Tips directly from TigerToys...
The first thing to remember is that it is hard to do the wrong thing. If you choose something that is not good for your pet, he will probably refuse to do it.
Check your info screens often to monitor your pet's health, happiness, hunger, and discipline. When the alert goes off, any index below 20 needs immediate attention.
Visual clues on-screen can help you figure out the right action. If your pet has left behind dirty footprints (or worse!) it's time for a bath. If you see an unhappy face in the sky, discipline is called for. And if you see a skull hanging in the air, get your pet to the hospital right away.
If you can't figure out what your pet wants, try giving it a treat. Sometimes, that's all it takes.
Happiness, hunger, and discipline are the easiest indexes to control. Start with DISCIPLINE and max it out--once or twice should do it. Then PLAY with your pet to make it happy, Finally FEED it until it's full and won't eat any more.
Health is the hardest index to control. The secret to perfect HEALTH score is to keep your pet with you and take care of it on time.
CARE SHEET FOR DIGITAL DOGGIE
1. It's really quite easy to take care of a Digital Doggie. When he's first born, his health will usually be 80 or so. If you follow the advice given below, in a couple of days his health should be 100. From there on it's a simple matter of doing the routine outlined in 14. By the way, my digital doggie has long reached 99 - the maximum age the Life signs (Heart icon) will display - and is still in perfect health and going strong. So, it works!
2. Make sure his clock is set to your clock (MODE button gets you to the time set). All the times stated below assume this. Besides, do you want him waking you at 3:00 AM ???
3. If he barks twice, he simply wants attention - you can ignore him. If he barks twice over and over again, his discipline is very low (and probably his food level, too) - it's best NOT to ignore him. If he barks four/five times, then he really needs something - DON'T ignore him!
4. He wants to go to bed around 9:30 PM (4 barks) and gets up around 7:00 AM all by himself. Make sure you turn off his light (Sleep icon) when he wants to sleep - the longer you leave him awake or the light on when he's sleeping, the more his health goes down. This can also throw sleep/nap times out of whack for the rest of the day. Doing it right can bring his health up a point or two (assuming it's not at 100 already).
5. He needs 3 naps a day , around 10:45 AM, 2:45 PM and 6:45 PM (4 barks each time). Again, turn off his light right away. (His health and sleep/nap times will be affected or not as in 4.) He'll wake up by himself in about 15 minutes. Don't put him to sleep if he hasn't asked for it - his health will go down.
6. One helping of food (bowl) = 20 Food points. If his Food level is at 50, then 2 helpings brings him up to 90. If you feed him up to or over the full 100, that makes him gain a pound. Fine when he's young (less than two), but not great after - just like real life! In fact, it's best to feed him just enough to get him into the 80's - his health can go up a point by doing that. If his Food level gets to zero - it shouldn't if you are following the routine in 14.- he may tell you (4 barks) but not always. By the way, he automatically gains a pound or two overnight (to a max of 100 pounds).
7. One treat (bone) = 5 Food points. Too many treats (more than 2/3 per day), either as rewards for doing tricks or as food, are bad for him and generally will bring his health down. Reserve treats for his daily training (see 10).
8. He usually poos (4 barks) after every couple of meals / 20 Food points. Clean it up right away (Bath icon). Not doing it can bring his health down. Doing it can bring his health up. (Notice his big smile when he shows you the poo? Somebody had a sense of humour!)
9. Don't use the Discipline icon - maintain discipline by having him do a trick (Training icon). Using the Discipline icon will certainly get him disciplined but will bring his happiness and, sometimes, his health down. Training, on the other hand, does the opposite (see 10).
10. Teach him one trick a day, first thing in the morning, and then have him do that trick the rest of the day (he forgets overnight). To teach him the trick, keep asking him to do it until he does it right once. Immediately give him a reward using the Training icon NOT the Food icon. Now make him do the trick three or four times to fix it in his mind. One correct trick = 10 Discipline points.
11. His happiness is easy to keep up. In fact, his health could be way down and, yet, have a happiness score of 100. Having said that, most things that bring his health down will also bring his happiness down: the difference is that it is much easier to get his happiness back up than to get his health back up. Simply doing things for him when needed and the occasional game of catch (see 14. below) will keep his happiness at or near 100. By the way, if after playing catch with him, you notice that the happiness score went down, that usually means he's tired - you either played too much or it's really close to nap / bedtime - so let him rest before playing with him again. Oh yes, it could also be that he missed the ball too often - do learn how to play catch!
12. Taking him to the vet isn't usually necessary - once or twice when he's young but after that Anyway, too many trips to the vet will, strangely enough, bring his health down. If he has a real need for something (4 barks) but its not nap time / bedtime / poo, then the vet might be a good idea - if it was, his health will go up. (Regardless, his happiness will go down!)
13. Giving him a bath sort of works the same way - he doesn't mind it once in a while but too many baths will, again, bring his health down. Sometimes, a bath will bring it up.
14. Check his Life signs (Heart icon) every hour or so. If anything is down below 70, then take appropriate steps (food / discipline / etc). My usual routine when something is needed is: a) have him do his trick three to five times (usually gets his Discipline to 100), b) play catch with him once or twice (usually gets his Happiness to 100) and, finally, c) feed him just enough to get his Food level into the 80's.
15. If you have left him alone for a period of time, you may find him frowning when you come back. This usually means that either a) you missed a "4 bark" request (see 16. below, etc.) or b) his discipline is close to zero (see 9. and 10. above). If he constantly frowns, then it's because he isn't feeling well - until his health improves, he'll keep frowning (in this case, I call it "looking sad").
16. So, when he barks 4 times, how can you tell what he needs? Sometimes he'll tell you what he wants by making the appropriate icon blink, especially if a request has been ignored for a while. Usually, though, it's a simple case of logic: Has he pooped - it might be a few seconds before he shows it to you (see 8. above)? If not, then is it a sleep time (see 4. and 5. above)? If not, then check his Life signs - he may be starving (see 6. above) or sick (see 12. above). In my experience, those are the only things that will make him bark 4 times.
17. Finally, is there a way to "pause" him? Sort of. Going into Time set (Mode button) and leaving it there apparently does achieve a limited pause BUT if left too long you'll find an angel - he died! - when you come out of Time set. I haven't tried it myself and don't intend to. After all, this is supposed to be a simulation of a real live dog - try "pausing" a real one! - therefore, pausing him is defeating both the purpose and the spirit of Digital Doggie.
18. Good Luck and enjoy! Your Digital Doggie should live in good health and happiness till the batteries run out.
More tips from TigerToys
The trick to the game is to give the pet the right kind of attention at the right time. Too many treats. Too many baths. Too many trips to the doctor are all bad for your pet. On the other hand, if you dont play with your pet enough, that too can be bad.
Usually your Giga Pet will ask for attention by "beeping" and a ?! will appear in the bottom right corner of the toy. Proper care will show improvements in your pet and the ?! will disappear.
Here are a few hints for proper care and feeding of your Giga Pet.
1) DO NOT feed your Giga Pet too many TREATS (Digital Doggie's treats look like bones). If your pet eats treats all the time, it will be become full and won't eat healthy food, and it will get sick and die.
2) It is best to feed the dog treats as a REWARD -- but don't feed it more than 3 treats per day.
3) Your Giga Pet will get hungry for HEALTHY FOOD about once every 4 hours. If your Giga Pet doesn't want to eat the healthy food, wait a hour and try again but don't feed it treats until it's eating healthy food.
4) Also it's a good idea to make sure that the CLOCK is set to the correct time. Always verify this because if the clock is improperly set it could affect the health of your Giga Pet. As an example, if it's 3:00 in the afternoon, but the pet's clock is set to 3:00 in the morning, activities that would normally make the pet healthy and happy (like PLAY time) will instead make it sick.
5) Make sure that before you go to bed, you turn the LIGHTS OFF for your Giga Pet. If the light is not turned off at night this can affect your Giga Pet's sleep and can cause it to become sick and even die.
