Competitions

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Chapter 9: COMPETITIONS
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There are three sports for you and your puppy to compete in: Disc Dog Tournament, Agility Tournament and Dog Contest.
You can place either 1st, 2nd or 3rd and will receive prize money accordingly.

Whenever you place 1st, 2nd or 3rd you advance to the next level, which will automatically initiate the next time you enter that sport.
There are five levels in each sport: Beginner, Open, Expert, Masters and Championship.

NOTE: Should you fail to qualify "Too Bad....", it seems that you fall back one level.
Also, there's a restriction as to how many times you may compete each day.
More information to come as I haven't really figured this one out yet - sometimes it's three competitions a day and sometimes it's two.

DISC DOG TOURNAMENT
Now before you enter this contest, you will want to train your puppy on chasing and catching a Frisbee. I recommend going to a park
(Chapter 7: Your Neighbourhood) rather than throwing a Frisbee indoors and I don't think I have to explain why :)

Once you've learned how to throw the Frisbee high and far and your puppy is good at catching it, you're ready to enter the Disc Dog Tournament!

Now, you'll have to read through a lot of chatter going on between two sports commentators before moving on. You should pay attention to what
they say if you're interested in knowing how many points are needed to qualify for a prize (this will display in red)

HINT #1:
Tap the screen while the commentators are talking to speed them up, tap the big arrow at intervals to advance the chatter and continue with the contest.
As soon as they're done chattering there will be a countdown from 3 to 0

You'll then have 60 seconds to score as many points as possible. Just throw the Frisbee using your stylus and pray that your puppy knows how to catch it :)
You'll score one point higher if he/she manages to catch the Frisbee in mid-air and also for throwing it further: The field is split up into six colours and
depending on which colour your puppy is within during the catch, you'll get a different score.

Dark Green	0
Green	1-2
Light Green	3-4
Orange	5-6
Red	7-8
Blue	9-10

Regardless of whether your puppy catches the Frisbee or not - he'll need to bring it back to you before you can give it another try (naturally).
If he doesn't - tap the screen to get his attention.

HINT #2:
You can train your puppy to return the Frisbee without you having to tap the screen; every time your puppy brings the Frisbee back,
pet its head before retrieving the Frisbee.

AGILITY TOURNAMENT
I'll begin by saying that you'll need to visit the Athletic Hall (Chapter 7: Your Neighbourhood) to train your puppy before you can even enter this contest.

The Agility Tournament is all about leading your puppy through tubes, make it jump over hurdles, have it zig-zag between poles and such.
This isn't as hard as it may sound - especially not if you know the trick, which is to practically never let the stylus leave hold of the touch screen.
At least it works great for me when moving around the course, jumping over hurdles, walking through tubes and zig-zagging between poles.

As with the Disc Dog Tournament, there are two sport commentators who have a lot to say before you may even begin guiding your puppy
through the assault course. Again - pay attention to what they say if you're interested in knowing what the requirements are to qualify for a prize
(this will display in red - both how many penalty points you may have as well as what time you must pass under).

All the action takes place on the touch screen, naturally, while the top screen displays an overhead map of the course with all the obstacles numbered
so you know in which order you need to pursue them. The obstacle which is up next is always flashing to make it easier to find.

Guiding your puppy is as easy as tapping on the touch screen where you want it to go (and there, a yellow circle will appear so you know where exactly
you tapped), or you could simply tap and hold - then drag the stylus around. This is how it should be done, if you ask me. Jumping over hurdles and
crawling through tubes becomes so much easier if you use this technique.

NOTE: While you could only get a positive score in the Disc Dog Tournament - failing to jump over a hurdle or crossing the swinging board are both
examples of what will give you a penalty in this sport.

And speaking of these two obstacles - here's a short rundown of what challenges you can expect to find on the course and how to tackle them:

Hurdles:
You'll notice how the yellow marker sticks to these when your stylus comes near one. Once your puppy is close enough, you'll be able to move the marker
again and this is why you should never let your stylus leave hold of the touch screen; because as your puppy nears the hurdle, you'll need to tell him/her where to land.

So here's what I do to overcome this obstacle: As soon as the marker sticks to the hurdle, I hold my stylus there and await my puppy. When she's close enough,
I simply move the stylus to the other side and then she leaps to where I'm holding it now.

Tubes:
Same as with the hurdles - when you get close to it, the yellow marker will stick to the entrance and as your puppy approaches, it comes loose.
Then you just have to follow the tube with your stylus to have your puppy run through it. Do not let go of the stylus or your puppy will stop and, if you just
leave him/her there, start to whine in a really cute way ^^

Swinging Boards:
This one's a bit tricky to master, because you'll get a penalty if your puppy doesn't jump off at the end of it or before that end hits the ground. First tap the swinging
board once to have your puppy get up on it, then either tap the other end of the board or drag your stylus there to make your puppy start walking towards it.
To make sure that he/she won't get off it until the end hits the ground - tap its centre to have your puppy sit down and wait, then lead him off it.
At least that's what the manual states - but I prefer tapping two or three times on the other end of the board once my puppy gets there. Always works for me :)

Poles:
Have your puppy zig-zag through these by moving the stylus around pole after pole - from the left side to the right, then left again and so on.
It's gonna take some time but rest assured that the more you practice on doing this - the faster and more lithe will your puppy become.

The Dog Contest is perhaps the trickiest sport as you'll be given instructions in Japanese on what your puppy must do to please the judges.

This could be anything from "Lie down and then roll over" to "Sit for 3 seconds" and because you only have so much time to perform these tricks - this is a
pretty stressful sport if you can't read Japanese.

HINT:
Before entering this competition - bathe and brush your puppy to gain some bonus points from the judges!

As always, all the action takes place on the touch screen so this is where you want to keep your eyes throughout the contest.
There will be a clock in the upper left corner which displays how much time there's left for your puppy to perform and next to this (inside a banner)
you'll be given commands on what your puppy must do next.
Here's a list of some rather basic tricks for you to compare with what the words inside this banner says:

Sit	おすわり
Shake Paw	おて
Lie Down	ふせ
Roll Over	ゴローン
Turn Around	おまわり
Jump	ジャンプ
Beg	チンチン
Sneeze	くしゃみ
Twirl	フリフリ
Free Performance	自由演技

Now, these tricks may come one by one but they could also be combined and if so, there will be arrows between the words. Here's an example:

Here, the banner/judges first wants you to make your puppy sit, then lie down and lastly to roll over.

The banner may include a number somewhere as well. This means that your puppy will have to perform that trick for a number of seconds before he passes it.
Needless to say - this could be combined with other tricks as well.

Look closely whenever you get one of these as it might be tricky to see what the judges want you to pull off because of the other Japanese letters that fill the banner.
My guess is that the string goes like this:

<TRICK> <for> <#> <of seconds>

NOTE: This contest will always end with the Free Performance (自由演技) - which is to have your puppy pull off as many tricks as possible in any order
before time runs out! The more advanced the tricks are, the better scores you get.

Once you're done with everything, it's finally time to find out how well your puppy fared! There are three judges and they'll each give their opinion in the traditional way -
by numbers ranging from 0.0 to 10.0.
This will then add up to an average score, your final score, which must then match up to any of the three scores that will come next,
as one of the two regular commentators from the other sports tells you how much is needed for qualifying for a third, second,
and first place as well as repeat how well you and your puppy performed.

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Copyright: 2005 Annissa Wong
Author: Annissa Wong aka arienai @ GameFAQs.com

This is a translation of the dog contest. To get past the dog contests it requires a little bit of studying, so you can recognise the Japanese characters,
so that you can know right away which trick they want your dog to do.

For the performance, there are a series of designated tricks and you will also have some time for a Free Performance.

Once your dog has cleared all the tricks, the judges will judge on a scale of 1-10 (10 for perfect).

The judges not only judge on the performance, but they also judge your dog's beauty.

If you train your dog to do the tricks many times, he'll become accustomed to the tricks and then he will be able to do them for longer.

Once your dog has done the trick, be sure to praise your dog and you'll get better results.

If you fail to place at the top 3 in a certain class, then you are sent back down one class. For example, if you are attempting your Master class,
but you fail to place, then the next time you go for a Dog Contest, you will be automatically placed in the Expert class.

This works even if you have already won your Championship. If for whatever reason, your dog fails to place in the Championship,
you will be sent back to the Masters class.

Because of this, they will keep track of how many times that you have consecutively won the Championship.

If you have managed to pass Expert class, big congrats! I'm sure you know all about those "Hold for 3 Second" requirements. Well, from Master class on,
it's another level all together.

For the Master and Champion Stages, they will require you to 2 basic tricks for a longer time period (10 & 15 sec for Master; 15 & 20 sec for Champion).
It is random each time which trick is picked, but

some of the tricks that you might train your dog to hold for longer are: SIT, DOWN, ROLL OVER, RUN IN A CIRCLE, and STAND.

To get the dogs to increase their endurance for these tricks is very simple, get them to do the trick, then pet them continuously while they are doing it.
Except for RUN IN A CIRCLE, you are able to

encourage your dog while they are doing the trick. In the case of the CIRCLE move, you will just have to pet the dog after they are done. Repeat as necessary.

The prize money from the Dog Contest at some levels is more than DOUBLE what's offered in the other two contests.

I've forgotten to write it all down, but here are what 1st place at the higher levels can get you:

Compared to the disk competition which gets you 300,000 Yen for the Championship, the Dog Contest is well worth your time.

Once you get the championship, you can go back and do it again for another cool million. You'll never lack money!

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