Bow wow wow yippe yo yippe yea- Nintendogs Chihuahua & Friends...

I knew when getting some Nintendo DS games I was going to get my oldest Nintendogs, but not just any Nintendogs- Nintendogs Chihuahua and Friends! It's rated E for everyone and I picked it up at Wal-Mart for $29.99. There are several other versions of this as well, but the Chihuahua and Friends one features Chihuahuas, German Shepards, Boxers, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, yorkies, and Shetland Sheepdog.

When starting the game, you get to look and play with puppies- you get a certain amount of money to start off with to purchase a dog. Of course, we got a Chihuahua, but they didn't have one like Henry, so we chose a brown and white girl one. Next, you play with your puppy and pet it using the pen, and decide on a name. Once you decide on a name, you then say it a few times into the mic and the dog will learn its name. Then after it learns it, you type it in when the keyboard comes up using the pen.

As with real dogs, they come with responsibility. You'll need to feed, water, and walk your dog. You can go to the ‘store' and purchase items for your dog, such as food, shampoo, toys and such. On the home page of this game, you'll see a question mark beside the dog's picture- hit the question mark and it will tell you the dog's status (clean, dirty, hungry, thirsty).

When you interact with your dog, you'll see a little microphone icon pop up every now and then- that's when you can record yourself saying the commands to do tricks. There is a manual on the home page that tells you how to teach your dog tricks and what commands to use. Once you practice the command a few times, the keypad screen will come up and you enter the name of the command.

How are these commands useful? Well, when you teach your dog tricks, you can enter the Obedience competition, and this is how you make extra money, by placing in these competitions. You start at the beginner class, and then move on up all the way to the expert class. But, should you happen to fail, you have to start all the way back at the beginner class.

Also, there are two other trials to talk about- the agility trial and the disc competition. To practice for the agility trial, you'll need to go down to the gym on your walk and then you go to the park to practice for the disc competition. Like the obedience trial, it has different levels as well and if you don't place in the current competition, you have to start back over.

As you work with your dog, it begins to build strength and can go for longer walks. Right at first your pup won't be able to walk all the way to the gym or park, but after a few walks it will be able to.

You can be training up to three dogs at a time, but to be honest one is enough for us! We have a hard enough time training her. Sometimes during the obedience trial she doesn't behave like she's supposed to and won't do her tricks. About like the real Chihuahua I have sitting over here. His main trick is sleeping I guess.

Anyway, as far as age range goes, this game could be for the youngest of players as long as you explain to them what to do. Of course, I guess once you complete the levels on all the training and trials, there's pretty much no point to doing it again, so re-play ability may be something to worry about, especially with older kids. But, we haven't run into that trouble. Overall, it's a pretty fun game and it is something I would recommend.