Well, I have been forced to eat my words with respect to the Wild Dog in Island of Happiness. With only a stone pen but with my dog at 10 hearts, I had been able to leave my chickens outside overnight throughout the Summer season without one incident where any of them developed the telltale stress signs that indicate 'damage' from an attack. Now, however, to my dismay, I have experienced betrayal from my canine pet.
It was a sunny day yesterday and all my chickens sunned themselves in their pen throughout the day, falling asleep peacefully at night as usual...
I went fishing in order to keep my shipments of fish at a level that would keep all the Fishing characters on the Island, returning home only at 11.40 p.m.
There had been no barking to indicate the presence of the Wild Dog anywhere, but when I entered my field, I saw the creature slinking about silently near the Chicken Pen.
The Chickens continued to sleep peacefully... but then I found my DOG sleeping as well! He could not be roused to do his duty either. I picked him up, but as soon as I put him down, he fell asleep again, ignoring the continuing threat of the Wild Dog!
I equipped a tool but by now it was 1.00 a.m., the time when the Wild Dog leaves of his own accord. He departed as silently as he had appeared.
This morning, rather to my dismay, I found that three of my Chickens were stressed. How could my Dog betray me so, after all the Pet Food, petting and holding I did to bring him to 10 hearts!
So I guess you can't count on your Dog to keep the Wild Dog at bay, even if he has done so dozens of times in the past. I must add here that my Dog certainly has demonstrated the ability to go after the Wild Dog. On many occasions, he has sent him howling from the field... so what happened last night???
In many Harvest Moon games, a pen made of stones or branches is not sufficient to protect chickens or livestock. Perhaps Island of Happiness is the same. I simply didn't have the heart to rebuild the pen with better materials, as it takes so long to position each item on the ground in this game.
The other possibility is that the Dog is not fully trained until his title reaches that of Gold Medal Dog, which would occur when he has participated in three Dog Contests. (Apparently, an animal does not have to Win the Contest to gain a higher title. A Chicken who lost the first Chicken Contest nonetheless was given the title of Copper Medal Chicken. When she won the 2nd, she was given the title of Silver Medal Chicken. My Cow who won her first Contest was given the title of Copper Medal Cow, even though she won first prize. So the title depends on participation rather than winning, evidently.)
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11 comments:
Bad pooch <_<; Is it possible he was overly tired from doing previous activities? Does he have a hidden stamina stat? Or perhaps it was just very bad timing ... my animals alway seem to fall asleep at the worst times ...
At least your dog does something (most of the time) though, ol Duke (my dog) just takes up my time and food while lazily loafing around all day. He can't even scare that paranoid weirdo, Daryl, whom thinks I'm cloning cows... And Murrey can just walk right in without so much a bark coming from Duke ... and take whatever I have in my cold storage. Duke also has a serious self-control issues, which I found out when he somehow found his way to Carter's fossil collection ... that didn't end well ...
During our vacation in Mineral Town, he couldn't even fetch the frisbee, instead he just dug holes everywhere and brought me back junk. This made me rather unpopular with the townsfolk ... and forced an early end to the vacation ...
And we can't even visit Flower Bud Village anymore ... not after what Duke did to poor Mayor Thomas at that costume party ... (which they replaced with another flower festival I was told).
... I should've adopted a pig.
Aw, that stinks, but at least your dog does chase him away the other times.
Why did you equip your tool, though? Were you planning to use it on the wild dog to chase him away? (I'm still new to the game, so I do not have animals to protect yet, heh).
Maybe try a double-layer fence? Surely those dogs can't jump over them - if your own dog/horse/character can't jump over these, then why not a wild dog? But I'll have to bear that in mind when I get my version of IoH, so not to leave my chickens out!
Mars, why don't you write a short story about Harvest Moon for my other page? Your comment was so entertaining!
Kalypsocry, I thought of the double pen. Perhap it would work, but if you read my latest post where the chickens were targeted randomly by the game at 5.00 a.m. when peace reigned, I am at a loss now to think of a way to guarantee their serenity.
By the way, the amount of stress they suffer in one night is quite insignificant. One day outside and it's gone, so it isn't the end of the world. Even so...
Oddly enough, I did begin a double pen, but I realised my original pen was placed too close to the edge of the field for a complete double fence.
Bunny, traditionally in Harvest Moon, a sharp tool is the most effective weapon against the Wild Dog if your own dog fails to protect your animals.
This is true in IoH as well, but it is much harder to target the Wild Dog with a tool given the lack of control buttons. He moves too fast for me...
Hmm, a short story eh? ... Well, I do have a bit of writer in me, though my first attempt at HM fan fiction didn't end that well, granted that was four years ago. I suppose I could try again though.
Oh, and I'd try using the sickle - it generally has the fastest animation speed, good for getting speedy targets.
*d-d-d-d-d-double post*
Mmmmkay Freya, I decided to give it a shot. If you like what you see, then I'll continue it, and you can have put in your other blog if you wish.
http://blogs.ign.com/Mars-Frog/2008/09/06/100826/
I love the story, Mars. It's very clever. Please do continue...
Can't a normal single pen made out of material stone keep out the wild dog?
Anon, I did replace the stones with material stone and it did not prevent the Wild Dog from causing 'stress'. IoH is a complex game. There is another component that contributes to Stress in animals left outside all night... but I cannot recall precisely what it is at this point. I am too busy with Rune Factory Frontier. My IoH General Guide does have detailed information about all matters relating to livestock and poultry and the Wild Dog. It should help you.
Well, that's bad, but something worse happened to me once. :/
I usually leave all my animals outside all the time, only taking them back to their shelters during bad weather.
I only had three chicken when that happened, so I noticed one morning that there was only one of them inside the fence where I had been keeping them! I immediately found another one walking nearby, OUTSIDE the fence. Then I checked the Assets page, where I saw that my 2nd hen had disappeared from the list.
I'm absolutely, completely sure that I had three hens at that time because I always check on them before I sleep.
Of course, I'm not sure if the wild dog had anything to do with this, but it's the only thing that could make sense.
I had to reload my last save which was 5 days before. Ugh.
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