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Dog Sled Saga Tips, Tricks & Strategy Guide for Every Element of Dogsledding

Dog Sled Saga is an exciting mobile game from Trichotomy that puts you in the role of a rookie musher, leading a dogsledding team and improving their skills, provided you treat the dogs right. You will have to know the traits of each individual dog, hire them and fire them (yes, you can do that), organize your budget per month, make your way to sponsorship deals, hire new employees, breed puppies, and do much more. It’s a different kind of management game for mobile, the dogs are indeed different from one another, and there are various factors you’ll need to take into account when racing, particularly ensuring your dogs don’t go hungry in the middle of the race.

There’s a lot to remember when you’re managing a team of dogs, among other things. It’s not as easy as getting a bunch of dogs and relying on your mushing skill alone when you’re out at the races. And to reiterate a point we made in the game overview, there are many factors to consider in and out of those races. Having said that, we hope this complete Dog Sled Saga strategy guide will provide all the guidance you need to rise from rookie status and become a top-notch dogsledder.

1. How To Choose Your Dogs

At the start of the game, you’ll have a chance to choose three dogs, and these will be the only dogs in your care for a good period of time. That means you’ll have to choose carefully, and consider a lot of factors, none of which include the name of the dogs. Don’t like one of the names? The game gives you the option to change the dog name at any time in the game. Likewise, harness color doesn’t make much of a difference, and you can also change this to your liking.

Instead, you should be looking at other, more practical factors, such as the dog’s gender (best to choose at least one male and at least one female, which would allow for future breeding), their personality (Strong, Steady, Obedient), and their breed. We suggest choosing at least one of each personality, which would give you a fairly balanced lineup, with one Wheel, one Lead, and three middle dogs once you’re able to manage five dogs.

2. More About Doggy Attributes

In real life, they say opposites attract, and that’s definitely true in Dog Sled Saga. Building up on the last few lines on the first tip, each of the dog personalities – Strong, Steady, Obedient – affect the performance of each dog, and how they perform in certain race situations. But apart from personalities, each dog has their own specialization, and the game won’t tell you what your dog is good at, unless you enter the dog in a race and level them up. Abilities for positions would be rated as None (which you want to avoid), Able, and Natural.

After you’ve raced a dog a certain number of times, you’ll know their specializations and ability ratings, and that will allow you to leverage those skills in future races. Also check their faults through the journal; these are weaknesses that could affect your dogs while racing.

3. Keep A Close Eye On The Dog Lines

It’s not uncommon for the lines attached to the harnesses of your dog to get tangled up, and that could weigh down on your team and slow down your dogs. This can compromise your performance while racing, so you’ll have to make sure this doesn’t happen by adjusting things, even while actually racing. Should you see that there’s slack in some of the leads, pull them apart immediately to avoid the possibility of the lines getting tangled and your dogs losing speed. Be aware of when this happens, as this could affect your performance!

4. Go For Perfect Throws When Feeding Your Dogs

Once again, you don’t want your dogs to go hungry while you’re racing, as hungry dogs perform worse and move slower. And that would require that you feed them treats in the middle of the race, as you make sure you’re making a perfect throw. If your hit a perfect throw, your dog will eat the treat on the first attempt, upon which the game will flash a message that says “Perfect!” And while it’s very important that you race to win, remember that fans don’t like a winner who isn’t exciting; somehow, hitting perfect throws entertains the fans, and brings you closer to earning sponsorships down the line.

5. Keep A Close Eye On Your Dogs

Aside from going hungry, dogs get tired while you’re racing, and you should also guard against the possibility of your dogs getting too fatigued. You’ll know just how tired a dog is when they’re panting – it may be light, medium, or exhausted panting. As the race tracks become more difficult to navigate, you’ll get less chances to pick up treats to feed your dogs, and that’s where making a perfect throw again becomes important; don’t waste treats by throwing them willy-nilly, in hopes that your dogs would chomp on them. As such, you might want to wait till the second tier to feed your dogs, as that’s the best time for you to make a perfect throw.

Feed your dogs at that time, but don’t feed them too late in the race. Also make sure you’ve fed your dogs right before a big obstacle, such as a tree or a rock. Jumping obstacles expends a lot of energy, so your pups will need their food. And speaking generally, monitor the fatigue ratings and the trail ahead of you so you can reduce the chances of your dogs tiring out too easily.

6. Happy Dogs Go Faster

Another way to ensure your dogs do better in the races is to ensure that they’re happy. That would require you to let your dogs rest depending on their level of fatigue, and to take good care of them while they’re resting. You should also allow your dogs to practice so that they’re sharper in the races, and pet them in order to show them that you care for them, just like you would to an actual dog. Access the Regimen menu in order to plan your dogs’ schedule for the day, and to choose which races to compete in. We suggest having your dogs compete in all possible races, because if you don’t race, you’ll end up losing money.

There’s also a balance of sorts to remember when it comes to the caretaking aspect of the game. Caretaking can help remove fatigue, with one fatigue bar removed per day of Caretaking, but one skill bar also removed. Offset this by putting your dogs to Training once their fatigue is replenished, as that’ll boost their skills back up once again.

7. The Basics Of Managing Your Money

We’re done with the dog- and racing-related aspects of the game, so let’s move on to managing your financial resources. It’s important that you take good care of your finances, as you’ll need to pay league expenses every 30 days; this would allow you to keep on racing, and also allow you to keep on playing. That’s when you may have to fire a dog, as you’ll have to get rid of one of your pups if you’re not able to afford your league bills. Less dogs in your kennel means less bills to pay each month.

8. Make Sure You Can Afford To Keep The Dogs You Buy

Speaking of firing dogs, that’s something you should avoid in as much as possible. Avoid this by being sure you are going to keep the dog and afford to pay for him/her once you buy them. Also take note that when you fire a dog, you can re-hire him/her, though that dog’s going to start from square one and any training and racing experience they accrued will no longer be counted. Always look at your available money before buying a dog; don’t buy a dog, hire an employee, or level up to a better league just because the game says it’s okay to do so!

9. Build Up Your Finances Before You Spend Big-Time

If you want to avoid spending more than what your budget can afford, it’s a good idea to save up your money and build your finances up. Allow yourself to earn more than enough money, and once you’ve got well more than enough, you can start spending. That’s going to allow you to afford the league fees when they get too expensive for comfort, because your earnings per race oftentimes won’t be enough to recoup your league expenses. Always pay attention to the bottom of the screen, as that shows how much you’ll have to pay, and when you’ll have to pay those bills.

10. How To Choose The Right Sponsors

If you’re entertaining enough, you will get to encounter sponsors, who will then give you some boosts to improve your game. For example, your sled may get additional friction, and you may get a bigger bag so you can hold more treats. You may even get additional funding, making it easier for you to pay your bills. And while those boosts may seem well and good, you’re limited to only three sponsorships at a time, and some sponsorships take up multiple slots. It’s usually best to choose those sponsorships that are only good for one slot, allowing you to have three different ones that help you out in various aspects of Dog Sled Saga.

11. Should You Hire Employees?

Aside from your canine companions, you may also need some human assistance along the way. If you’re able to afford it, hire employees to help you in caring for your dogs. The benefit of having human employees is proper utilization of your dogs; if you do it all by yourself, you’ll often see a couple dogs doing absolutely nothing while the others go through training. But we cannot understate how important it is to be able to afford your employees, as their monthly wages will go toward your payables.

That’s it for now, as far as our list of tips, tricks and hints for Dog Sled Saga is concerned. In case you know more tips for the game, feel free to let us know in the comment section!