What matters at each stage — basics, advanced moves, and quick tips.
Basic is what every player should know from day one. Advanced is what makes a big difference once you're past Player Level 5. Quick tips are the small things that add up.
If you want the deeper reference — formulas, breed tables, the level unlock list — see the wiki. This page is just what to actually do.
The merge payout curve is steep, but the coin-per-dog ratio is best around Lv 3. Merging everything all the way up to Lv 8 is a terrible return on the dogs you burned. Merge to Lv 3 for income, and only push past it when a level gate or a specific breed target actually needs a higher dog.
The Swift Paws trait gives +15% to every merge for the rest of the game. It is a global bonus — not tied to the dog that has it. Once any pup inherits it (or a dog gains it at the Vet), every future merge pays 15% more, permanently.
At Player Level 3 the Lab opens. Breed two Lv 4 dogs of opposite sex, check the pup's trait, and re-breed until Swift Paws appears. It's a one-time investment that pays thousands of coins over a playthrough.
A sick dog infects its neighbours every ~12 seconds. One ignored sick dog can ruin a whole corner of the meadow while you're on another tab. Send them to the Vet and cure them for 40🪙 before you do anything else.
Dogs at your current merge cap can't merge further, so on the meadow they're just dead weight. Store them in the Kennel. They still count toward the next player level gate, and you can pull them back out any time a cell is free.
Keep two cells free at all times. Breeding, returning from the Vet, and pulling from the Kennel all need an empty cell. Running at 36/36 locks you out of half the game.
The 🛍️ Shop opens at Player Level 2. It runs itself in the background — customers arrive, packages tick forward, reviews pile up. But if a whole in-game day rolls over without you pressing Open Shop at least once, you get a bad review and your rating drops. Toggle it open the moment you enter the game each session.
Breeding in 📦 Pack Recruits or 🏰 Court Recruits costs 150🪙, but the pup spawns at the parents' level, not Lv 3. Two Lv 6 Bloodhounds produce endless Lv 6 Bloodhounds for 150🪙 each — skipping 32 dogs' worth of merging every single time.
This is the biggest exploit-free move in the game. Get one target pair to the exact level you need, move them to Recruits, and breed forever. The same trick works for wolves — two Lv 4+ wolves in Court Recruits breed endlessly for the Wolfkeeper.
Court delivery pays 400🪙 plus the dog's style value. A Little Crown plus a Royal Cut costs 270🪙 and adds 570🪙 to the payout — a +300🪙 net gain for dressing a dog you were going to deliver anyway.
Only dress dogs you're actually delivering — the outfit leaves with the dog. Don't put a Little Crown on a breeding dog and then merge it.
Wolves agitate their neighbours, and angry dogs turn around and bite the wolf back. Every bite drops a level — and a Lv 1 wolf that gets bitten is removed entirely. A wolf on the meadow is a wolf you will lose.
Store wolves in the Kennel at any level (unlike dogs, which need to be maxed first). Pull one out only when you're ready to merge or deliver. The Wolfkeeper pays 650–1,100🪙 per wolf, escalating across repeat visits.
Leaders and followers must match exactly on breed and level. Splitting effort across two packs means neither one ever finishes. Pick one focus, breed the leader to the exact level, then fill all four follower slots with traited dogs.
Mission odds are about 50% at the target and +2% per point above it, capped at 95%. To hit the cap, your score needs to be about 22 points over the target. Undershooting is expensive — a failure has a 50% chance per member of dropping a level, which can break the pack's "same level" requirement.
Before you spend 150🪙 on a breeding, look at the trait forecast box. The reliable path: one traited parent + one untraited parent = 100% that trait. Use that to build a stable of identically-traited dogs for a pack, or to farm a specific trait onto a specific breed.
Never breed two conflicting traits — Swift↔Silk, Jaw↔Charm, Hunting↔Instinct. They cancel to a random new trait, and you lose both.