Trait Training on Pets

[Naanomi]

Are there any experienced simmers out there with a good grasp on training traits for pets?  Crazy Catlady and her six furry friends (who bring her rodents to sell so she can survive) have been bumping around, and she has made a great show of training them into respectable companions... but there are a few traits I just have not seen the option for training.

For example, I have never seen the option to praise for Genius or Independent come up for my cats, and I have only seen Prideful and Adventurous options rarely (and don't know how to repeat it).  I am sure dogs and horses have similar impossible/hard to train traits.  Knowing this stuff might guide picking the 3/5 traits on your 'perfect' pet.

[Asleep]

For Adventurous, you can praise them for jumping on the sofa.

[Ricalynn]

I'm fairly certain Genius and Independent are attitudes more than trainable traits so I doubt they that there is anything you can do to give your pet those traits other than choose them from the get go or through the attitude adjustment LTR.   

Also, I've trained pets to have more than 5 traits so don't think that you're limited like you are Sims.

[Naanomi]

Also, I've trained pets to have more than 5 traits so don't think that you're limited like you are Sims.

Yes you can have far more than 5 traits, but if there *are* untrainable traits it would do well to identify them and pick them as starter traits and train the rest to fit your needs (or LTR them in... which I have heard you can assign 5 traits with, though have not done it myself)

[Dolphinsong]

From what I've seen, you can have a total of 6 traits on any of the major pets. One of the horses's a sim of mine adopted had 6 traits.

[Ricalynn]

I have a cat with seven traits and I'm working on his eighth so I really think the sky is the limit if there are actions pertaining to the traits.

[Naanomi]

I think a 'training guide' would make a useful thing... I'm starting a new Sim with two cats that start with only the Genius trait and see how far I can train them (one 'Good cat' and one 'Bad cat') and I will post the reliable ways I can encourage/discourage certain traits as I discover them.

[Pam]

I have a pet cat with 9 traits.

[Carl]

I think a 'training guide' would make a useful thing... I'm starting a new Sim with two cats that start with only the Genius trait and see how far I can train them (one 'Good cat' and one 'Bad cat') and I will post the reliable ways I can encourage/discourage certain traits as I discover them.

That would be very much appreciated. I can help fill in any blanks

[Naanomi]

I am only testing personally with Cats at the moment.  If you have other info, let me know!  Info on how to remove traits that we don't yet know how to add is also appreciated.

Cats:
Adventurous - Climb on Couch
Aggressive - Guard Things
Clueless - ?
Destructive - Sharpen Claws on Furniture
Friendly - Friendly Socials with Other Pets
Genius - ?
Hunter - Practicing Hunting
Hyper - Run Around
Independent - ?
Lazy - ?
Neat - Groom Self
Noisy - Yowl Along to Radio
Non-destructive - Using Scratching Post
Piggy - Drink from the Toilet
Playful - Playing with Wall Toy
Proud - ?
Quiet - ? (POSSIBILITY: Punishing 'Noisy' actions repeatedly?)
Shy - ? (POSSIBILITY: Punishing 'Friendly' actions repeatedly?)
Skittish - Hide Under Furniture

Dogs:
Adventurous - ?
Aggressive - Guard Something
Clueless - ?
Destructive - ?
Friendly - Friendly Socials with Other Pets
Genius - ?
Hunter - Practice Hunting (Possibly Bugged?)
Hydrophobic - ?
Hyper - ?
Independent - ?
Lazy - ?
Likes Swimming - Swim in Pool
Loyal - Guard Home
Neat - Pee Outside
Noisy - Bark At
Non-Destructive - Use Chew Toy
Piggy - Drink from Toilet
Playful - Play with Toy (from bin)
Proud - ?
Shy - ?
Skittish - ?

Horses:
Agile -  Practice Jumping
Brave - ?
Clueless - ?
Fast - Gallop Around
Friendly - Friendly Socials with Other Pets
Genius - ?
Hates Jumping - ?
Lazy - ?
Neat - Clean Hoof
Noisy - Whinny At
Obedient - Brush/Hug
Ornery - ?
Piggy - Eat Hay When Full
Playful - Use Horse Ball
Quiet - ?
Shy - ?
Untrained - ?

[callycat]

Probably no surprises here but I confirmed them all at least. All of these were learned from the actions without any reinforcement input, but all the pets had Genius.

Horses:

Noisy: whinny
Playful: use horse ball
Piggy: eat carrots/apples/hay when full
Fast - train racing/gallop around
Agile - practice jumping


Dogs:

Noisy: Bark at


Cat:

Neat: Groom self

[Lasnien]

Dogs gain the Aggressive trait from chasing the mailman, too. I suspect aggressive can come from guarding the house or objects, but haven't tested thoroughly. Piggy/Neat can be trained by reinforcing peeing inside or outside, respectively.

[Hosfac]

One thing I have noticed is that the traits for pets are clearly separated into "good" and "bad" traits.  

No such definition exists in Sims:  if you have a rough pregnancy, fail to train a toddler, or do poorly in school, you have just as much chance of getting a desirable trait as you do of getting one that is less desirable.  I have repeatedly had sims receive the Genius trait after doing poorly in school, for example.  The game just doesn't make a distinction between traits as far as "good" or "bad."

But, from my limited experience thus far, it seems that baby pets are far more likely to get undesirable traits to start with.  They then have to unlearn these and learn better traits.  Keep in mind that my experience is limited to adoption from neighbors:  I've only just started to experiment with horse breeding, and have yet to get any other pet pregnant.  So I don't really know how the parent's traits influence the baby's traits (if they do at all).

Thus, I'll soon be back with more info.

[Dellena]

Horse:
Obedient - Let Sniff Hand/Brush/Rub Neck/Pet/Hug
Neat - Clean Hoof
Fast - Follow

I'll update more later.

[skitarii]

My kitty just aged up into a cat and has 0 traits.....is that a bug?

Also, I click on her lifetime reward options and there's nothing to choose although she has about 8000 or so points...

[Pam]

My kitty just aged up into a cat and has 0 traits.....is that a bug?

Also, I click on her lifetime reward options and there's nothing to choose although she has about 8000 or so points...

I'm not sure about the zero traits, but the lack of lifetime rewards sounds like a bug.  I'm curious, though...  how did a kitten get 8,000 Lifetime Happiness points?  That's a lot and kittens don't get wishes, unless I'm remembering it wrong.

Keep in mind that my experience is limited to adoption from neighbors:  I've only just started to experiment with horse breeding, and have yet to get any other pet pregnant.  So I don't really know how the parent's traits influence the baby's traits (if they do at all).

I do believe that the parents' traits influence the baby's traits.  I have a cat that has 9 traits and she passed some of them on to all of her kittens. 

[skitarii]

I'm not sure about the zero traits, but the lack of lifetime rewards sounds like a bug.  I'm curious, though...  how did a kitten get 8,000 Lifetime Happiness points?  That's a lot and kittens don't get wishes, unless I'm remembering it wrong.

Sorry, turns out I was using a mod that unlocks hidden traits and it causes issues with pet traits.   

And a kitten got up to 8000 because I play on Epic lifespans, and most of my sims were busy petting her to do much....

Thanks though.

[Pam]

Sorry, turns out I was using a mod that unlocks hidden traits and it causes issues with pet traits.   

And a kitten got up to 8000 because I play on Epic lifespans, and most of my sims were busy petting her to do much....

Thanks though.

That explains it then.  Just so you know, we strongly oppose the use of mods in the game.  As you've discovered, they can mess with your game.  Many times, it causes something much worse than what you've experienced.  Thank you for not naming the mod, by the way. 

[Dolphinsong]

For dog, I got the loyal trait by having him guard house several times.

[Shyro]

If I remember correctly...

Dogs:

Adventurous - Look out window, jump up onto bed/couch
Destructive - Chew furniture, dig hole, knock down trash can, destroy the newspaper
Hyper - Run around
Loyal - Bring newspaper
Noisy - Howl along to radio
Piggy - Eat off floor, roll in puddles/garbage, drink from puddle, beg food
Playful - Play chase

[bewitched1618]

So I've been trying for several sim days to get my horse to go from "hates jumping" to agile.  I praise her every time I can and have her jumping all the time and scold her when she kicks jumps down.  Is it a fluke, or does it just take longer to reverse traits?  My lazy foal learned the fast trait in less than a day. 

[Dolphinsong]

It would seem multipul actions can result in the same trait. As I've stated before, having my dog do Guard House multipul times gained him Loyalty trait and yet fetching the newspaper does the same thing.

[Dellena]

The only trait I've been able to remove is Untrained.  I don't know if you can remove any others and if so, how long it might take.

[Naanomi]

I have removed Noisy and Destructive before, but never if I trained them first... not sure if removing traits that you trained yourself is harder than 'natural' traits.

[loveSims]

My cat gain the adventures trait after he played a long time with the little toy that raise the hunting skill. So it don't just give them the hunter trait.

[Carl]

Thank you all for sharing information about this. I took what you had here and did some playtesting of my own to make a new Cat, Dog, and Horse Traits Guide. This should reveal a few of those blanks, and some alternate methods to what was listed.

I had a lot of trouble learning certain traits, even though they appeared to be making progress: Aggressive, Friendly, and Obedient. This never cleared up. I also experienced the bug with dog hunting that I've had from the start. Some of these traits do very, very little while others are great (Hyper!).

[Naanomi]

So, the Uber Pets:
NOTE: If you use the 'Change Traits' LTR, you get to pick five if you really want to,

Cat:
Start with: Friendly OR Independent OR Shy, Genius, Proud (If Wanted), Quiet
Train: Adventurous, Hunter, Hyper, Neat, Non-Destructive, Playful (If Wanted)

Dog:
Start with: Aggressive OR Friendly AND/OR Independent AND/OR Shy, Genius, Hunter, Quiet
Train: Adventurous, Hyper, Likes Swimming, Loyal, Neat, Non-Destructive, Playful (If Wanted)

Horse/Unicorn:
Start with: Brave, Friendly, Genius, Obedient, Quiet
Train: Agile, Fast, Neat, Playful (If Wanted)

[Dellena]

Carl - I'm not sure of the bug you have with the dogs and hunting.  Not sure if this helps, but my Sim actually had the option to train my dogs to hunt.  I had her do that to get them the first skill point and then just had them do hunting to get more skill points.

Regarding the Fast trait - Have foals "gallop around" and then praise - I've successfully learned this trait on two foals now (others were born with it).

[Hosfac]

I also experienced the bug with dog hunting that I've had from the start.

I had this problem to start with (as have a lot of others), and it seems to clear up if you delete the contents of you DC Backup folder.  Some have said that they had to uninstall that new spell book available from the store, but clearing out my DC Backup fixed the problem without me having to remove it.

[Carl]

So, the Uber Pets:

Brilliant! Thanks for forming the concept. I was thinking that there would be a best selection, but it looks like you've already got it perfect! I'll edit that in.


As for the bug I was referring to with dogs, I guess it might not be... it seems impossible to learn hunter, so it must be the nose. The trait indicator doesn't even appear over their heads.

The others that are strange (Aggressive etc as listed above) do appear but are never taken on by the pet, so that has to be a bug. I will try wiping this backup data just in case. I hate it when I have to write something in as buggy in the guide. In six months someone will ask me what I'm talking about, because it's all fine for them

[Lasnien]

I had a dog learn the Aggressive trait. She was Loyal to begin with, and she autonomously guarded objects. After a while, she started autonomously growling at the mailman, then chasing. After a day or so of this, she gained the Aggressive trait.

[Carl]

Well, hey, it didn't take 6 months after all lol. I will nix the line and I'm going to assume that the other 2 are bugs on my end

[Hosfac]

As for the bug I was referring to with dogs, I guess it might not be... it seems impossible to learn hunter, so it must be the nose. The trait indicator doesn't even appear over their heads.

My bad, I thought you meant the skill.  Now that you mention it, I don't think I've ever seen that either.  Maybe it can't be trained...

Does it have an opposite trait?

[loveSims]

Drinking from a pond give a dog the neat trait.