I still think dogs should be able to die and be brought back to life. It makes the sim more realistic, and it's better for someone like me who does NOT like to put down or retire dogs.

Well, personally, none of my dogs here have died yet and I haven't had to put down or retire any. So, if you actually take care of them they won't 'die in a short time' because actually, they won't.

I agree with River, but not MalteseGirl. I go inactive often, and I would /not/ like having all my dogs disappear or go to a rescue. I wouldn't like having them die either, but you know what I mean. It would be great if dogs didn't live each day you don't go on. Health wouldn't decrease, hunger wouldn't increase, but energy would restore normally.

We still have the option to retire dogs - "overcrowding" could be easily solved by retiring dogs instead of having them die. Or at least have a midway option where each account could have at least 1 or 2 dogs to be immortal - then we would still have a use for Rebirth and the Locket items, while being able to keep around a couple of dogs. As I said before, I almost left the site the instant I signed up because of the dog deaths. The only reason I stuck around is the slim chance ill be able to purchase the locket item. There has to be a line drawn between "realism" on a virtual site, imo. Or at least let the dogs live longer.

If somebody is inactive, their dogs won't die. Dogs don't age up, get hungry, or anything if the owner didn't log in for the day. They could leave for a month then come back and their dogs would be fine. A 'rescue' for pets on inactive accounts isn't needed.

Here's an idea - if an owner goes inactive, instead of letting the dog(s) die -- why not rescue them and send them to an Automated Rescue Center?

It's hard enough in real life having a pet die; so, I would have to agree that Alacrity needs to make it so the dogs don't die ... or at least not easily.

I see everyones points about how a kennel could get filled up, but i don't like the thought of one of my dogs dying.Mabey you could use the retire button as a way that sends them to a nice place for a vaccation, but they aren't dead and stay the same age, but they can't come back to your kennel but you could visit them from time to time. or something like that

Hmmmm. Firstly, I must say that m a n y of my friends and just online pet players are driven away from alacrity because of dog deaths. Some quit after registering, some don't even sign up because of this. While I understand that this makes the game more... real, I do not think it is necessary. Alacrity already has many AMAZING real life aspects that makes it so special, but the dog deaths is a bit too much. :)

I agree with... The dogs death is needed or kennel space would get too full. I personally love that it's life like in that way. The health thing, I like Zan's (ZJ) idea of warnings like if your dog is getting sick normally you can tell before it gets extremely bad. I've never had my dogs die after having a problem here but I brush them and feed them extra and such. (This is just my dogs though.) I don't really think the health damage taken should be changed all that much, but maybe give us more we can do to "help" (That's too pricey) them live through it. Anyways, back to dog death. I really think it needs to stay I find it exciting to adopt new dogs, however I love my dogs I have right now I will know I've given the a "good life" when its time for them to go. It keeps dogs "moving" through out the game. If all dogs lived forever I wouldn't ever get a chance to buy puppies and such from others due to space problems. I really think if you're SO attached to your dog you should get a lifelong locket or use rebirth. However I know it can be difficult to get a lifelong locket so maybe having a few more of those floating around the game so the price went down a bit more would be, better. Then those of us who want our dogs to be life like can have them be that way and for those of us who get attached to some dogs, we can just get a lifelong locket. (I've gotten 2 lifelong lockets, and I worked very hard to get them bc I love some of my dogs that much.) I really think if you work hard enough and care enough you can get a locket -I know this isn't possible in some cases, maybe I just got "lucky" which is why I think more lifelong lockets floating around would help so the price was "do-able" for anyone who wants to put "work" into keeping their dog forever. --- Anyways thanks soooo very much for letting us give opinions before you changed anything that proves to me even more what a wonderful game Ala is! (Sorry I wrote so much, I'm wordy.. but I can't help it. ;)

I'm undecided about dog deaths. I don't think deaths should be done away with, but perhaps the dogs should not die as easily and maybe it would be nice to add a few years to their lifespan.

I don't think I like the idea of doing away with dog deaths. It would mean we'd always have a need for more dog slots.

I live in Colorado! Welcome to our beautiful state!

I must agree with ZJ in all ways. especially the part where you get to see your dead dogs. I would very much like that to happen!!! I'd love to see my dead dog Capone again. I just can't get the locket or the rebirth... I hope that ZJ's ideas go.....I like them, they really fit this site. -Shunky

If dog deaths were to be done away with, what would happen to the the Rebirths and the Magical Lifelong Locket items? Anyway, I am against getting rid of dog deaths. It's realistic, it allows the game to move forward with better dogs, and it helps the economy by making people need to buy new dogs. We also already have items that will allow a non-custom dog to live forever and an item that will bring a dead one back. As for the health penalty from accidents, I'm neutral on that. Hope you enjoy your vacation!

I don't like it that they die, but it would honestly most likely tell responsible owners from those who don't take care of their dogs.

Personally I like that they die, is that strange? It keeps the economy going of the site if dogs die, so that new dogs need to be purchased. I think there does need to be some tweaking of the health thing, as much as the wait for them to be healthy sucks, it's realistic. And as for lessening damage, I'm unsure, I think it'd be nice to see if dogs were ill they couldn't breed. I'd also like to see a warning system implemented, like that if your dog's health gets below x amount you get a warning. In real life, most times you notice if your dog's health is falling, and while you can watch the health bar like myself, it would be a good system for those who don't like their dog dying suddenly without warning. And for those who don't like their dogs to die, there are sites they can go to where you can get a dog that lives forever or for at least 10 years, one of the things that drew me to this site was the fact they die. It allows the users kennels to evolve and there is always rebirth and the lifelong locket for those who would like their dogs to live forever. One thing that might be interesting is for the dogs that do die in your kennel, is to be able to see them. See their picture and their stats and so on, this might help users deal with their losses easier and it'd be fun for those of us who like to see where their dogs came from to be able to see the parents/grandparents/etc to see them. I understand that this might add to server load though and might be an unfeasible idea. Anyway, that's my two cents, enjoy vacation, don't work too much during it, we can be patient, you should have some fun.

Hope you enjoy your trip! I think you should reduce the health damage of accidents so that dogs still die, but don't die as fast and give people a chance to prevent death. That way it'd be more likely for a dog to die if the owner is neglecting it's health, and not because the owner couldn't help it fast enough. One of the things I hate about most sim sites is that a person can neglect their pets and have little or no consequences. I'm just not so sure I like that they die of old age.

I think its right to have the dogs die even though its sad. It makes it less crowded and realistic

Well, having never had one of my dogs die on me yet, I guess I shouldn't be opinionated. But, I agree that the dogs should be able to live a long(er) amount of time. I think the health consequences should remain. They add a little variety...But yeah, if you neglect your dogs, they should have more health problems that could lead to death.

and to those who said it would overcrowd : not if people retired some dogs. I wouldn't keep every single dog I have forever.

I've only been on this site a short time, but when I found out on the first day that the dogs die, the only reason I stuck around was because of chance I could get the item that makes them immortal. It might sound cheesy, but my GSD died in real life recently, so I came here to have a virtual one that wouldn't. I didn't realize they disappear so much faster here.

I don't see the point in getting attached to these dogs and buying them stuff if they die in such a short time. I mean I get that dogs die in real life and it's natural, but we play games to get away from real life sometimes. Besides that, the dogs on this game die a lot faster than dogs in real life. How am I supposed to feel anything towards them if I know that as soon as I start enjoying them, they'll die? If dog deaths took a long time (maybe something like two years in real time) that would be one thing, but they go too quickly. I'm against any dog death at all, but if they're not going to remove it, I would like to see them live for a much longer time.

Maybe there should only be dog deaths if the dog is neglected? I'm not sure how I feel about this. I don't like dog deaths because you do get attached, but I know that the deaths are good in some ways. A compromise, perhaps? Keeping the first dog alive forever isn't what I would suggest as a compromise, though. I haven't had a dog get injured yet so I'm not sure what the health consequences are, but it does seem to be popular opinion that it should be lowered.

I don't like dog deaths. You become attached to the dog just like a real one, and it hurts when one dies.

As said, dog deaths make the game more realistic, and prevents overcrowding of dogs, IMO. Reducing health damage of accidents sounds nice, though.

We do need the dog deaths. It makes the game realistic. And keeps the game from getting crowded. Also, if they never died, there would be rather too much competition for the new players starting up.

I would support lessening the health damage a bit. My sister was very upset when one of her favorite dogs died. She'd been silly and bred an ill dog because it was set to recover when the pups would be born, then when the pups were birthed, that damage combined with the damage incurred at the recovery time resulted in fast death though the dog had been in perfect health (so far as points go) before that server flip. it was her fault for breeding an unwell dog, but it can seem harsh to more sensitive players though. :-(

Personally I like things the way you have now. It's a natural cycle of life and there is the rebirth or magical lifelong locket for those who cannot part with their dogs at this time. Not to mention, with the kennel limit, if no dogs died off, people would then sell off their dogs whenever a new dog came out so that they could get new dogs, and these cast offs with perhaps lower tp or whatever unwanted characteristics would flood the sales board and the economy of the site might be affected by that. (This is my experience from another dog site in which the pets die off in 10-12 human years - so essentially never - and they installed a kennel limit for a time. The economy tanked a bit, nobody had room to buy pets and people sheltered the pets to get rid of them to buy new pets.)

I would go for lowering the health damage on accidents and illnesses a bit. It can take a while for a new player to realized that for some accidents there is more follow up required than for others. I don't think dog death should be done away with altogether, though - it's a normal part of the life cycle, and sometimes it does happen unexpectedly. Rebirth is also good, just in case the dog that dies is one that player feels they just can't do without. In short, I like the arrangement you already have. :)

I like the way it is, maybe lowering how much health goes down a little would help. People need to realize that JUST taking the animal to the vet isn't all they have to do, bathing/brushing the dog is like follow up at home care IRL.

Hope you're having fun! I like the idea of reduced health damage. It is very frustrating to work very hard on training up a dog and then have it get injured, or worse, die. As for the idea of no deaths, I have two opinions. The first is that it would be great to not have to part with my precious dogs. The second: no deaths is unrealistic, and what we don't need here is an unrealistic dog game. Perhaps this: a special (very rare/expensive) item that allows you to make your dog live forever (not very realistic though). Or your very first dog cannot die. We all love our old dog on Ala. I definitely vote to take away the whole Rebirth idea. And I love the new First Aid Towel. Too bad I'm not a member!

I hope you're having fun on vacation. Can't wait to see who gets to be moderators. As for the no dog deaths, I would really like that, because it is a bit irritating to work with a dog, then it get sick or injured and as soon as it gets better, it just dies. To be able to continue working on the dogs after they get better would be great. Maybe, after so many years, they can't compete in trials, but can still be trained and bred for a few more years until they are fully retired, whereafter they can't get sick or injured, because they aren't doing anything to cause that?

Hope your having fun on your vacation and feeling better <3 Can't wait to see the new mods ~my fingers are crossed~ and no dog deaths would be amazing!

Reduced health damage would be nice. Personally, I like the death system in place, as it's realistic. Though I see that already there are people who want dogs to live forever. Perhaps immortality should be limited to the first dog a person gets? Seems a good compromise between the two ends of the spectrum.

Well Coyote, if you don't 'stay on' the dog's health won't go down because it only lives when you've logged in.

Breckenridge! I remember going to a ski race there in high school. They canceled the race because it was -40 while we were up clearing the course, and a dozen or so kids came down the mountain with frostbite. Wow, that was cold. I bet it's lovely in the summer, though. I'm on the fence about whether to have dog deaths or not. I like the idea because it's unique. However, I'd like to know whether retired dogs can also die. It seems strange to make dogs able to either die or be retired; it should be just one or the other, especially if retired dogs never age or die.

We do have an item that brings dogs back to life I think Rumba, Rebirth. But I heard it has glitches? D: Sorry for posting so much on this news post. XD

I want to say yes to the no dog deaths....it's depressing, and it's not always possible to stay on and make sure that the health says high enough that it won't die due to injuries

Sometimes it seems like dog deaths happen so quickly, and the owners should take full responsibility for that. But at the same time it is such a shock, and you may feel like there's nothing you could have done to prevent it from happening. I think deaths are a wake-up call to those who don't pay attention to their dogs, so I don't think they should be completely eliminated. Maybe we should have an item that brings dogs back to life instead. Oh, and thanks again for bringing Limbo back to life for me. :)

So Scruffy shall have to say no for no dog deaths, yes for reduced health damage from accidents.

No dog deaths would be wonderful! =) And have a fun vacation!

About the Dog Death thing, I believe that's part of what makes it all so realistic, while on sites like Mweor and Neopets they never die. It can be nice but it's just....Creepy? xP Reducing the health damage of injuries would be great. My friend's first dog died on here after it broke it's leg.

I would love if there was no dog deaths. On other sites like this, dogs/cats/horses stop being able to breed or show after a certain age, but they're still with their owner, unless their owner decides to release them. I can't see why something like that can't be done for this site. It's less depressing. :)

Have fun in Colorado!