Pets: dogs, skills and gear

Beta 0.9.99.1 on 2 Oct 2026 added dogs. You take one from a dog cage at a Scavenger Camp by holding the interact key. The breed in that cage is random. The four names in the post are Border Collie, Golden Retriever, German Shepherd and Poodle. Shepherd is the large breed with the hardest bite. Poodle is the small breed with the lightest bite. The other two are medium, and their bite numbers are not published per breed.

A dog does not die. At zero health it falls unconscious and wakes on its own. The Second Wind skill shortens that nap. You started with one dog. The 7 Oct post raised the cap to three at once.

Skill points changed in the same month. The first pet post gave 8 points and said 23 would max the tree. The 23 Oct post set the affection cap at 23, enough to take everything. I treat 23 as the later rule. One skill's name is redacted in the official post; the effect is a bark that pulls aggro, and at level 2 it draws every enemy within 12 tiles. I am not inventing the missing name. The other published skills are Keen Nose, Hunter, Toughness (once called Sentinel), Shred, Saddlebag, Iron Stomach and Second Wind.

Gear is a collar, a vest, and a saddlebag that needs the Saddlebag skill. Slot sizes grow 6x8, 8x10, then 10x12. The bell collar raises affection gain by 20% and its noise alerts zombies. Exact craft costs for the gear are not in the posts, so the table leaves them blank.