Dogz

Dogz is the first game in the Petz series, originally released as a standalone title in 1995. Unlike its successors, it offers no integration with its sister title, Catz, which was not released until the following year.

In 1999, Dogz was ported to the Game Boy Color to negative reception.

Sequel game Dogz II was released in 1997.

Adoption
The player starts off at the Adoption Play Area. The Adoption Play Area consists of five doghouses, each containing a Dog. Information about the different breeds is provided by Daphe, the only human character in the series. She will walk the player through the adoption process.

There is an optional Pup Quiz that will assess the player's personality and suggest the most suitable Dog for them to adopt.

The player is only allowed to have one Dog at a time; if they want to adopt another Dog, they have to return the Dog they already have by clicking Activate Adoption Kit in the Options menu or buy another copy of the game.

Interaction
The AI used in Dogz is slightly different and less polished than the one in Catz and beyond; your Dogz will immediately respond to Toyz and food as they are dragged into the Playpen rather than inspecting them at a more natural pace.

Breeds
Dogz comes with five different Dogz to adopt.

Toyz
Available Toyz are:


 * Spray bottle
 * Paint brush
 * Shoe
 * Food bowl
 * Water bowl
 * Ball
 * Bone
 * Two types of Treatz

Instead of a toy shelf or Supply Case, which would first appear in Catz before becoming a permanent element of the series, Toyz are represented by simple graphic icons in a white square (called the Toolbox).

Like later iterations of the Supply Case, the camera button on the Toyz window allows you to take a .bmp picture of your Dog. The button on the top allows you to put your Dog on the desktop.

Release and Reception
"Finally the perfect pet for those averse to the pooper-scooper."

- Windows Magazine "Who wouldn’t dig having a doggie on their computer desktop? Good, loyal company, no arguments, and no mess."

- CD-ROM Today "Dogz is the perfect gift: newbies will get that warm fuzzy when using their computer and experienced users will appreciate the sophisticated AI and 3D modeling. "

- CyberSurfer "Dogz are so lifelike that trying to decide which puppy to adopt and which ones to leave behind in their kennels is difficult!"

- PC Novice "Want a puppy, but the landlord says no? Then you’re the perfect candidate for Dogz"

- PC Entertainment "If you’d like to make your desktop a bit livelier, you need Dogz."

- Computer Game Review

Compatibility
Dogz is a 16-bit game and will not run on modern computers. It can still be played on a virtual machine running an earlier version of Windows or a pre-installed copy of the game on DOSBox; see the how to access Petz page.

Serial codes are required to run the program.