📖 The Sanctuary Wiki
Core mechanics in a nutshell — with links to the deeper pages.
📚 Where to find everything
This wiki covers core mechanics — the stuff every player needs from day one.
The deeper systems each have their own page:
Numbers can change. This wiki matches the current build. If a future patch moves
a price or a cap, the game itself is always the final word.
🌿 Quick start — your first ten minutes
- You start with 300 coins and 14 dogs already on the meadow.
- Find two dogs with the same lineage and same level. Drag one onto the other.
- They merge into a higher-level dog, and you get coins instantly.
- Keep merging until you reach a dog at the current merge cap — that unlocks the next player level.
- Tap any dog to open its action panel — feed, calm, train, dress, rename, move.
- Open the 📖 button in the top bar any time for the in-game guide.
The one rule that matters: a merge needs the same lineage and
the same level. Sex does not matter on the meadow — a boy and a boy merge fine.
🐾 Merging
The meadow is a 6 × 6 grid (36 cells). Every merge happens by dragging one dog onto another.
A merge is allowed when:
- Both dogs are the same lineage
- Both dogs are the same level
- Neither dog is hungry, aggressive, or sick
- The level is below your current merge cap
Wolves are their own lineage. They merge only with other wolves, at the same level.
And they're fragile on the meadow — see
Care for why.
Auto-merge runs after every merge and adoption. The game scans the board and merges
any valid pairs it finds, in chain reactions. That's why a dog you were saving can disappear.
Move important dogs to
📦 Recruits or
🏰 Court Recruits to protect them —
see
Packs or
Court.
⭐ Levels & caps
Player level (top bar) controls your merge cap and adoption cost.
Reach a dog at the current cap to unlock the next player level.
| Player Lv | Merge cap | Adopt cost | Unlocked by |
|---|
| 1 | Lv 3 | 10 🪙 | Start |
| 2 | Lv 4 | 12 🪙 | Reach a Lv 3 dog |
| 3 | Lv 5 | 14 🪙 | Reach a Lv 4 dog |
| 4 | Lv 6 | 16 🪙 | Reach a Lv 5 dog |
| 5 | Lv 7 | 18 🪙 | Reach a Lv 6 dog |
| 6 | Lv 8 | 20 🪙 | Reach a Lv 7 dog |
| 7 | Lv 8 (max) | 20 🪙 | Reach a Lv 8 dog |
Stored dogs (in the Kennel) still count toward level unlock — storing a maxed dog does
not lock your progress.
For the unlock order of every tab (Market, Lab, Vet, Groom, Court, Pack), see
Strategy.
🪙 Coins
Merging is the main coin engine. Payout depends on the level you merge into:
| Merged into | Pays |
|---|
| Lv 2 | ~45 🪙 |
| Lv 3 | ~97 🪙 |
| Lv 4 | ~167 🪙 |
| Lv 5 | ~256 🪙 |
| Lv 6 | ~362 🪙 |
| Lv 7 | ~486 🪙 |
| Lv 8 | ~627 🪙 |
Other income: Court deliveries (400–1,100🪙), pack missions
(80–380🪙), market sales (400–1,500🪙), shop sales.
Common costs: adopting (10–20🪙), feeding (10🪙), calming (20🪙), medicine (40🪙),
breeding (150–250🪙), shop restocking, haircuts and outfits.
Full breakdowns on Market and Court.
🍖 Care: hungry, aggressive, sick
Three conditions block merging. Tap the dog's action panel to fix them:
| Icon | Condition | Fix | Cost |
|---|
| 🍖 | Hungry | Feed | 10 🪙 |
| 😠 | Aggressive | Calm | 20 🪙 |
| 🤒 | Sick | Send to Vet, then cure | 40 🪙 |
Sickness spreads. A sick dog infects its neighbours every ~12 seconds.
Don't leave one on the meadow — send it to the Vet immediately.
🐺 Wolves on the meadow
Wolves agitate their neighbours. The angry dogs then turn and bite the wolf back — every bite
drops the wolf one level, and a Lv 1 wolf that gets bitten is removed entirely.
A wolf on the meadow is a wolf you will lose.
The fix: store wolves in the Kennel at any level (unlike dogs, which must
be maxed first). Pull one out only when you're ready to merge or deliver it to the Wolfkeeper.
🏠 Kennel
The Kennel tab has two views:
- Meadow view: every dog on the board, with sick/problem dogs grouped at the top.
- Storage: dogs moved here are safe from auto-merge, sickness, and wolf agitation — but they still count toward level unlock.
Storage requires a maxed dog — except wolves. Only dogs at your current merge
cap can be stored.
Wolves can be stored at any level, and there are two reasons
to do it:
safety (see
Care) and
banking
(a Lv 3+ wolf is worth 650🪙 to the Wolfkeeper; a Lv 1 is worth nothing).
🏥 Vet
The Vet has three beds. A sick dog placed in a bed is isolated from the meadow until cured.
- Tap the sick dog's card and press Send to Vet.
- Tap the bed to select the dog.
- Pay 40🪙 for medicine — the dog returns to the meadow automatically if a cell is free.
Discharging without curing sends the dog back to the meadow still sick — it will
re-infect neighbours. Only discharge early if the meadow is full.
🧬 Lab — breeding
Breeding is how you get traits and personalities you can't adopt.
It's the core of Court and Pack systems.
Requirements
- Both dogs Lv 4+
- Both healthy
- One male, one female
- An empty cell for the pup
Two modes
| Mode | Cost | Result |
|---|
| Purebred | 150 🪙 | Pup takes one parent's lineage, spawns at Lv 3 |
| Mixed | 250 🪙 | Pup is a crossbreed (dashed ring), spawns at Lv 3, sells for +15% |
Crossbreeds and their merge rules are on the Breeds page.
Breeding in the Recruits tabs works differently — and better. Both
🏰 Court Recruits and
📦 Pack Recruits let you breed for 150🪙,
and the pup spawns at
the parents' level, not Lv 3. This is the single
strongest move in the game. See
Court and
Packs.
🧬 Traits & inheritance
Every dog can carry one trait. Traits are the currency of Court and Pack systems.
The nine traits
| Trait | Used by |
|---|
| 👃 Keen Nose | Smell, Track |
| 🦴 Hunting Nose | Smell |
| 💨 Swift Paws | Speed · also +15% on every merge |
| 🍀 Lucky Paw | Speed |
| 💪 Strong Jaw | Strength, Guard |
| 💞 Deep Bond | Strength, Guard · faster taming |
| 🐑 Herding Instinct | Track |
| 🌸 Silk Coat | Style only |
| ✨ Show Charm | Style only |
Inheritance rules
| Parents' traits | Pup gets |
|---|
| Both have the same trait | 100% that trait |
| One has a trait, the other has none | 100% that trait |
| Different traits, not conflicting | 50 / 50 between them |
| Different traits that conflict | A random new trait (both lost) |
| Neither parent has a trait | A random new trait |
Three conflicts to avoid:
💨 Swift Paws ↔ 🌸 Silk Coat
💪 Strong Jaw ↔ ✨ Show Charm
🦴 Hunting Nose ↔ 🐑 Herding Instinct
The single best early discovery: Swift Paws. Once any dog in your sanctuary
has been bred with Swift Paws, every merge pays +15% forever. It's a global
bonus — not tied to the dog that has it.
❓ Quick FAQ
Why can't I merge these two dogs?
- Different lineage, or different level
- One is hungry, aggressive, or sick
- You've hit your current merge cap
- One is a wolf and the other isn't
Where did my dog go?
- Auto-merged into another dog — check the board for a higher-level one
- Delivered to a client or sold at the Market — that's permanent
- In the Vet, Kennel storage, or one of the Recruits tabs
Where did my wolf go?
It was almost certainly attacked. Wolves agitate neighbours, and agitated dogs turn and bite
back — every bite drops the wolf a level, and a Lv 1 wolf is removed entirely. Keep wolves in
the Kennel until you're ready to deliver them. See Care.
Can I rename a dog?
Yes. Tap the dog, then press ✏️ Rename at the bottom of the action panel.
Does the game save automatically?
Yes — every 15 seconds, and again when you close the page. Progress is stored in your browser's
local storage only. Clearing browser data wipes your save. It doesn't sync between devices.
How do I start over?
Press the ↺ button in the top bar. Confirmation required. Permanent.
For anything more specific, the in-game 📖 button opens the guide, and the
💡 Hints panel (tap "Max Lv" on the meadow) sells one-time hints for coins.