Dog Agility

Dog Agility starts with a new friend. Choose one of six looks, a border collie, a beagle, a poodle, a corgi, a spaniel or a scruffy mutt, and spell its name with letter tiles. Your dog lives in a kennel garden with its name over the door, and it shows you how it feels: ears up when you pick a toy, a head tilt when you call, a wagging tail when it is happy and a wistful little thought bubble when it would like something. Drag the scoop to fill the food bowl, pour the water, throw the ball or the frisbee and watch it fetch, brush its coat or give it a bath on muddy days, tuck it into its bed, and rub its tummy until its tail thumps on the grass. Nothing bad ever happens if you are away; your dog simply missed you and greets you with a happy spin.

The agility field is where the two of you shine. Courses scroll past as you run beside your dog, and every obstacle has a marker on the grass: tap or press Space at the marker to jump a bar or sail through the tyre, hold through the tunnel, tap left and right in turn through the weave poles, tap twice for the seesaw and wait on the pause table for the count. A missed cue is never a fall, your dog just trots around the obstacle and loses a little time. Every clean run teaches your dog that obstacle a little better, shown as paw prints, so it reads your cues sooner and later courses feel easier.

There are thirty quick courses of twenty to forty seconds across five parks, from the village green and the seaside to a forest, a snowy park and a floodlit show arena, each with three rosettes to win: a clear round, a time under par and perfect rhythm. Rosettes and care earn bandanas, collars, lead colours, kennel paint, a frisbee, a paddling pool and, in time, a second and a third dog. Build your own course in the free practice field, collect a sticker for every daily visit and relax with a gentle music box under an in-game day and night sky. Everything is saved in your browser.