This manual will help you make the most of your new VKC^® dog in SL. I do my best to make my dogs act as much like a real dog as possible. They obey direct commands (most of the time anyway) and also act on their own. They are curious and interact with things and people around them. As you train and condition them, they develop their own unique personality. Every dog is different.

When you're ready to play with your dog, just rez him in world (drag him from inventory onto the ground near you). Once your dog appears, he is ready to go. Do NOT open his contents like you would a box of clothing or you'll break him. As soon as you see him, he's ready to go.

When you first get your dog, his name starts with "Pup" followed by his breed name and number, like "Pup Harlequin Great Dane (#37)". His short name is just "Pup" and it appears above his head. To rename your dog, say "pup name" then his new name. For example:

pup name Fido the Magnificent

You should name your dog with proper capitalization, but you can use all lower-case when you command him. Your dog is "no-mod/no-copy/no transfer." If you ever lose your dog, you can come to the Dog Clinic at any of the VKC Dog Parks to claim him.

So play with your dog, teach him new tricks, and watch him grow and change as he learns. Mainly, have fun!

VKC dogs are "physical" in Second Life, which means they obey the laws of physics in-world. They jump and run along the ground. You'll feel it if they run into you! (Your avatar will anyway.) When you get your dog, you can name it anything you like. But to make this manual easier to understand, we'll name him "Fido" (and he's a boy). Fido listens to any chat that begins with his name or part of his name. Say 'Fido come' and he will come to you! You can also just say 'fi come' and he will respond to that too. For the remainder of the manual, I will use Fido's full name in commands, but remember you can shorten it in any command.

If you want to pet your dog, right-click on it and select "Pet me." Try it! Your friends can pet your dog too.

If you want to give your dog to someone else, it's important to realize that only the older VKC dogs are transferable. This means that you can transfer an older dog but only after it has been rezzed and has picked up its name. After you have rezzed the dog, take it back to your inventory. Then, simply drag it from your inventory onto the avatar or the avatar's Profile. (REMEMBER: If your dog still has only its breed name in your inventory, you must rez it first so that it picks up its name.) If you mistakenly transfer an unrezzed dog, it will disappear. You'll have to claim him at the Dog Clinic, rez him to pick up his name, take him back to inventory, then transfer him to your friend. Go to the Dog Clinic and say

claim pup

If you have a VKC dog created after 2010, he is NOT transferable. If you wish to give a VKC dog as a gift, you should visit our VKC Marketplace shop. If you accidentally adopted one of the no-transfer but you adopted it with the intention of giving it to someone, please contact the VKC Parks Director or Assistant Director for help transferring the dog.

There are two basic ways that Fido works:

And there are two ways that Fido learns to do new things: