Soooooooo Cute - Nintendogs

Author's Rating:

Pros: puppies are cute, and act as they should, hours of fun on a daily basis

Cons: can get stale

The Bottom Line: 
Anyone who has an extra hour a day - who loves dogs - or wants a dog, would love this game.

Author's Review
I finally got a handheld! The Nintendo DS was actually a gift Mark and I received for our wedding – it’s perfect for us really.

The first thing I went out and bought for it - Nintendogs: Dalmatian & Friends for DS. I have heard a few of my friends talk about it, and it sounded very interesting. So while Mark was out collecting all the Final Fantasy’s he has missed out on – I was playing with my Nintendogs.

Nintendogs is a pet simulation game. The first time you load it up – you pick a puppy and name it. There dog breeds are limited at first, but you can earn more. Some of the breeds in this version include Cavalier K.C. Spaniel, Dalmatian, Yorkshire terrier, and the Golden Retriever. After you pick a name you have to teach it to the puppy by actually saying it into the microphone a few times until they “get it”.

You’ll also have to keep up on supplies for your puppy like shampoo’s, food, and water. You can also buy toys, but you want to make sure you have enough of the necessities before doing that.

After you have successfully names your puppy you can teach it tricks. This is done by using the touch screen and microphone. Once you have taught your poppy the trick, all you have to do is say it and they will do it. You will need to reward it though, or it will have a hard time remembering.

There are lots of fun things to do with your new poppy. You can take it on walks to the park, or the store. You can run into other dogs while on a walk or find presents on the street for your puppy.

One of the main goals in Nintendogs it to collect trainer points, this is how you unlock new dogs and things. You can do this just by spending time with your puppy, but also by entering one of the three types of competitions and winning 1st 2nd or 3rd place. The three types of competitions are disk, obedience, and agility.

In the disk competition you throw a Frisbee, depending on if your dog catches it, and how far it was thrown you get points. The most points wins. You can practice with your dog in the park. You just throw Frisbees to it over and over – all it to come back to you and reward it, the more you do this the better your puppy will be in the disk competitions.

In the Obedience competitions you have to make your dog respond to different commands. Or course first you teach your dog the tricks, and make sure he understands them and does them every time, and then you enter. The quicker your dog responds, the better your score will be.

In the agility competition you have to guide your puppy through tunnels, over teeter totters, and other things. This for me was the hardest one for my puppies. You have to take them to the agility trial park to practice, over and over for them to get good at it. The quicker your puppy gets through it – with no mess ups the better.

With all of the competitions it does get harder as you win more of them. With the disk competition you have to throw it further and your puppy has to be faster. In the obedience competition you have to know more tricks. In the Agility competition there will be more obstacles and you have to be faster without any mess ups.

You can also link up with other people who have nintendogs and have your dogs play with each other, and even exchange toys. As long as you as in a wifi hotspot, you can search for other nintendogs users.


As a trainer you can keep up to 3 puppies in your home. You can also store some at the kennel. If you ever want to get rid of a puppy you can always donate it.

The graphics are very nice, and the puppies act just like real puppies would, they respond very well, and you can pet them or pull their tails. It is very interactive.


This is a very fun game, it isn’t something you will be playing all day long but it is good for an hour or so a day. You do need to keep up on your dogs, or they will run away, so be sure to at the very least feed and water them every day and bathe them every few days.

I recommend this game for anyone who would like to have a dog, but doesn’t really want all of the responsibilities of a dog (like me, I prefer cats). It would be a great gift for a child, as I think any kid would love this game.