Nintendogs: even better than the real thing

Got the new pink DS on the day it was released! It was packaged with the Nintendogs of one's choice: Chihuahua and Friends, Lab and Friends, and Dachshund und Friends. All the other dogs can be unlocked theoretically. Some require luck in finding certain items, most require winning lots of money in competitions.

I got Lab and Friends but the nice guy at EB threw in the cover of the demo Chihuahua because the (real) dog on it is sooo cute.

It's only early days now, but I've taught my Elliott how to sit, lie down, shake, wave (like shake only higher up), play dead, roll over, play (shakes his bum - so cute!), jump and back flip (get it to jump when it's sitting). It doesn't have the most advanced voice recognition so if anything has an "a" in it, it thinks it's saying "shake". Apparently the trick is to use two or three words for your tricks but I'm not that creative. When your pet does actually respond correctly, it is strangely rewarding. And patting the little fellow, surprisingly, doesn't get boring. It is so apparently happy and responsive (if you pat it enough, you can get little imaginary bones that the dog will eat) that it so hits the soft spot like a real animal.

On the first weekend home with my Nintendogs I also had to look after a real life Golden Retriever puppy. She ended up have a severe allergic reaction to an insect bite and had to be driven to the emergency vet at midnight which ended up costing more than the DS. Even before that incident, I was wanting her to go home so I could play with my Nintendog.