How To Train Your Pet In The Sims 4

Pets are one of the greatest additions to The Sims 4 to date. They’re fluffy, they’re cute, and they give our Sims companionship when we lock them inside for too long. But let’s face it, sometimes our furry friends can get a little frustrating. Whether it’s peeing in the house, barking during sleep hours, or digging in the trash, our four-legged buddies can really get on our last nerve. Luckily, there are ways to train pets out of these irritating behaviors.

Pet training comes in two forms: passive and active. Passively, you can train your pets out of pesky behaviors, while actively you can teach them to do a few nifty party tricks.

The Pet Training Skill

The Pet Training Skill can be increased in a few key ways. For starters, the most efficient way to level your pet training skill is to – you guessed it – train your pet. You can teach your dogs to do tricks, train good behaviors, punish misbehavior, and teach your pet to use the obstacle course.

While you can level your skill by interacting with both cats and dogs, you will only be able to train dogs to do tricks. Both cats and dogs can be potty-trained, behavior-trained, and obstacle course-trained.

Levels

Unlike most skills in The Sims 4, the Pet Training Skill only has five levels to complete. It may seem obvious, but the best way to level your Pet Training Skill is to train your pet. After clicking on your pet, you can find the Pet Training menu in the Pet Care tab of your radial.

You can train any dog or cat as long as you have a high enough relationship with them. This includes strays and pets owned by other Sims.

Currently, only dogs are able to learn commands.

Trainable Commands

There are ten commands for your dog to learn as you train with them. Within the level restriction, you can teach your dog commands in any order.

Dogs can be trained to Sit, Speak, Roll Over, Fetch, Lie Down, Play Dead, Heel, and Shake. Dogs can also be taught to attack other Sims on command and can be instructed to perform tricks for other Sims.

If you’ve already trained your dog to do all possible tricks and commands, but haven’t reached the level cap yet, don’t worry! There are plenty of ways to keep leveling your Pet Training Skill.

For starters, you can train any pet as long as you have a high enough relationship with them. You must have a high relationship with dogs in order to teach them tricks.

However, you can praise or scold behaviors for both cats and dogs at any relationship level. This means that even once you’ve trained your own pet to do every trick possible, you can continue to level your skill by training other Sims’ pets. You can also train stray animals around the map.

If you want to train strays but can’t find them reliably, you can utilize the Cat Hangout and Dog Hangout lot traits to increase the number of strays on the property. The Cat-Friendly and Dog-Friendly lot traits will likewise increase the number of pet owners and their pets visiting the lot.

Obstacle Course

Obstacle Courses are a great way to level your Pet Training Skill quickly. You can craft your own obstacle course or head to the pre-loaded lot, Pupperstone Park, in Brindleton Bay. Pupperstone Park has one of each obstacle type for your pet to run through.

Obstacle Courses are also not restricted to dogs. Cats can be trained and commanded to interact with each obstacle or to run the course as a whole.

Behavior Training

Unlike teaching your dog tricks, Behavior Training is a passive action. There is no set ‘teach good behavior’ action. Instead, your Sim can either Praise a good behavior or Scold misbehavior.

Pets who use the restroom in the house, bark at odd hours of the night, dig in the trash, tear up furniture, jump on counters, eat Sim food, or misbehave in other ways, can be scolded. Each time you scold a pet for misbehavior, they will start to associate that behavior with negative consequences.

Eventually, the misbehavior will be trained out, and you will receive a notification congratulating you on successfully training out that behavior.

If you prefer the positive reinforcement method, you can instead praise your pets each time they do a behavior correctly. For instance, if your pet barks or whines to let you know that they need to go potty, praise them. Praising them will teach them the proper way to behave.

Traits

Some Pet Traits will affect the efficacy of training your pet.

Stubborn dogs will be resistant to learning, while smart dogs will pick up tricks and behavioral cues more quickly. Aggressive dogs will need persistent training to be taught not to attack other dogs or Sims. Jumpy dogs can be praised and reassured when frightened, thus eliminating their fears. Troublemaker dogs will misbehave more frequently and benefit from being scolded if you want to eradicate a pesky behavior.

Similarly, Cat Traits also affect pet learning. Clever cats pick up behavior training more easily, while Mischievous cats will require constant supervision and frequent scolding. Spoiled cats will rarely alter their behavior after being scolded, and territorial cats must be trained not to attack Sims. Skittish cats will need to be praised and reassured when afraid.

You can Praise and Scold the same behavior or misbehavior to train your pet. There is no set rule for when you should praise or scold a pet. Using one or both methods will still accomplish the same goal.

Other Mechanics

Not all behaviors can be trained out of your pets. When a pet goes into Heat (meaning they want to mate with other pets), they will be resistant to training. Pets in heat are also more vocal and will meow or howl to indicate their frisky mood. Sometimes the constant yowling and the swarm of hearts above your pets’ heads can be irritating. However, you cannot train a pet out of going into heat.

Pets who are in Heat won’t breed with other pets unless you prompt them to. You can request a pet to mate with another pet, and there is a chance that the pairing will result in babies. There is not a one-hundred percent guarantee that each mating attempt will be successful.

The only way to prevent your pet from going into heat is to have them spayed or neutered. You can spay and neuter your pets at the veterinary clinic in Brindleton Bay or at any veterinary surgery machine.

If you regret spaying or neutering your pet, don’t panic. You can always return to the veterinary clinic and have your pet un-spayed or un-neutered. Getting your pet spayed and unspayed both cost 100 simoleons.

If you want to increase the number of puppies or kittens in a litter, try using the Breeding Ground lot trait.