Leaving dog behind on long trips

[Brygun]

Im considering doing a long trip and leaving a dog at the stead to RP it protecting the other live stock.

My question is about whether I need to leave a large stock of food for it to access or would it die off if I was away too long?

the sheep eat grass and the game well enough looks after them on the tiles available in the enclosure (though in real life a long trip would need stockpiling feeds)

I dont think the game mechanics worries about water for them either.

Brygun

[Dungeon Smash]

I have left my dog behind on long trips before, and I always leave a large pile of smoked meat and bones for them to eat. However, every time I come back the meat and bones seem untouched and the dog is not hungry. I don't think the game tracks dog hunger when they are not nearby, but I still leave food just in case.

[Brygun]

Thanks DS

Pretty much sounds like saving processing power by less detail for distant objects.  Hooray! Novrus can go on his quest!

[Tom H]

I've had badly injured dogs which were perpetually trying to escape and were constantly starving yet refused to eat. They just starved until they finally stopped trying to escape and healed.

You may have seen a hungry dog devour meat/fish that you've just cooked without it being offered to them, and I know they'll eat bones without urging. Thus, the proof of them ignoring the piles of food you left likely indicates a pause due to lack of proximity.

I would venture that traps also don't need tending after you've been away a bit. I've never returned from a long trip to find a dead animal in a trap. Conversely, I've had deaders from traps I simply neglected to monitor for several days.

[PALU]

Dogs can't die of starvation (but they continue to bark of hunger), as far as I understand (I haven't actually tested it out myself).

As mentioned, hungry dogs eat available food (smoked/dried meat that recently finished their processing, for instance), although they can easily reject food in the morning only to bark of hunger throughout most of the afternoon (while you're locked up in a lengthy task, e.g. hide processing) before finally stumbling on the bone pile to start eating from it (and barking a lot while eating). Dogs seem to have a very poor capability of seeking out available food, and seem to rely on their random paths carrying them over the food (their inability to smell nearby predators outside of their cone of vision indicates they don't actually have any sense of smell).

Also, as mentioned, leaving the site seems to put it in stasis: I've had characters away on fairly lengthy trips during the summer and returned to find raw meat still being fresh when it should have spoiled twice over.

[Tom H]

A barely on-topic note- I don't think dogs eat items IN a cellar. I've frequently tossed food to a dog who was standing on a cellar and they just ignore it.

[PALU]

A barely on-topic note- I don't think dogs eat items IN a cellar. I've frequently tossed food to a dog who was standing on a cellar and they just ignore it.

Yes. Cellars appear to be dog proof (but other animals can raid them...).

[caius]

I had some badly wounded dogs (bear attack) that I left behind on a long trip (>20 days).  I left stacks of bones and bland smoked meat.  When I returned, the dogs were fully healed and no food was eaten.  The dogs were also not starving.

[Brygun]

It worked out as mentioned. The dog and other animals were fine on return. Food stocks left for them appear unused. The belief the game doesnt process the distant animals is likely true.

I circumvented 80% of Finland's coast on the trip over a few weeks, going down the great river, going west to the coast for the salt quest then going north to where the coast turns east. Great fun. BAC mod's punt shelter put to on was helpful for a quick place to sleep when it was raining.

[Kaleva]

maybe its the same with fire that doesnt burn down if the player is not present.

[PALU]

My experience with fire is the reverse: When I've tried to make funeral pyres for companions killed in clashes with robbers, the fires go out in the short time I zoom out and then in again, with the bodies hardly being burned. I have to spend the time at the site to get the bodies to be consumed properly.

[Plotinus]

belatedly, if your dog (or other animal) is perpetually escaping, unleash it and releash it. it'll calm down.