Virtual Kennel Club of Second Life

Virtual Kennel Club

VKC^® Dogs — Natural, Intelligent, Alive!

Latest News

Puppy Love — Red Hot Blues Valentine Party Sometimes the best company you can have is your number one friend and sometimes it is your favorite dog. Why not bring them both to Puppy Love, the Red Hot ...
Posted by Rosanna Himmel
Hooray! Penguins Updated No longer do your penguins have to stand by watching as you pet and caress your VKC Dogs and Polar Bears. You asked for it and now it's here ...
Posted Jan 16, 2012 5:20 AM by Rosanna Himmel
Earth Dog Hunt! We are all excited by the prospect of a new arrival next month! As part of the celebrations we have organised an interesting and challenging Token hunt across the 9 ...
Posted Jan 22, 2012 9:38 AM by Rosanna Himmel

Showing posts 1 - 3 of 54. View more »

Where is the manual?

The VKC dogs come with a comprehensive Dog Owner's Manual. You can always find it when you say to your dog:

Fido manual

Also, you will see links to the English and the Spanish Manuals in the left and the right columns of this page.

Virtual Kennel Club^® logo
What do you like most about dogs?

Imagine exploring Second Life with your virtual dog at your side, entertaining people you meet, or taking him to the dog park to play games and win contests. Imagine your dog greeting your friends at home when you're away.

What's special about VKC dogs?

VKC Dogs have true artificial intelligence and obey physics, so they seem more natural and alive. They are active and aware and they learn, so you can teach them to behave the way you like. Born with basic instincts, these virtual puppies can develop individual personalities through experience and conditioning, and they can learn new tricks that you teach them.

Instincts

Basic Positions: stand, sit, down, bang, beg, bellyup, shake, rest
Basic Activities: come, getbone, howl, itch, roll, rove, sniff, speak, wag, wander
Other Activities: go, run, on, greet, get (These require you to name a destination or an object; for example, "Fido go Sandry" or "Fido run redball" or "Fido greet Bichon")
Owner-only commands: heel, follow (Follow also requires you to name a target)
Special command: fetch (Requires a redball toy, free at VKC Dog Parks)

Tricks

Your virtual pet from the VKC is not limited to using only his Instincts. He is able to learn new combinations of behaviors as tricks. You can think up a chain of behaviors chosen from among your dog’s Instincts, combined perhaps with some commands for turning and waiting. Because the dogs can learn, you can assign a single word to the string of commands and teach it to your dog. Then whenever you want your dog to perform these actions, you would use the single word as a command. The dogs are able to remember many tricks that you teach.

Conditioning

At the most basic level, the virtual dogs learn through conditioning. When a dog does something pleasing to you, say, “Fido good” (assuming his name is Fido). This will make it more likely that he will repeat this behavior in the same situation. As you train and condition Fido, his personality develops, a personality that is unique to him.

The difference between training and conditioning can elude people. To simplify, training involves teaching a specific set of skills while conditioning changes the likelihood that any given skill set will be put to use. Even if we never teach our dogs a single trick, we can still condition the dog’s personality. Of course, if the dog also knows some tricks, its personality is richer and more varied.

VKC Dog Park locations

Our original VKC Dog Park in Caledon is still operational. Additional VKC Dog Parks are scattered around SL for the pleasure and convenience of VKC Dog owners everywhere. Each park offers its own set of dog-centered recreational opportunities, including shopping, games and contests, opportunities to exercise your dog training skills and more.

SL groups for the Virtual Kennel Club

The Virtual Kennel Club (VKC) Group was founded by the VKC Dogs' creator, Enrico Genosse, in 2006. It is the ONLY official Group for owners of VKC Dogs and is the sole trustworthy source of information on the dogs. Please do not be fooled by unaffiliated groups purporting to be more popular replacements. Stay up to date with the latest information on new releases, special events, and updates by joining the Virtual Kennel Club. Joining the VKC is absolutely free to all. After joining please IM an Officer to upgrade your Role so you can use Group Chat.

VKC Proven Trainers

Members of the VPS (VKC Park Service) wear the VKC Badge and the title, "VKC Proven Trainer," to assure the public that they are skilled in handling VKC Dogs and helping owners. Trainers teach VKC Patrons how to care for their dogs. Trainers also assist with problems such as lost, sick dogs, or misbehaving dogs. Trainers go through an apprenticeship and must pass a special test to prove their skills with people and the VKC dogs.

Quick Start

Getting Started

How to play with a VKC^® Dog

Dog Owner's Manual

Manual para Propietarios de Perros

Current Breeds

These dogs are available in our VKC^® Dog Parks.

Speciality Releases

The following are no longer available through the VKC^® Dog Parks, but there may be other SL residents who would be willing to sell a Hyena or a Polar Bear to you. The Penguin is no transfer, so none are available any longer.

Hyena (Halloween 2007, 2009, 2010)
Polar Bear (Christmas 2009, April 2011)
Penguin (Christmas 2010, April 2011)
Polar Bear Cub (Christmas 2011) — Available through January 2012!

Retired Breeds

The following older breeds have been retired to make room in the VKC Dog Parks for the latest breeds.

Although these dogs are in retirement, they still receive the full support of the VKC. They can still be updated and claimed at the Dog Clinics and the VKC Proven Trainers will continue to help you with these breeds, just like always.

If you wish to adopt one of the retired dogs, please send an IM to Enrico Genosse, Blu Sparkle, or Sandry Logan for assistance.

Make Friends

Join the Virtual Kennel Club group in Second Life.

Related Sites

Virtual Dog Talk — A Web-Based Community of Virtual Pets and their People
Canis Beach Dog Park — An Island in SL Providing Support for VKC Dogs and the Real-Life Efforts of Pet Rescue and Placement
Join the Facebook chapter of the Virtual Kennel Club
Join Second Life, a 3-D, user-created virtual community

Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited other than the following:

You may print or download to a local hard disk extracts for your personal and non-commercial use only
You may copy the content to individual third parties for their personal use, but only if you acknowledge the website as the source of the material

You may not, except with our express written permission, distribute or commercially exploit the content. Nor may you transmit it or store it in any other website or other form of electronic retrieval system without the prior written permission of Virtual Kennel Club.

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