Pet Whisperer (Lifetime Wish - Sims 3 Pets on PS3/XBOX360)

I found a great guid about all Xbox achievements here:

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/forum/showthread.php?t=337920

I'm still playing this on my PS3 and pet whisperer is the most elusive challenge by far. Most people seem to agree it's bugged, but there's something I've noticed among all the strategies people trying to get it have outlined... no mention of dogs. So my theory is (and I haven't proven it yet, still working on it) that to accomplish the lifetime wish, a sim must train by praising/scolding 10 different traits on cats and 10 different traits on dogs, for a total of 20.

I started with one sim with the pet whisperer wish. I later brought in various cats and dogs during the course of gameplay. Most traits work in pairs, so training one trait on one cat/dog leaves the opposite trait to be trained on another cat/dog. Ideally, your household would have the 1 sim with the lifetime wish, 2 cats, and 2 dogs. I'm not sure if all the pets with all the traits need to be in the household at the same time, or if you can move or age them out, but I'll try to get them all in the household at the same time just to be safe. I suppose starting with 1 sim and 4 pets with the genius trait could be helpful, but I haven't tried that.

Here are some training tactics. Note that I'm only concerned with praising or scolding to gain traits; developing traits by controlling the pet to do actions repeatedly until the trait manifests on its own is not the issue here, as that would not satisfy the pet whisperer wish. Also, controlling the pet to perform an action does not allow the sim to praise or scold that action, so that is not a viable tactic. The pet must initiate the action on its own, or be prompted by another pet or sim, in order for praise/scold to be available. There may be other ways to train the following traits, but these are the easiest ways I've worked out so far.

Friendly/Aggressive: this is probably the easiest trait to train, assuming you control more than one pet. Have one pet socialize with a second pet. The second will usually immediately respond with a socialize of their own (not if they get distracted, such as greeting a sim just coming home). Praise the second pet after they socialize to train friendly, scold to train aggressive.

Neat/Piggy: also a very easy trait to train. Keep an eye on the pet's bladder motive. When it gets low enough, they'll relieve themselves. If this happens outside, praise for neat or scold for piggy. If indoors, praise for piggy or scold for neat. You can speed this up with the epic fail karma power to drop their bladder motive instantly. Use good times to set them right again, then repeat the epic fail as needed.

Destructive/Non-Destructive: another relatively easy trait to train. Keep an eye on the pet's destructive motive. When it gets low enough, they'll scratch/chew on some nearby furniture. Praise for destructive or scold for non-destructive. For cats, they may instead use a scratching post/kitty tower. Use praise for non-destructive or scold for destructive in this case. For dogs, digging will satisfy their destructive motive, so keep your dog from digging if you want to train this.

Adventurous/Skittish: this is only for cats apparently. Cats will sit on some surface-type furniture, like counters or dining tables. Praise this for adventurous or scold for skittish. Cats may also hide under some comfort-type furniture, like sofas, living chairs, or beds. Praise for skittish or scold for adventurous. Sometimes, instead of hiding under, they explore under. In this case, praise for adventurous or scold for skittish.

Playful/Proud: I have only been able to train this for cats so far. Buy a catnip mouse, ball of yarn, or similar cat toy. You can buy a storage box but this is not necessary. With the toy on the floor/ground and the cat and sim nearby, use your sim to nudge the toy. The cat should respond by playing with the toy. Praise for playful or scold for proud. You will likely have to take control of the cat and stop them from carrying the toy away once they finish playing with it, as this can become troublesome if the toy is dropped out of bounds of the lot.

So, at one point, I had my sim and one cat with friendly/neat/non-destructive/adventurous/playful trained, the other cat with aggressive/piggy/destructive/skittish/proud trained, one dog with friendly/neat/non-destructive trained, and the other dog with aggressive/piggy/destructive trained. The pets also had vocal and hunter/digger traits, but these were not trained, they either came with the traits, or developed hunter/digger on their own. That should be 16 traits trained total. I moved out the bad dog, and brought in, one after the other, four more dogs, each trained friendly before being moved out. On the fourth, which should have made for 20 traits total... nothing happened. Hence, my theory above regarding 10 and 10 different traits, and the possible need for all trained pets still in household.

If you are reading this and know of other traits that can be trained via praising/scolding, please post a reply detailing the tactics used to do so. I would imagine that hyper/lazy can be trained, but I have not witnessed pets running around on their own. I'd also imagine that vocal/quiet can be trained, but have not witnessed pets howling along to guitars or stereos on their own, nor dogs barking at stereos or refrigerators on their own. I'd imagine that playful/proud can be trained in dogs, but have not witnessed dogs playing with the rubber ball on their own. I believe some people have found that hunter/digger can be trained by praising, but I have not witnessed pets do this on their own until after already developing the trait. Less likely but also possible, perhaps loyal can be trained in dogs who catch burglars or save sims from fires, but these events are fairly rare so I have yet to attempt this. Also unlikely but perhaps possible, independent/shy could be trained when a pet runs away, but again this is a rare event and I have yet to attempt it.

I know this game likely has very few if any active players any more, but it seems that pet whisperer is the one sticking point for those few of us who still play it. Most people believe it to be bugged, and that may indeed be the case, but if we can determine how to train 4 more traits in dogs, in addition to those I described above, then that might finally make it happen. Good luck, and please post your progress/success.

I've made some progress, but also met with some discouragement. I now know how to train more than 10 different traits on cats and more than 10 different traits on dogs. Unfortunately, when I got to the 10th unique trait on dogs, which should have made for 20 total, once again nothing happened. This could mean one of three things: the pet whisperer lifetime wish may indeed be bugged and will not work under any circumstances; I may have miscounted my traits, possible because I think I may have trained a second friendly on one of the cats then scolded it away to make aggressive, which may not have counted in this matter; or, it may be necessary to have all the pets with the 20 traits between them in the household at the same time, something I did not stick to as I moved out the 'bad' cat and dog some time ago.

I had made a habit of sending my pets to the pet spa for the most expensive package, which would keep their hunger, social, energy and fun motives full for 7 days. It is also possible to buy lifetime rewards for the pets that keep their bladder and destructive motives full indefinitely. These two factors made training difficult, as independent actions are often dictated by one of the pet's motives being too low. If the pet's motives are always full, they'll never initiate the actions necessary to train some traits. Therefore, once I let the spa treatment effect lapse, I was able to discover some new training tactics in addition to the ones I described above in the previous post.

Hyper/Lazy: let your pet's fun motive get low enough that they start running around. Praise for hyper or scold for lazy (I haven't done lazy yet, but I suspect it will work this way).

Vocal/Quiet: I've only managed to do this for dogs so far. Let your pet's fun motive get very low, similar to hyper/lazy training. They won't always run around; sometimes they'll go bark at something (usually the refrigerator, possibly the stereo or tv if on, or a sim playing guitar, although I have only seen refrigerator) instead. Praise for vocal or scold for quiet (I haven't done quiet yet, but I suspect it will work this way). I suspect this can be trained for cats if there is a sim playing guitar in the area, but I haven't witnessed it yet.

Playful/Proud: this is a training tactic for dogs; see a different way for cats in the previous post. Buy a rubber ball and place it on your lot, or visit a lot that already has one, like behind the museum. Again, much like hyper or vocal training, let your pet's fun motive get very low. Instead of run around or bark at, the dog may chase after the rubber ball. Praise for playful or scold for proud (proud was supposed to be my 20th trait, see above).

Digger: only for dogs. If your dog needs to satisfy its destructive motive, if it isn't stressed out (very low fun), and if it has been taught how to dig, it may go digging on its own. Praise for digger. I don't know what would happen if you scolded instead, probably nothing. I haven't gotten this yet, but I suspect it will work this way, just need one or two more praises.

Hunter: only for cats. I suspect this would work similar to how digger works for dogs, although with a motive other than destructive, possibly hunger or fun. Haven't gotten it yet, so not confirmed but likely.

Additionally, I've noticed no opportunities to train the following traits: independent, shy, loyal (dogs only), genius. They may exist, but most people seem to agree that these traits cannot be trained, only set during creation or gained during a birthday or (sometimes) young again pet potion use. I'm not entirely convinced yet that these cannot be trained, but I'm close to it.

So, counting the techniques I outlined in this post and the previous, there are 15 different trainable traits for cats: friendly/aggressive; neat/piggy; destructive/non-destructive; adventurous/skittish (cat only); playful/proud; hyper/lazy; vocal/quiet; hunter (cat only). There are 13 different trainable traits for dogs: friendly/aggressive; neat/piggy; destructive/non-destructive; hyper/lazy; vocal/quiet; playful/proud; digger (dog only). This makes for 16 unique traits between both cats and dogs, hence my theory that the pet whisperer wish needs 10 different cat traits and 10 different dog traits trained. The only other possibility is that independent, shy, loyal and genius can be trained as well, but I don't think those 4 traits can be trained, or at least no one has discovered how yet.

I am going to try training two more pets, the latest dog, and a cat I have yet to bring in to replace the 'bad' cat I moved out, and give them the full range of bad traits. I still have the 'good' cat and dog in the household, so perhaps when all four types of pets are in the house at the same time, the wish will finally be satisfied. Probably not, but I think I'll try anyway. If it doesn't work, the only other chance at getting this challenge would be to discover how to train the 4 'untrainable' traits of independent, shy, loyal and genius.