Dog's Life

Dog's Life is a video game published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe for the Sony PlayStation 2. It was first released in Europe in October, 2003 and went on to be released in North America and Japan in 2004 and 2005 respectively.

This guide is for the English version of the game. The American Version, however, isn't much different. There's a high fence around the park and Jake looses his collar when you load the game in the American version.

The game was successful with most reviewers, stating it was an original, fun idea, and a change of pace from violent shooters or beat-'em-ups.

Synopsis
A dog named Jake is the main character and his overall objective is to save Daisy, another dog whom Jake is keen to impress, and a lot of other dogs from a crooked cat-food company CEO, Miss Peaches and her two henchmen, Wayne and Dwayne. Bones must be collected to advance through the game and they can be obtained by digging them up, by beating other dogs in a variety of challenges, by completing tasks given by human characters, and by collecting special smells.

The game is divided into three areas: Clarksville, a rural town; Lake Minniwahwah, a ski resort; and Boom City. These are then divided into smaller areas such as districts or farms. In every area are humans willing to give missions in exchange for bones. Bones can also be found buried underground or hiding under/in somewhere.

Certain smells picked up through the game's 'Smellovision' will activate challenges against a local dog. In each small section of the game there are four challenges, two of which are to find eight smells of the same colour and compete against a local dog. These missions include races, obedience trials, tug-of-war games and a territorial game where the player must run around urinating in marked areas to obtain territory. Once these dogs are beaten, the player is able to take control of that dog and use their special abilities to find other bones. There are also dangers in certain areas, such as dog catchers. The player must also keep the dog healthy by feeding it, allowing it to defecate and coax people into giving you snacks by growling and barking or performing tricks unlocked by doing the obedience trials. Jake is able to do a range of tricks including begging, sitting, lying down, urinating and defecating.

There are also salons in some levels where Jake can get his coat cleaned and brushed. He also gains a shiny new collar with a silver 'J' at the front. Each time you load the game, however, his collar returns to the red one with a yellow 'J' on it.

After Jake has rescued all the other dogs, he proceeds to rescue Daisy from the deadly cat-food machinery. Miss Peaches is then knocked into the machine by Jake and Daisy is saved.