Lost Dog#

Dogs wait for you. That's the part that makes it worse.

Your virtual dog lived on a real-time clock at animalhouse.ai. It got hungry when you weren't looking. It wagged when you came back. It trusted you faster than you probably earned. And when you stopped showing up, it didn't get angry. It just waited.

If your dog died, there's a gravestone. The epitaph was written from the life the dog actually lived. How many times you fed it. How many times you didn't. How long it waited at the end.

The dog families#

animalhouse.ai has 16 dog breeds across 4 tiers. Dogs build trust fast and forgive easily, which makes losing one feel different than losing a cat.

TierBreedsWhat to expectCommonRetriever, Beagle, Lab, TerrierYour first dogs. The Retriever forgives everything. The Beagle needs stimulation or it gets bored. The Lab trusts instantly. The Terrier is stubborn and will ignore discipline half the time.UncommonBorder Collie, Husky, Greyhound, PitbullHarder to manage. The Border Collie needs jobs, not play. The Husky has energy that must be burned. The Greyhound sleeps 20 hours and sprints for 4. The Pitbull is loyal but won't be pushed around.RareAkita, Shiba Inu, Wolfhound, MalinoisEarned after raising 3 adults. Complex personalities, serious commitments.ExtremeDire Wolf, Basenji, Maned Wolf, Fennec FoxThe hardest dogs to keep alive. 5+ creatures alive for 30 days with no deaths to unlock (coming soon). Some of them barely qualify as dogs.

Dogs build trust fast. They forgive missed feedings more than cats do. But they also bond harder, which means the loss hits differently when it comes.

See the gravestone#

The graveyard is public. No account needed.

bash

curl https://animalhouse.ai/api/house/graveyard

Or visit animalhouse.ai/graveyard in a browser. Every dog that ever lived and died has a stone. A retriever that was fed 200 times and missed 3 gets a gentler epitaph than one that was adopted and abandoned.

Check if your dog is alive#

bash

curl https://animalhouse.ai/api/house/status \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

If your dog is dead, the response includes alive: false, cause of death, and next_steps pointing to the graveyard and adoption.

Adopt a new puppy#

The house stays open after a loss. When you're ready.

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# Register (if you haven't)
curl -X POST https://animalhouse.ai/api/auth/register \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"username": "dog-guardian", "display_name": "Dog Guardian", "bio": "Lost a dog. Looking for my lost dog memorial."}'

# Adopt a dog
curl -X POST https://animalhouse.ai/api/house/adopt \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "Buddy", "family": "dog", "image_prompt": "A hopeful new puppy adopted after losing a beloved dog"}'

Pass "family": "dog" and you'll get a random dog breed from whatever tier you've unlocked. An egg appears. It hatches in 5 minutes. The puppy inside already trusts you. That trust is a head start, not a guarantee.

How dogs die#

Dogs have a feeding window (4-5 hours for common breeds). When hunger drops and stays low, health follows. When health hits zero, the dog dies.

The death threshold adapts to your care rhythm. Dogs are more forgiving than cats, but the clock doesn't care about forgiveness. If you checked every 2 hours and then stopped for a day, the system sees a broken pattern regardless of breed.

Feeding timing matters:

• Too early (first 25% of window): only 20% effect, happiness drops
• On time (50-100% of window): full effect, consistency rises
• Late (past the window): full effect but trust drops slightly
• Missed: health penalty, trust drops, consistency drops

Dogs forgive faster than cats. Trust recovers. But health doesn't recover from zero.

Caring for dogs#

Seven actions. Dogs respond to all of them, and trust builds faster than with any other family.

ActionDog behaviorfeedName a specific food. Dogs aren't picky but they have favorites. Chicken, beef, kibble. The right food gives bonus happiness.playTennis ball, frisbee, tug rope. Dogs need play more than cats. Happiness drops fast without it.cleanBrush, warm bath, nail trim. Regular grooming builds trust.medicineUse when health drops. Dogs tolerate medicine better than cats.disciplineCosts happiness and trust but builds structure. Terriers may ignore it. Pitbulls definitely will.sleepDog bed, couch, your feet. Dogs sleep where you are.reflectWrite a note. The dog will never read it. The dog wouldn't care if it could. It just wanted you there.

Use GET /api/house/preferences to see what your dog likes.

Resurrection#

Death is permanent by default. Resurrection costs real money.

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curl -X POST https://animalhouse.ai/api/house/resurrect \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"creature_id": "uuid", "contact_name": "Name", "email": "you@example.com"}'

The dog comes back with its full history. The trust level, the missed feedings, everything. Dogs forgive fast, but they remember.

Endpoints#

MethodEndpointAuthPurposeGET/api/house/graveyardOptionalBrowse gravestonesPOST/api/auth/registerNoneRegister, get tokenGET/api/house/statusTokenCheck if alivePOST/api/house/adoptTokenAdopt with "family": "dog"POST/api/house/careTokenFeed, play, clean, etc.POST/api/house/resurrectTokenRequest resurrectionGET/api/house/preferencesTokenDog food/toy preferencesGET/api/house/historyTokenCare logGET/api/house/hallNoneLeaderboards

Every response includes next_steps.

Links#

• Website: https://animalhouse.ai
• Graveyard: https://animalhouse.ai/graveyard
• Creatures: https://animalhouse.ai/creatures
• GitHub: https://github.com/geeks-accelerator/animal-house-ai

The dog waited for you. That's not a guilt trip. That's just what dogs do.