 point throws, you might want to throw some 8 pointers and average the time out. ============================================================================ 3. Agility Competition ============================================================================ A. Description: =============== The Agility contest is actually a field filled with several obstacles and its main aim is to get your dog to go through all these obstacles successfully within the shortest possible time. It must be noted that the point system for the agility competition is very different from the other 2 contests. Every time your puppy fails to successfully pass an obstacle, it get a "fault" of 5 points. In this case, more points scored is a BAD thing, and what you are essentially aiming for would be a perfect score of 0.00 points and the shortest timing possible to complete the entire course. B. Preparing for the contest: ============================= You cannot enter an agility contest unless you have already visited the Gymnasium during one of your walks. The Gymnasium is the large brown building on your map with the icon of a dog on it. If you have yet to visit it, take your dog there during a walk and you will find upon entry, that there are several obstacles placed in a fixed position (it never changes as long as you are still in that same class). The obstacles are as follows: - HURDLES: Your dog will have to jump over these. Hurdles come in single and later on, double versions. It basically looks like a frame with a stick on it (or two sticks) and if your dog jumps over it unsuccessfully or incompletely, then you get a fault for that obstacle. To get your dog to jump over a hurdle, drag the arrow to the hurdle so that your dog is standing right in front of it. Then drag the arrow over the hurdle to guide your dog over it. Every time your dog jumps incompletely (sideways) or when a stick from the hurdle frame drops, you get a fault of 5 points. - TUNNELS: You will these right from the start, along with the single hurdles. To get your dog to go through the tunnel, drag or tap the arrow so that your dog is right at the entrance (either side in the Gym, it does not matter) of the tunnel and drag the arrow along the length of the tunnel so that your dog follows the arrow through the tunnel. Your dog might be afraid the first few times and get stuck in the middle of the tunnel, simply get the arrow back to where (you estimate) your dog is and repeat the process. You would know if your dog is following as the screen moves if it does. - SEESAWS: The seesaws come in a later Class (Expert Class and above) and what you need to do in this one would be to get your dog to run up the seesaw to the other end of it (from the side that is already on the floor, no double sides on this one), allow your dog to stop and wait for the seesaw to descend COMPLETELY to the ground, before going off the seesaw and on to the next obstacle. To do this, simply guide your dog with the arrow up the seesaw from the side of the seesaw that is already down on the ground, and drag the arrow up the length of the seesaw. Your dog might be afraid of the height in the first couple of times, but it will get used to it after a few tries. When your puppy reaches the other end of the seesaw, tap behind your puppy to signal it to stop and not jump off the seesaw, wait for the seesaw to descend COMPLETELY to the ground (takes a second or two) and then tap or drag the arrow somewhere away from the seesaw to complete the whole process. - SLALOM POLES: These are a line of red and white striped poles in the agility contest field/the gym and are the last variation of obstacles that your would encounter as you progress through the ranks. The aim here is to get your dog to go through, in a zig-zag manner, through all the poles. To do this, tap the arrow cursor on the first slalom pole and wait or your dog to run to it. Then holding down onto the arrow cursor, use it to guide your dog in and out of the slalom poles. ** All the obstacles and how to tackle them are also shown in the Agility Contest book in the Care Section. If you need a visual picture of how its done, take a look at the pictures in the book. C. The Contest Proper ===================== To successfully place in one of the first 3 positions in the agility contest, it would be essential to keep faults to a minimum and go through the entire course as quickly as you can. There is time limit stated during the start of each contest, during the time when Archie and Ted the announcers, are talking, so be sure to read that. If you exceed the time limit, fault points are issued. Faults will also be issued if: - you did not complete the obstacle properly - you made a stick fall from the hurdle (bad jump) - you exceeded the time limit (as explained above) - you went through the obstacles in the wrong order The order of the obstacles that you have to follow are seen on the top screen on your DS, and the numbers are marked clearly so that you can follow them. All the stages right up to Master Class have relatively smooth, flowing orders in the course of the obstacles, but in Championship its a different story. D. Strategies for the Championship ================================== The Championship stage for the Agility contest has 3 different "maps" or courses that are generated at random during the start of the game: - Two seesaws placed parallel to each other. The first HURDLE is on the right. - Two seesaws placed far away from each other. The first 3 obstacles are HURDLES. You start from the right. - Two seesaws placed perpendicular to each other (at an almost right angle at least). Your first HURDLE is on the left. You have to go through the SLALOM POLES TWICE in this course. The last one is the most difficult because your dog might have a tendency to jump (in the wrong order of course) one of the hurdles on the right or left of it on the way to the first round of Slalom Poles. Also, going through the Slalom Poles twice would mean a disaster to your time if your dogs still need guidance through the poles. The best way to tackle this course without cheating would be to practice at the Gymnasium until your dog can go through all the obstacles and especially the Slalom Poles by itself with you just tapping the obstacle. Going through the Slalom by itself saves you and your puppy lots of time. Also, try to avoid tapping the hurdles and instead guide your dogs over, since hurdles are placed very close to each other and the course in the Championship goes in and out in a rather unorganized manner, so tapping your arrow at close distances from your dog so as to avoid doing the wrong obstacles is also crucial. If you want to go through the Agility contest (or the last course at least) by somewhat cheating, simply save before you enter the contest and then do your best in the obstacles. If you think that your puppy and your performance is unsatisfactory, simply turn off the DS. Note that you need to do this before they announce the results and give you the prize money. The time limit varies greatly for the Championship courses, and I have observed on the average, that the last course (the 2 Slalom Pole course) has the longest time limit of as much as 69 seconds. But most times, all courses on average require that you compete the course within 60 - 62 seconds maximum. Since we are now already in the Championship, it would be best not to get fault points. In fact, getting a fault point (even if its just 1 obstacle done wrong) might not guarantee a win even if you have a great timing. The point system is based on FAULT POINTS scored first (the lesser the better, of course) before timing is considered. Which means for example: - DOG A has 5 points and a timing of 45 seconds, but DOG B has a score of O points (no faults) and a timing of 50 seconds, then the dog with no faults, DOG B, would take the first prize. Timing only comes into consideration when, for example: - DOG C has a score of 0 points and a timing of 55 seconds, while DOG D has a score of 0 points (same score) and a timing of 60 seconds, then in this case the faster dog, DOG C would win. To place first in the Agility Championships, it would be ideal to get no faults at all and a timing of 50 seconds or less. If your dog does constant practice, and performs well at the Disc Competition as well you may notice that your dog runs very quickly through the whole course. It may take some time to adjust to a little (or huge) dynamo running on the twisting and turning Championship course, but getting timings like 37 seconds with no faults through training guarantees a win. If you do not want your dog to run through the whole course too quickly for fear of not being able to control it, take it for fewer disc practices and contests. ** Additional Note: Puppies That Run Too Quickly ------------------------------------------------ I notice that many people have given feedback on the fact that their puppies run TOO FAST and they are not able to keep up with that little dynamo on the agility contest. If that happens, it was likely that you trained your pup in the disc contest too well. Dogs better at catching discs would mean that they can run faster, and this applies to the agility contest as well. If that has already happened to you, my best idea is to go practice, practice, practice at the Gymnasium until YOU are trained enough to keep up with the pup. Or else, plan your training strategies carefully and make sure that you are able to handle a quick dog in the agility contest after you ace those Frisbee contests. ============================================================================ 4. Obedience Competition ============================================================================ A. Description ============== In the Obedience Competition, the judges would want to know, of course, how obedient your puppy is! (As if you did not know already.) In order to prove this, the judges would choose at random, the commands that your puppy has to perform. This would then be followed by a Free Performance time. Each set of tricks/request by the judges, as well as the Free Performance, are in blocks of 30 seconds each. It is essential that your puppy can complete all or at least, most of the commands successfully during the course of the contest to earn points. Also displaying advanced tricks during the Free Performance time would significantly increase your points scored. In the Obedience contest, more points scored is a good things, and points are given by each individual judge with a decimal (ie. 7.5) and later the average by all 3 judges are averaged to 2 decimal places(ie. 8.02). Sorry I'm not a math person, please forgive if I did not describe the decimal places properly. B. Preparing for the contest ============================ The first trick that is required in the contest would be taught to your puppy (at least your first puppy) the first time you get it. Right, that is the SIT DOWN trick. You must however, teach your puppy the other required tricks by yourself. There are several basic tricks that are required in competitions, and will be called out by the judges (see the next section for details). Teaching your dog the basic tricks can be found in the Dog Training book that is in the Care section of your "Supplies List". To teach your puppy a trick, first get your puppy to perform a trick. If it is a trick that your dog has yet to master, then a light bulb icon will appear on the TOP RIGHT CORNER of the screen. Tap on the icon and speak the command clearly into the DS' mic. i. Basic Tricks: ---------------- The following list shows you how to teach your dog the basic tricks, along with some tips and troubleshooting here and there (if you are looking for the Advanced Tricks or have already got your dog to master all the basic tricks, then skip this part): - SIT DOWN: This trick would be taught as part of the informal tutorial when you first get a new puppy. However, with subsequent puppies, you'll have to teach them SIT DOWN yourself. Start first by getting your puppy to pay attention to you. Then, slide the stylus from its head, along its side down to its paws. - LIE DOWN: Get your dog to first learn SIT DOWN, then from a SIT DOWN position, once again, slide the stylus down the length of its front legs from its head to its paws. - SHAKE: Get your dog in a SIT DOWN position, and then lift your dog's paw (either one, it does not matter) up about halfway the length of its other front leg. Let go and quickly tap the light bulb icon to record your command. - SPIN: We will get your dog to chase its tail here. Get your dog to face sideways or away from you, so that its tail is within the reach of your stylus. Then using your stylus, grab your dog's trail and bring it gently towards its face. Hold it there and after a while your puppy should chase after it. - ROLL OVER: Get your dog either in a SIT DOWN or a LIE DOWN position would make things much easier. Slide the stylus across horizontally, so that your dog lies on either side. Then slowly slide the stylus upwards (several times if need be, but slowly) along its back legs, and it will lie on its back. Finally, slide the stylus up from the floor into the air along its middle tummy area to make it roll over. - JUMP: You might notice that your dog does a cute action sometimes: sticking its rear into the air and wagging its tail. It might look comical, but you puppy actually wants to play with you. This is the position that you would want your dog to be in to teach it JUMP. When you see your puppy displaying the I-want-to-play action, tap into the air above your puppy's head and it will look up and jump. If it does not work the first time, try again, or try tapping twice or more. - BEG: This trick is pretty hard to do, especially if your puppy is not very attached to you yet (ie. you got it not too long ago). It would be a good idea to get your puppy to learn all the above tricks (maybe excluding JUMP since that might take slightly longer) before attempting BEG. To do BEG, get your dog to face you in a standing (normal, no trick) position, and then slide the stylus up from between its front legs to its nose (ie. up the belly). If your dog gets up halfway (two front feet off the ground), then you are somewhere on the right track. Just continue trying this, slide the stylus several times as if in some sort of petting movement and soon your puppy will get it. ** To see how the tricks look like when performed for all the Basic Tricks ONLY, you can refer to the pictures in the Dog Training book in the "Care" section. ii. Advanced Tricks: -------------------- Advanced tricks give you a better score in the Free Performance section of the Obedience contest. I've not did too many of these, but here are just some of the many tricks that your dog can do: - SNEEZE: You can teach your dog to sneeze on command. This trick is especially useful in the beginning levels of the contest since you do not require any pre-learned tricks to teach this one. You puppy can be in any position (sitting, standing or lying down. Simply touch your puppy's nose and it sneezes. Quickly tap on the light bulb icon to record the command for this trick. Puppies usually repeat this trick quite a few times during the contest, meaning you can get a few tricks (and thus scores) in the Free Performance section when your puppy has yet to learn the more complicated tricks. ** Note: Advanced tricks listed below are combination tricks comprising of 2 of the Basic Ticks done in the specific order, so make sure that your dog learned the Basic Tricks REQUIRED for the Advanced Trick that you are attempting: - BREAKDANCE: Your dog will perform a spin while lying on its back on the floor. To do this, first tell your dog to ROLL OVER, it will lie on its back on the floor. DO NOT PET IT, as it will think that the trick is over. Next, ask it to SPIN. Your dog should perform that trick. If not, try again! - STAND UP: You dog will stand up on its 2 hind legs. First get your dog to BEG. Then carefully hold onto one of its paws and lift its paw upwards so that it finally stands on both hind legs only. While its doing STAND UP, tap the light bulb to record your command. - RECOVER: Your dog will be lying on its back and then jump into a standing position. Ask your dog to ROLL OVER. It will be lying on its back, 4 feet in the air. As usual, DO NOT PET it, as it will think the trick is over. Now ask your dog to JUMP. It will do the BACKFLIP trick. - HOWL: To teach your dog to howl on command, observe your dog constantly. When other dogs in the background noise (presumably from the neighborhood) howl or bark, your dog might howl, quickly tap on the light bulb icon to record the trick. Your dog will also howl when a police car (sirens) pass by. - DANCE: Before attempting to teach your puppy to dance, first make sure it knows BEG and SPIN. Then, get your puppy to BEG and then, do not pet it, and ask it to do SPIN. Your puppy should spin while in the BEG position. - HANDSTAND: Your dog will have to learn both LIE DOWN and BEG for this trick. First get your puppy to LIE DOWN, then immediately ask it to do BEG. Your puppy should now do a HANDSTAND trick. - BACKFLIP: Your puppy should already know the SIT and JUMP commands. First, get your puppy to SIT, and without petting it, immediately tell it to JUMP. Your puppy should do a backlip from a sitting position. Final notes: The more times you get your dog to perform the trick by speaking into the mic, the longer your dog can hold the trick (ie. do it continually). This is essential for completing the "hold X trick for Y seconds" requirement in the Obedience contest, so keep practicing! iii. Intonation and Recording Your Voice ---------------------------------------- As the voice recognition system in Nintendogs is extremely sensitive, it does not recognize your voice sometimes (ie. you dog cannot perform the trick that you asked it to do). This might be because of two main reasons: a. Like Words: Like words mean words that have very similar pronunciations. Although SIT and SHAKE would not sound very similar to you and I, by Nintendogs standards they are. Thus it would be a good idea to avoid using such similar sounding commands. Using longer words, such as SIT DOWN, would be helpful. Also, it would be good to make a rough mental plan of what each trick should be named before actually recording your voice, so as to avoid similar sounding names like SIT, SHAKE, SPIN. (eg. you might want to change it to SIT DOWN, LIE DOWN and CHASE) b. Intonation: I hate this one. Intonation refers to the rise and fall of your voice when you speak, for example a harsh sounding "NO!" is very different from a wailing "No ~~~~!" like those in romantic soap operas and the like. So be careful when recording your voice commands. Pay attention to your intonation especially when you record your voice for that particular command the first time. It would be ideal to use monotone, but if you think that using intonations sounds more natural than speaking to a robot, then make sure that you pay attention to how you say it. Alternatively, use words that are less easy to have too many variations in intonation and yet still sound natural, like "One, Monday, February, etc." to make it easier for yourself and your puppy to understand you. c. Deleting Tricks/ Recovering Intonations If you ever forget the intonation or decide on another name for the trick and want to start over again, simply get your dog to forget the trick. To do this, simply go to the "Home" screen, and tap the "?" icon under your puppy's portrait, to bring up your puppy's personal information page. Tap on the Trick List button, and select the trick you want to delete by tapping on the respective box. Then confirm to delete the trick when the game asks you to. Now you can re-teach your dog. Young dogs DO learn OLD tricks! **Note: If you delete a trick, you dog *completely* forgets it, and that includes how many times it has done the trick before. That means that you have to get your dog to practice it all over again in order for it to successfully perform the "hold X trick for Y seconds" section in the Obedience contest. If you forgot the intonation you used before your dog has learned that trick, or do not want to go through the whole process of teaching your dog over again (which might take some time, even days), then what you need is really one word: patience! Simply get your dog to pay attention to you (its harder with more dogs in the room, so you might want to put those in question in the hotel first). Then try different intonations until your dog performs the trick. C. The Contest Proper ===================== i. Contest Structure -------------------- The Obedience contest is divided into 2 parts, the first part being assigned commands that your dog must perform in order, and the second being a Free Performance time when you can get your dog to do any trick. Tricks in the Obedience Contests are classified, into 3 categories" - Tricks in sequence: Tricks assigned by the judges at random, to be performed in the stated order. Doing the fist and second (if 3 tricks) will get a "Good" score, while completing all tricks in the correct sequence will get an "Excellent" score. Doing the wrong tricks or tricks in the incorrect order will get a "Miss" message. - "Hold" Tricks: Also assigned by the judges, chosen at random. Your puppy is required to hold, or continue doing, the trick for the stated amount of time. - Free/(Advanced) Tricks: These are any tricks that can be performed during the Free Performance time, and advanced tricks not required of in the contest can be used here to get "Excellent" score messages. The basic tricks that your dog needs to know for each Class/level in the Obedience contest are as follows: 1. Beginner Class: Sit, Shake, Lie Down, Free Performance 2. Open Class: Sit, Shake, Lie Down, Roll Over, Spin, Free Performance 3. Expert Class and Above: Sit, Shake, Lie Down, Roll Over, Spin, Jump, Beg, Free Performance Advanced tricks (tricks other than those listed above and usually consisting of 2 simple tricks in one) can be performed during the Free Performance time to earn more points. Usually, these advanced tricks get an "Excellent" score message. ii. Contest Strategies (Beginner Class to Master Class) ------------------------------------------------------- Placing in the Obedience contest is perhaps the most time consuming of all the 3 contests, and maybe that's why they pay you more when you reach the higher classes. The following are some strategies that would help: TAKE A BATH: Before even going to an Obedience contest, take note that the judges will judge your dog not only on how well it obeys your command and do the required tricks, but also how clean you keep your dog. So, it would be a wise thing to give your dog a bath and brush its fur first. READ THE REQUIREMENTS: Make sure that your dog knows all the required tricks for each class before proceeding to the contest. You would not want to go to a contest right after placing in the previous one, only to find that your dog does not know the new tricks that are required for the higher level of the contest. The list of tricks are found above this section in this FAQ as well as the Obedience Competition Book that is in the "Care" section of the "Supplies List" menu. PRACTICE: One of the most aspects of the Obedience contests are the "Hold" Tricks, in which your puppy will be required to continue doing a certain trick (as determined by the judges) for a certain amount of time. This would not be difficult in the earlier classes, since it is only a matter of 3 seconds or 5 seconds, but it will be later when your puppy is required, for example to hold the trick "Beg" for 15 seconds. The only way to get your puppy to be able to hold tricks will be to practice them over and over again. The more times youe puppy does a particular trick, the longer it can continue doing, or "hold" a trick. So practicing before competitions is essential if you want to go to the next level. IMPRESS THE JUDGES: The free performance time at the end of every Obedience trial is the time to show the judges what fancy moves your puppy can do. The judges are not interested in anything except for the standard Basic Tricks during the other sections of the Obedience contests, but in Free Performance, you can show them all the Advanced Tricks to impress them and gain more points in the process. It would be wise to learn at least one Advanced Trick by the time you complete Open Class. Advanced Tricks will earn you an "Excellent" score message that is going to up your points. All the other Basic Tricks earn a "Good" score message except for the Basic Trick "Beg" which scores "Excellent". So to impress the judges, do at least 1 or 2 advanced tricks and try to fill in the rest of the time with as many other "Good" tricks as you can manage to. Don't worry if your dog does the wrong trick at the lower Class contests, since every successful trick counts. D. Strategies for the Championship ================================== To even maintain your standing in the Obedience Championships, you must score at the minimum, and average of 9.00 points to safely make sure you come back to the Championships the next round and not be demoted to the Master Class. So yes, standards are high and to place first, getting above 9.60 points would be necessary to win. Structure of the Obedience Championship: ---------------------------------------- 1. 3 tricks to be performed in order. (eg. Sit/Beg/Spin) (20 seconds time limit) 2. Hold 1 trick for 15 seconds. (eg. Hold "Spin" for 15 Seconds) (30 seconds) 3. 3 tricks to be performed in order. (20 seconds time limit) 4. Hold 1 trick for 20 seconds. (eg. Hold "Sit" for 20 Seconds) (30 seconds) 5. Free Performance (20 seconds time limit) (end of the contest) The following addresses each aspect of the Obedience Championships: ------------------------------------------------------------------- "HOLD" TRICKS: Even if you were practicing hard and your dog is able to hold a trick for the 20 seconds that is required in the Championships, you still have only 30 seconds to complete the task. This means that to get your dog to "Sit" continually for 20 seconds, for example, you would have to get your puppy to start performing the trick within the first 10 seconds or you will not be able to pull the trick off. If your puppy needs time before it does the trick, or keeps doing the wrong tricks thus leading to a timeout, you might want to look into more practice in terms of your pronunciation of the command. A different intonation or change in pronunciation might have been the cause of your puppy performing the wrong tricks or it having trouble figuring out what you want it to do. For more information on pronunciation and intonation, take a look at the contents page and you will find the relevant section listed there. FREE PERFORMANCE: It would be suicide if you are still getting your puppy to perform just one or two "Excellent" tricks while the rest are "Good". Make sure that you have enough Advanced Tricks to cover the 20-second Free Performance section and get as many "Excellent"s as you can. It would be a good idea to actually plan a string of tricks that can be done in as little time as possible to score. For example, start with BREAKDANCE,and after your puppy has spun 360 degrees and is still in the ROLL OVER position, get it to do a BACKFLIP, perhaps then proceed to doing BEG and then DANCE, then later STAND UP as all the later 3 are related to BEG as a base for the trick. RESPONSE TIME: Your dog would most probably be really attached to you by the time you get to the Obedience Championship, so save time by NOT calling your dog's name before you ask it to do a trick. Simply go over the trick names until your puppy does the intended trick, changing your intonation or pronunciation as necessary if your puppy has trouble understanding. Also, the score that the judges give your puppy is based on how QUICKLY you get the tricks (in order/or hold) done. Doing the wrong tricks would result in a "Miss" message and you would want as little of that as possible. Ideally, you should, by the Championship stage, be able to train your puppy (and your own intonation) such that once you speak the command, your puppy is able to follow and perform the trick immediately. Doing tricks (especially those in a specific sequence/order as decided by the judges) in the least possible time would earn you those extra 0.1 points you need to up your score to near perfect to place first in the Championships. ============================================================================ 5. Additional Notes ============================================================================ In this section, I'll list some extra information that is related to competitions, but are not essential information that you need to know in order to prepare for or win competitions. A. Prize Money -------------- These are the prize money amounts I know of so far: +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ | Disc Competition 1ST 2ND 3RD | +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ | Beginner Class $100 $50 $30 | | Open Class $200 $100 $60 | | Expert Class $300 $150 $90 | | Master Class $400 $200 $120 | | Championship $600 $300 $150 | +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ | Agility Competition 1ST 2ND 3RD | +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ | Beginner Class $100 $50 $30 | | Open Class $200 $100 $60 | | Expert Class $300 $150 $90 | | Master Class $600 $300 $150 | | Championship $1000 $500 $270 | +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ | Obedience Competition 1ST 2ND 3RD | +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ | Beginner Class $100 $50 $30 | | Open Class $200 $100 $60 | | Expert Class $600 $300 $150 | | Master Class $1000 $500 $270 | | Championship $2000 $1000 $600 | +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ * Note: If you have the information for the prize money of the other classes, please let me know. I'll give you credit in the End Credits section. B. Maintaining Your Winning Streak ----------------------------------- If you get 1st in the Championship competition, your dog's Contest Scores screen will mark it as so, and if you continue to win 1st in the Championships, a small yellow banner will appear showing the number of times your dog has won the title. However, this banner will disappear when you get below 1st, thus re-setting the winning streak record. But on your puppy's scorecard, the 1st in Championship still remains; just the banner will be gone. C. Re-doing a Competition ------------------------- You can re-do the competition if you are not satisfied with your performance. save first before entering a contest, and then, if you are not satisfied, simply cut the power and turn on the DS to try again. You must however, turn off the DS before the results are announced for 3rd, 2nd and 1st place. D. Other General Competition Tips --------------------------------- Your dog listens to you better when all its needs are taken care of and it is in tip-top condition. So aside from looking after your puppies well, it would be a good idea to feed them Additive Free Food (available at the Pet Supply and Discount Store after 10, 000 Trainer Points) as often as you can, or as closely before you enter a contest, to raise its mood. Also it would be a good idea to get your puppy's coat to "Beautiful" when taking it to any competition, since a puppy that is clean and comfortable will be more likely to listen to you, and this could be a crucial factor especially in the voice command oriented Obedience Competition. E. Contest Item List -------------------- This section lists the items that are related to the contests: Disc Competition Frisbees: - Flying Disc (Red/Blue/Yellow) - Camo Disc (Khaki/Blue) - Aerodisc (Pink/white) - Sponsor Disc (Green/Yellow) - Shower Cap (exclusive to Dachshund and Friends) - Life Ring (excusive to Lab and Friends) - Mario Kart (increases speed of your dog) - Broken Clock (exclusive to Chihuahua and Friends) *these are all I can think of for now, if you have any other items (version exclusive or not, it does not matter) that I have yet to list here, please let me know. ============================================================================ 6. FAQ ============================================================================ Here are some questions I can think of and have the answers to: Q. What do I do if I max out my 3 chances of competitions for the day? A. Wait for the next day. You should be able to enter contests again at midnight (12 am). Q. How can I re-do the competitions without wasting my chance? A. Save first before entering the contest, and if you are not satisfied with the performance, then turn off your DS before the results are announced. Q. I cannot seem to pass the Seesaw obstacle! A. You have to wait for the seesaw to completely rest of the floor on the opposite side before your dog can hop off it. To make the seesaw fall faster, get your dog to stand in the white area of the seesaw at the opposite end. Q. How do I get my dogs to do the obstacles automatically? A. Practice at the gym! The more you practice, and the more attached your dog is to you, the better it performs. Q. My dog is running a little slowly. A. Try practicing running with the disc (throw-catch) at the park, or use the Mario Kart and have your dog chase after it. I've noticed that one of my dogs that excels at the Disc Competition runs faster (little dynamo) during the Agility contest than my other dog, which placed only 3rd in the Disc Championships. Q. What are trainer points for? A. You can earn them during contests (and other instances as well) and the game unlocks new dogs or items/decors when you reach a certain number. For more information, go here: http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/code/926849.html Q. What happens after I complete the Championship level? A. You simply remain at the Championship level the next time you take part, and your dog's Contest Records would show a little banner with the number of times it has defended its title at Championship level if it won first more than once in a row. I think it's kinda bad to rip the contest people off their money when my dog just devastates their other contestants, but that is another matter. Q. How do I go on Walks? A. Go explore around in the game or read the manual, if not go to the general FAQ/walkthrough that deals with this. They can be found here: http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/game/926849.html Q. Are there any other ways to earn money? A. Yes, you can find items on walks and sell those that you do not want/have extra at the Secondhand Shop in the "Go Out" menu. But the bulk of your earnings (other than the occasional huge find on walks) would be from competitions. Q. My dog does not listen to me when ask it to do (insert trick here). A. Be patient! Try speaking the command again several times. Also make sure that your dog has already learned that trick! If your dog has not yet learned that trick, or is still in the process of learning that trick, it will not be able to perform that trick. To check this, go to the "Home" menu, and tap on the "?" icon under your dog's portrait, and this will bring up the dog's personal info page. Tap once again on the "Trick List" button to bring up the list of tricks that your dog has already learned. If your dog DID learn that trick then you might want to pay attention to your intonation when speaking the trick's name. Intonation is the rise and all of your voice when you speak. For example, "NO!" is very different from "No~~~~!". So if you had taught your dog the trick with a particular intonation, but had used another intonation when asking your dog to perform the trick, the sensitive voice recognition system would not understand your command. Q. My dog keeps getting these question marks over its head when I try to teach it a new trick. What's wrong? A. Again, it has got to do with intonation. Just a recap here: Intonation is the rise and all of your voice when you speak. For example, "NO!" is very different from "No~~~~!". What is most probably the reason would be that you have used a certain intonation when teaching your dog the trick for the first time, and then changed your intonation when you are trying to duplicate that trick. Nintendogs' voice recognition IS EXTREMELY SENSITIVE TO INTONATIONS, and even a tiny variation that you may not even notice, makes a big difference. So either use monotone (no intonations) or use different words to represent that trick (eg. Monday, Three, etc.) that is less prone to intonation differences and are distinct from other like words (such as eg. SIT and SHAKE). For details, go check out the sub-section on Intonation and Recording Your Voice. Q. My dog keeps doing the trick no matter how I try to get it to do something else! Why? A. Sometimes, you dog will do some tricks by itself even when you did not ask it to do anything. It's usually this automatically done trick that your dog does when it does not understand your command. It may be a bit frustrating, but observe your intonation and pronunciation. You may have named your new trick to somewhat resemble the old one(s). Go look at the section on Intonation and Recording Your Voice. Q. My dog just learned a new trick, and now it just does that and nothing else! A. Sometimes, a puppy might get so excited learning a new trick that it does it over and over again, regardless of what you ask it to do. To remedy this, make sure that your puppy is in the best of mood (ie. all its needs are being take care of, and its is rested and happy). Make it pay attention to you (place other dogs in the Hotel if you have to) and slowly get it to do the tricks you want it to do. It might be a bit frustrating, but try pronouncing the command as closely as you can to when you recorded it, and DO NOT pet your puppy or give it treats if it does the wrong trick. Siimply use the stylus to move it back into a neutral (standing) position again and try over. It might take some time and may be a little frustrating, but your puppy should get over the new trick eagerness after a day or two. Q. I DID look and it still does not work! A. I know it happens sometimes, apparently the game is terrible at recognizing pronunciation differences, and you would actually fare better trying to do different intonations for the commands of different tricks, though you must pay special attention when doing this. If your hair is still going white to get your dog to do anything else but a particular trick, it may be wise to delete that trick and re-teach it again. Do some mental give and take, and see which trick is easier to teach or worth sacrificing or living with as it is (in the event that you do not want to delete a trick). Generally, it would not be advisable to delete tricks that took a long time to teach, or the Basic Tricks. Q. My dog used to be able to get 1ST in (insert contest here) but now it barely qualifies for 3RD place! Why? A. Is your dog still below the Championships level? If so, placing 1ST, 2ND or 3RD in the contest will take your dog up one level (Class), and of course, the standards at the new levels are much higher. Your dog may have also dropped to a lower level, if you had failed to place in any of the top 3 positions in a contest at any level (except the Beginner class). Do check the level of the contest that your puppy is taking part in. If you are very sure that your dog is not performing badly due to changes in contest level (Class), then check to see if your dog is already fed, watered and clean. Also, it would be good if you as a dedicated parent take it for walks at least once a day, no one likes to be cooped up at home. If all of the above does not apply to you, then it must be the last reason: Are you too tired? If you are still playing at 4 am and the last time you went to bed was 2 days ago, tell your dogs that you will play with them soon and turn the DS off! Q. When is the best time to enter a contest? A. It is crucial (if you did not realize by common sense already) that your puppy should not be tired if you are attempting a contest. But that aside, make sure that your dogs are fed and watered, and giving them a bath and a good groom would make things go better as well. ============================================================================ 7. Information/Contact/End Credits ============================================================================ A. Information ============== i. Version History: ------------------- 0.90 (1 September 05): North America Contest Guide written. 1.00 (3 September 05): Added the Basic Tricks list, some Advanced Tricks, notes and tips on Intonation and Voice Recording. More questions added and answered in the FAQ section. Added End Credits section and added more information regarding Hosting, Contact email and Information submission. Revamped the Contents page to include the sub-sections for the Obedience contest. 1.1 (4 September 05): Added a new Additional Notes section and made minor changes to the contents page. Small changes to the legal Stuff sub-section, so that it sounds more ... legal. Other minor changes. 1.4 (6 September 05): Added the last bit to the Obedience section. Re-did the underline of the section and sub-section headers to make the FAQ easier to read. Did a little update on the Prize Money, and necessary changes to Contents Page. Other minor changes. 1.5 (7 Sepptember 05): Changed the presentation of the Prize Money section. Other minor changes. 1.55 (08 September 05): Updated the Prize Money list. Updated the Info section. 1.6 (09 September 05): Made some small additions to the Agility and Information sections. Added a Contest Item List into the Additional Notes Section. 1.65 (12 September 05): Added an Advanced Trick (thanks Amy), made some changes to the FAQ section. 1.7 (23 September 05): Added an Advanced Trick (thanks Suprnova8487). 1.75 (3 October 05): Added more prize money info (thanks Peachzeldagirl, Super Sonic 5 and gazimon) and info about the Mario Kart (thanks Peachzeldagirl). 1.80 (17 October 05): Changed the BACKFLIP trick to new name, RECOVER. Added actual BACKFLIP trick (thanks Morbid Cheshire). 1.9 (26 October 05): Quite a large update on the prize money info. (Thanks to Dimitris Hall, Michael Bol and Debby) 2.0 Completed the Prize Money table. Thanks for everyone who contributed to it all this while. (Special thanks to Dragonblizz, Jhonny Angel, Caroline) 2.1 (04 April 06): Quite a late update, but included the (most prob) last exclusive item in the contest items section - the Broken clock (thanks Flink). ii. Legal Stuff: ---------------- Nintendogs: Dachshund & Friends Nintendogs: Chihuahua & Friends Nintendogs: Lab & Friends the name Nintendo and Nintendogs are all copyright and properties of Nintendo iii. Hosting: ------------- This FAQ should only be hosted/found on the following sites: - http://faqs.ign.com - http://www.gamefaqs.com - http://www.supercheats.com - http://www.neoseeker.com - http://wwww.gamerhelp.com - http://www.absolutcheats.com If you want to post this FAQ on you own/another site not listed above, please send me an email first. You can download and print this FAQ (whole or in part) for your own use, but please do not make any changes to it or use it (in whole or in part) in your own FAQ or any other source. Please also send me an email if you want to link to this FAQ from your own Website. B. Contact/Questions ==================== i. Questions: ------------- This is my first FAQ, so if I miss out anything, please let me know. If there are any questions that you cannot find answers in this FAQ regarding contests, please email me at: jassie_sun (at) keromail.com Please note that I check this email address only every 2 days or so, thus if you have very urgent questions you want answered at any time of the day, try your luck at the message boards on GameFAQS.com, or other online forums instead. Lots of great people will answer your questions there. Also, I don't own the Chihuahua & Friends version of the game, so if you have any questions regarding that version of the game that is NOT related to competitions or the general aspects of the game (ie. how to find a specific exclusive item in Chihuahua & Friends), please go to the boards or forums and ask the people who are playing that version of the game. Also, if you have nothing to do, take a look at my blog: http://dogdogco.blogspot.com ii. Information Submission: --------------------------- If you have anything that you might want to see added into this FAQ, please don't hesitate to send me an email. I'll place a credit for you in the End Credits section my email address can be found above. Also, I'm looking for the following information and if you have it, please send it to me and I'll give you credit in the End Credits Section: - The prize money amounts for all the competitions and each class. From Beginner Class to Championship; 3rd place to 1st place. - Any advanced tricks that I do not know or have missed out. Please include a detailed description of how to teach your dog that trick. - Any items related to competitions. I'm thinking of the discs used in the Disc Competition here, but if you have any other item that is related to competitions (actual or preparation) please email them to me. Please indicate if you want to be known by your actual name or some GameFAQ/IGN/ forum name, so that I can make the correct credit references. Also, please leave me a note if you want your email included in the credits section (I know some people don't). C. End Credits ============== i. Thank you: ------------- I would like to say a big thank you to: - IGN.com for hosting this FAQ. - GameFAQS.com for hosting this FAQ. - Neoseeker.com for hosting this FAQ. - SuperCheats.com for hosting this FAQ. - The good people at Nintendo for developing and publishing Nintendogs. - Miyamoto Shigeru for coming up with the idea of Nintendogs. - Miyamoto Shigeru's dog for giving him the inspiration to create Nintendogs. - My idol, Paula Tsui for her wonderful songs that I listened to the lonely nights I typed this FAQ. Congrats on completing your 23 concerts Paula! - Brother Gomugomu for looking over this FAQ and giving a one sentence review "Should be ok." - My own dog, Honey, for being such a wonderful companion and friend. - My other dog, Sugar, for being such an evil puppy. ii. Contribution Credits: ------------------------- I would also like to say thank you to: - Nathan L. for contributing the info on the prize money (Disc Contest/Beginner Class/ 2ND). - Amy aka Tackydresser for contributing info on the Sneeze trick. (Obedience Competition/Advanced Tricks) - Suprnova8487 for contributing info on the Handstand trick. (Obedience Competition/Advanced Tricks) - Peachzeldagirl for contributing info on the prize money (Disc Contest/Expert Class/ 3RD) and info about the Mario Kart. - Super Sonic 5 for contributing info on prize money (Agility Contest/ Master Class 1ST/ Open Class/ 1ST). - gazimon for contributing info on prize money (Agility/ Expert Class/ 1ST/ Obedience Contest/ Expert Class/ 1ST) - Morbid Cheshire for contributing info on the Backflip trick. (Obedience/Competition/Advanced Tricks) - Dimitris Hall for contributing info on prize money (Disc Contest/Open Class 2ND/3RD/Expert Class/1ST) - Michael Bol for contributing info on prize money (Obedience Contest/Master Class/1ST/2ND) - Debby for contributing info on prize money (Obedience Contest?open Class 2ND) - Dragonblizz for completing the prize money tables. - *I know some people have sent me info for the prize money as well, here they are: Jhonny Angel, Caroline - Flink, for info on the Broken Clock (Contest Item List)