The Dog Island/Enemies

In wild areas you will find dangerous animals who can deplete your health. Interaction with enemies is the only way to lose health, and the only way to get the "Game Over" screen. You can tell which animals are a threat by the emotion balloons over their heads. Non-threat animals don't have this feature and in most cases can be treated just like any other piece of the scenery.

An enemy's emotion starts out as calm, represented by a blue smiley face. As long as you are outside its range of sight or you are moving slowly enough, the animal will remain happy and you have nothing to fear. This is the only time when your bark or howl will have an effect on an enemy; you must surprise them. When an animal spots you or hears you running, the emotion icon turns into a green angry face, showing that it is becoming restless. When you see this face, it's a good idea to put some distance between yourself and the enemy before it attacks. When attacking, the enemy's emotion balloon shows a red scary face. By the time you see this face, you'll hopefully be running out of range, otherwise the attack will land and you'll lose some health.

Status effects
Along with taking down your health, some enemies also have the ability to inflict a status ailment. The two statuses are stun and poison. Stun does just that to you, and will only wear off by attempting to move your character. When you get stunned, your hearts in the upper right corner of the screen will turn amber and you will see two lightning bolts on either side of the dog's head. While stunned, you will move much more slowly. Stun isn't anything to worry about if you keep moving, as it will wear off before the animal has another chance to strike and you'll rarely find another enemy close enough to take advantage of your momentary immobility.

The second status effect is poison. When poisoned, your hearts will turn purple and you'll see purple spirals coming off your dog's head. Poison is a much more serious threat, as it drains half a heart of life from you every few seconds. Additionally, poison must be cured, not healed. Using a normal healing item such as the Medicinal Herb or Potan's Medicine will restore your hearts, but the poison remains and will continue to eat away at your life. The two ways to cure poison are by taking Obaba's Antidote and resting either in your bed or at an inn. If you can make it, resting is the superior option, because the antidote only cures the poison, it doesn't restore any hearts.

Fighting
Although not actual combat, you have the ability to stun an enemy with your bark or howl. Pressing momentarily will result in a bark, and holding it down for longer periods will result in progressively more powerful ones. Keep it held down, and when your power is maxed out, your dog will let loose a howl for maximum damage. While barking can stun an animal for a few seconds, a howl will last much longer. The duration of the knockout has to do with the amount of time the enemy is on screen. For a full howl, any enemy will be out of commission for one minute while you are watching it. If you move away with the enemy out of sight, however, it will stay unconscious. The minute knockout only counts the time during which you can see the enemy.

All animals can be stunned, except for flying enemies. To stun an enemy, you need to sneak up behind them by walking slowly. You can use your slow walk by using the normal movement control or by sniffing, which automatically goes at the slowest pace. You can walk behind any animal except the Red Cobra, and some you can walk right in front of. To howl at a moving animal, walk right up beside its head before holding down so that your howl will come while the enemy is still close enough to you. All rotating enemies go counter-clockwise, so approach them on their right-hand side to begin your howl.

Green Snake

 * Damage: 1/2 Heart
 * Sensitivity: 0
 * Status Effect: None

Green Snakes are the first enemy you encounter in the game, and are the easiest to avoid and defeat. These snakes stay in one position and take no notice of you running around near them unless you're directly in front of them. If seen, the Green Snake will give chase, albeit slowly and for only a short distance. To howl, just run right up to the back or sides of the snake.


 * Places
 * Green Meadows · Treely Woods · Zoomy Lake · Hoya Plains

Boar

 * Damage: 1/2 Heart
 * Sensitivity: 2
 * Status Effect: None

Boars are quick to action and are fairly sensitive if you breach their sight or hearing perimeters. To get in close, stop well away from them and begin slowly walking toward them. In most cases a Boar will fall asleep before you get to it, so they don't present a problem.


 * Places
 * Green Meadows · Hoya Plains

Brown Bear

 * Damage: 1 Heart
 * Sensitivity: 1
 * Status Effect: None

Like the Boars, Brown Bears get sleepy if you approach them quietly. They stay in one spot and will chase you only a small distance if you are running within their hearing range.


 * Places
 * Green Meadows · Hoya Plains · Gola Highlands

Gorilla

 * Damage: 1 Heart
 * Sensitivity: 1
 * Status Effect: None

Gorillas will chase you a bit farther than the other early enemies, and they also like to sleep a lot. They beat their chests when attacking and have a decently large hit range; you don't have to be too close to them for the attack to hit you. They're not that sensitive while sleeping, so you should be able to run up to one that's asleep and get off a full howl before it wakes up.


 * Places
 * Treely Woods · Gola Highlands

Alligator

 * Damage: 1 Heart
 * Sensitivity: 0
 * Status Effect: None

In the water Alligators patrol back and forth in an area, while on land they rotate. Keep in mind you can't bark or howl in the water, so if you want to knock a swimming 'Gator out, you'll have to lure it on land first. The good thing is they aren't sensitive, so you can swim right on top of them as long as you stay to the sides and back.


 * Places
 * Zoomy Lake · Chiro Caves · Anc Road

Blue Snake

 * Damage: 1 Heart
 * Sensitivity: 0
 * Status Effect: Poison

This snake is essentially the same as the Green Snake, except it does more damage and poisons you. Other than that, it is the same character model with a different coloring, and you can run right up to the back or sides of one to howl at it.


 * Places
 * South Sandy Desert

Purple Cobra

 * Damage: 1 1/2 Hearts
 * Sensitivity: 1
 * Status Effect: Stun

Purple Cobras rotate around, 90° at a turn. Due to this, they are slightly harder to sneak up on than Green or Blue snakes. Still, they aren't sensitive so you can run right up to them if you stay out of their line of sight.


 * Places
 * North Sandy Desert

Yellow Cobra

 * Damage: 1 1/2 Hearts
 * Sensitivity: 1
 * Status Effect: Stun

Yellow Cobras are identical to Purple Cobras in all but color. They move similarly, do the same amount of damage and will give you a stun. Likewise, the method to get close to them is the same: run up to them staying out of their line of sight.


 * Places
 * Dry Valley

Vulture

 * Damage: 1/2 Heart
 * Sensitivity: 2
 * Status Effect: None

These large birds fly in circles and won't notice you unless you enter that circle. Vultures are sometimes placed in chokepoints in the terrain, such as the eastern cul-de-sac in Dry Valley and when you first enter Rune Canyon from Rune Village. This enemy is fickle, as sometimes you can walk right through its territory if you're not running. But don't stay still either, as it may see you, strike, and then carry you up into the air!You can't get close enough to a Vulture while it is calm to bark, and you can't bark while it's attacking you, so there is no way to stun this enemy.


 * Places
 * Dry Valley · Rune Canyon

Buffalo

 * Damage: 2 Hearts
 * Sensitivity: 3
 * Status Effect: None

Buffalo are very sensitive and have a huge area of awareness. It's easier to just avoid these creatures all together, but at some point you may need to dig something up in a spot in one of their territories. In that case, run toward the Buffalo until you capture its attention, then wait for it to get close to you. When it does, run back outside of the perimeter, at which point the Buffalo will turn around and begin walking back into position. Walk after it and when you come up alongside the Buffalo, stop to howl. Buffalo rarely sleep, so this is the most time-effective method.


 * Places
 * Dry Valley · Rune Canyon

Gray Cobra

 * Damage: 1 Heart
 * Sensitivity: 3
 * Status Effect: Stun

The only Gray Cobra in the game is positioned in a bottleneck in Rune Caverns. It rotates around, but it's very sensitive to noise, and may even hear you when you're walking slowly. The best way to get in close is to wait for it fall asleep, unless you're able to walk up on it without drawing any attention. You only need a quick bark for the Present from the Daughter mission, for which you can just run up while it's asleep and get a quick one off.


 * Places
 * Rune Caverns

Orange Snake

 * Damage: 1 Heart
 * Sensitivity: 0
 * Status Effect: None

Orange Snakes are slightly upgraded versions of Green Snakes. They sit motionless facing in one direction, and you can run right up to them on the sides or back. The only difference between the two besides color, is the Orange Snake takes a full heart off your life.


 * Places
 * Gola Highlands

Spotted Orange Snake

 * Damage: 1 Heart
 * Sensitivity: 0
 * Status Effect: Poison

If you look closely at these snakes, you'll see they have spots on them. That's the only physical trait distinguishing them from their Gola Highlands cousins, the Orange Snakes. These snakes also rotate and poison you if you get bitten. They are fairly easy to knockout, as they have no sensitivity at all to running behind or to the sides of them.


 * Places
 * Chiro Caves

Bat

 * Damage: 1/2 Heart
 * Sensitivity: 1
 * Status Effect: None

Bats are more of a nuisance than anything else, although they can kill you if you spend too much time looking for Heavy Stones during the Entrance of the Cave mission. The two ways of getting past bats are simply running by them, in which case they will barely miss you, or you can walk slowly through their territory. The bats are constantly asleep on the ceiling, unless awoken. After attacking you, they fly back their perches and fall immediately back asleep. There is no way to stun a Bat, because they are too far up to be affected by your bark or howl when they are calm.


 * Places
 * Chiro Caves · Anc Road

Polar Bear

 * Damage: 2 Hearts
 * Sensitivity: 1
 * Status Effect: None

Polar Bears are white versions of the Brown Bears, except they walk around and do twice as much damage. They are sensitive to running in their awareness zone, but interestingly you can walk right up to them from the front and they don't mind at all. These are quite simple creatures to stun, since you can walk right up to them from any direction as long as you're not running.


 * Places
 * West Chilly Field · East Chilly Field

Pink Cobra

 * Damage: 2 Hearts
 * Sensitivity: 2
 * Status Effect: Stun

Pink Cobras have a very similar hue to the Purple Cobras; they are just slightly lighter. It's hard to say whether they are actually light purple or fuschsia rather than pink, but for disambiguation in the guide, these two colors were chosen. You will know which is which in the game, because Purple Cobras are only found in the desert and Pink Cobras are only found in caves. Pink Cobras do slightly more damage and are more sensitive than Purple Cobras as well. In most cases, you can run by a Pink Cobra to get its attention, and it will fall asleep when it returns from chasing you. Even if it doesn't go to sleep, it stays facing the way it returned (away from you), so it's only a matter of sneaking up behind it and barking or howling.


 * Places
 * Kunka Ruins · Anc Road

Red Cobra

 * Damage: 2 Hearts
 * Sensitivity: 3
 * Status Effect: Stun

The Red Cobra is the fiercest of all snakes in the game. It is faster and more sensitive than any other snake and is harder to put to sleep by getting it to chase you. They are also very quick to wake up from a nap. You have a better chance of getting by a Red Cobra by running past it when its back is to you, than trying to run past while it's asleep.


 * Places
 * Kunka Ruins