The Pet Training skill is a 5-level skill that comes with the Cats & Dogs expansion for The Sims 4. Sims can build this skill in order to teach their pets how to do a variety of things. Pets will be able to perform new actions on command if they have a skilled owner. While the Pet Training skill is largely dog-focused, cats are not excluded from this skill.

Let’s dive into this skill by taking a look at how it works in-game. The best way to learn about the Pet Training skill is to see it in action for yourself.

Pongo and Skye

Meet Skye Woodruff and her faithful dalmatian, Pongo. They’ll be showing you how to get the most out of the new Pet Training skill. Skye loves both dogs and cats equally. She actually has a cat named Cleopatra, but she’s going to start building this skill by teaching Pongo some tricks. You’ll see Cleopatra later, I promise.

You can see here that Pongo is a smart dog. He’ll learn tricks faster than most dogs. This will help Skye build the pet Training skill, too.

If we click on Pongo, we can see a Training option in the pie menu. Clicking it will show us all the tricks Pongo can learn right now. His owner hasn’t even learned the Pet Training skill, yet, so there are only a few tricks here. As Skye builds her Pet Training skill, she’ll be able to teach Pongo more complicated tricks. Let’s start by teaching Pongo the most basic of commands: Sit.

Trick Training

Only dogs can learn how to do tricks. Cats can’t partake in this aspect of the Pet Training skill, so it’s good to have a dog in the house if you want your Sim to start learning the Pet Training skill quickly. Dogs can learn how to perform tricks anywhere.

As soon as Skye starts teaching Pongo, she learns the Pet Training skill. The notification lists the tricks Skye is able to teach Pongo right now. When a dog learns a new trick, you’ll get a notification that the dog has learned a new trick. A new option in the dog’s pie menu will show up, called Trained Commands. When a dog learns a trick, that trick disappears from the Training category and moves to the Trained Commands category. Your Sim will be able to command their dog to perform that trick at any time now.

Successfully teaching a dog a trick gives your Sim a +1 Happy moodlet, called “Quality Time.” Sometimes, even the smartest dog will occasionally fail to perform a trick properly. When this happens, your Sim will get a +1 Tense moodlet, called “Stressed from Training.” These moodlets have a minor effect on emotion and only last for a short time.

Pet Training: Level 2

After Pongo learns to Sit, Skye begins teaching him how to Lie Down. This raises her Pet Training skill to level two.

At level two of the Pet Training skill, your Sim will be able to teach dogs how to Heel, Shake, and Play Dead. A new option opens up under the Training tab in the pie menu: Practice Tricks. This allows your Sim to teach their dog a series of random tricks. It’s useful for continuing to build the Pet Training skill after a dog has already learned every trick.

You can see the skill level required for a trick by hovering over that trick under the Training tab in the dog’s pie menu. As you can see here, hovering over the Heel trick on Pongo tells us that Pongo is able to learn this trick because his owner is at level two of the Pet Training skill. If we check the Trained Commands tab now, we see that there is a new trick there. Pongo has learned to Lie Down.