Dogz

Dogz is the first game in the Petz series, originally released as a standalone title for Windows 3.x on November 1st, 1995, and for Mac OS on March 5th, 1996.

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 Daphne, 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 player's Dog can be petted, fed, and played with via various Toyz. They can be painted permanently with the Paint Brush. Dogz can be taught tricks by using Treatz as positive reinforcement and the Spray Bottle as negative reinforcement.

Dogz can get hungry and will howl for attention when neglected, but they cannot starve or die. Unlike some other digital pets like Tamagotchi and Digimon, they do not produce waste and do not to be cleaned up after.

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. The player's Dog will frequently fix their gaze on the cursor and watch the player's hand as it moves around the screen.

Breeds
Dogz comes with five different Dogz to adopt. Unlike later games, there are no variations between individuals of a given breed.

Toyz
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). When placed in the Playpen, Toyz are non-animated static images.

Like later iterations of the Supply Case, the camera button on the Toyz window allows you to take a  picture of your Dog. Unlike later games, the game will pause while asking if you'd like to save the photo, disallowing multiple quick shots in succession.

The only Toyz that appear in photos are the Ball or Shoe when being carried by a Dog.

The button on the top of the Toyz window allows you to put your Dog on the desktop.

Guard Dogz
The screensaver bundled with Dogz is called Guard Dogz, which plays out as if the player's Dog is guarding the desktop from intruders.

It optionally allows the player to set a password; if the password feature is turned off, the Dog will simply greet the player happily when the computer is activated again. If the password feature is on, Guard Dogz mode will activate, and the Dog will bark to "let everyone know that someone has been tampering with your computer!". The sound can be turned off in the Guard Dogz Options menu.

Release
Dogz was released as a standalone title for Windows 3.x on November 1st, 1995, and for Mac OS on March 5th, 1996. Its original retail price was $19.95 USD.

Demo "Adoption Kits" were widely available and would allow players to play with all Dogz in the Adoption Play Area before being prompted to purchase a license and permanently adopt a chosen Dog.

Packaging Blurbs
"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

Review Articles

 * Hartford Courant: OWNING A FAITHFUL DOG WITH NO MUSS, NO FUSS, December 21st, 1995.
 * WorldVillage.com: CANINES ON MY DESKTOP! A Review of Dogz, 1996, rated 3 out of 5.

Legacy
Dogz hold the Guinness World Record for "first dog simulation videogame."

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.

Trivia

 * Several contemporary reviews of the game erroneously state that the player's Dogz will have "accidents" (as seen in Computer Game Review) or that Dogz must be fed every day or they will starve (as seen on MobyGames).