Allow dogs to fetch prey floating on water

[Saukko]

I was gathering herbs and hunting on a remote lake, shot down a few birds over water, and as I waded in to pick them up and eventually started getting cold, I started thinking it would be useful to have a command for dogs to fetch prey floating on water. The dog would pick up the bird, come back and then drop it near the owner. Of course, if the dog was hungry, it would eat the bird instead. That might be expandable to other small prey as well - for example, you set your dogs on a hare, they hunt it down, kill it and then bring the carcass to you. The latter would be a bonus, but the former would be really useful especially in early spring/late autumn, when the waters are too cold to wade in yourself just to fetch a bird for a couple of cuts of meat, and you don't have a boat or raft handy.

[Mati256]

Don't know how historical it is, but it's a great idea. Maybe you could buy trained and untrained dogs for this. And trained dogs would be more expensive. Maybe add a training system for the players in the future and when the option to sell animals becomes available, you have another way to earn a living.

[Brygun]

Arf! Arf!

[Saukko]

Don't know how historical it is, but it's a great idea. Maybe you could buy trained and untrained dogs for this. And trained dogs would be more expensive. Maybe add a training system for the players in the future and when the option to sell animals becomes available, you have another way to earn a living.

I would think the idea would have occured to our ancestors around the point they were freezing their bollocks off wading in themselves.... the dog in the game is no particular breed, but more like a generic mongrel - but any dog that can be trained to hunt can be trained to retrieve. My family used to have a succession of hunting dogs of random pedigrees, and while training some took more effort than others, they were all used to retrieve mallards with (some) success - one of them you couldn't let out of sight or it ate the bird - hungry or not - but as long as you kept it in sight, it too brought the bird back...

[Signatus]

Don't know how historical it is, but it's a great idea. Maybe you could buy trained and untrained dogs for this. And trained dogs would be more expensive. Maybe add a training system for the players in the future and when the option to sell animals becomes available, you have another way to earn a living.

I would think the idea would have occured to our ancestors around the point they were freezing their bollocks off wading in themselves....

Wouldn't the dog freeze as well in finnish waters? It's not like their fur is water- or cold-proof

[Saukko]

Wouldn't the dog freeze as well in finnish waters? It's not like their fur is water- or cold-proof

Depends on the breed - some breeds have a thick and oily underfur, which gives them protection against cold water, and most northern breeds are quite cold-resistant. Though if this idea were coded in, maybe there should be a limit on how cold the waters can be - many dogs can take colder waters than most people, but even they'd refuse to go into waters that are near freezing point.