Your Dog
As in all the other games, Save the Homelands allows you to get a dog. However, a few new twists have been added.
Instead of just starting out with your dog or having it given to you, you gotta work for it! There are also two different dogs to choose from. There's the original, floppy eared pooch with the red bandanna, and there's a new husky-type dog with a blue bandanna and pointy ears. The two dogs are wild, and the only way to tame them is by picking them up. You can go about this two ways. The problem with this whole deal is that they run away as soon as you get close. You can put food out for them, and then slowly earn they're trust. As their trust in you grows, they allow you to gradually get closer and closer until you can finally pick them up. Or you could just pen them up in the space between the chicken pen and the barn and pick them up. That's what my brother did.
Another very important difference is that your dog is no longer invincible. It can now get sick. When it gets sick it will say something like "Oh no! Something's wrong with Koro!" Or whatever. You should go find Bob and talk to him at this point. He'll come over to your house and give your dog a potion at no charge and give you a lecture on making sure not to leave it out in the rain and feed it healthy things. That's another difference. If you feed your dog flowers and weeds, it gets sick. You actually have to feed it FOOD. If you don't get Bob when your dog gets sick, he'll eventually come over on his own. He'll be very angry and tell you should take better care of it and that he's already given it some medicine.
As I said above, you have to feed your dog actual food. Vegetables and fruits are fine. Feed it by placing the stuff in the food bowl beside your house. You have to feed your dog every day, even when it's raining, if you don't want it to get sick.
The most important difference is that if you don't heal it when it's sick, your dog DIES. You got that? Your dog DIES. I had this happen to me when I was just going to sleep, sleep, sleep, instead of saving, trying to figure out if the next event would happen by the end of the month. I knew my dog was sick, because at one check up point I had gone outside, but didn't worry about it since I wasn't saving or anything. I didn't go back outside for a while and when I did, Patsy died! How sad! Yes, I did name my dog Patsy... what's that look for? A very interesting scene followed including Bob telling me how horrible I was and Gwen punching me (who said Harvest Moon wasn a violent-free game?). So, I don't recommend killing your dog. I don't know if you can get the other dog after that, I'll find out, kay?
On a happier subject, you can train your dog, and some of the stuff's actually useful. You train him using the flute you get from Louis by being his friend (he'll be playing it up on the mountain and then give it to you). To use it, just press the square and then hold X. If you're training your dog make sure you can see it. While holding X press up and down and left and right. Play certain tunes in order to get your dog to act. It'll probably take a few tries before your dog learns it, and the higher his heart rating the faster he'll learn. Training also increases the heart rating, too.
Tunes:
Lay - Up, Down, Down
Bark - Left, Right, Left, Right
Sit - Down, Up, Up
Jump - Left, Up, Right
Heel - Left, Right, Right
Herd Cows - Right, Left, Right
