Virtual Kennel Club

VKC® Dogs — Natural, Intelligent, Alive!

Latest News

  • Home & Garden Expo 2013: Relay for Life Are you ready for the biggest home and garden event of 2013? The Home and Garden Expo Team of the VKC has been working feverishly to get our exhibit ready ...
    Posted by Rosanna Himmel
  • Let the Hunt Begin! VKC Bunny Hunt 2013 Update 2013/05/12 • By the end of the hunt, the VKC had given away 382 bunnies to 142 different avatars. While some people were satisfied ...
    Posted May 13, 2013, 5:01 PM by Rosanna Himmel
  • Old Friends with New Skills With no fanfare whatsoever, the VKC unexpectedly released an upgrade for the Great Danes on Saturday (2013-04-13), plus a new dog, the Black Great Dane, that is available ...
    Posted Apr 14, 2013, 3:22 PM by Rosanna Himmel
Showing posts 1 - 3 of 81. 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.

Virtual Kennel Club group in SL — Where do I sign up?

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 join in the 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® Pet

Pet Owner's Manual

Manual para Propietarios de Perros

Current Breeds

These dogs are available in our VKC®  Parks.

Speciality Releases

The following are occasionally available through the VKC® Parks. If the pet you want is not in the parks, there may be other SL residents who would be willing to sell a Hyena or an original Polar Bear to you. The Penguin, the Polar Bear, and the Polar Bear Cub are not transferable but may be available on Marketplace. 

  • Hyena (Halloween 2007, 2009, 2010)
  • Polar Bear (Christmas 2009, April 2011, pathfinding-enabled in December 2012)
  • Penguin (Christmas 2010, April 2011, Winter 2012)
  • Polar Bear Cub (Christmas 2011, pathfinding-enabled in December 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 claimed or healed 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

Related Sites

  • Join the Facebook chapter of the Virtual Kennel Club

  • See and contribute to our VKC Group on Flickr®

  • Join Second Life, a 3-D, user-created virtual community
    Second Life® and Linden Lab® are registered trademarks of Linden Research, Inc.

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