[NEEDS SAVES] [CD] Smart Dog never learns to go potty outside (No Message)

Question

Product: The Sims 4Platform:PCWhich language are you playing the game in?  EnglishHow often does the bug occur?  Every time (100%)What is your current game version number?  1.72.28.1030What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed?  SO MANY OMG. All expansion packs, all game packs except Journey to Batuu, all stuff packs except Laundry Day, Backyard, Luxury Party, and... I think there's one more. No kits.Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves?  Have a smart dog, train him or her, live with them for weeks and weeks and weeks, tell them to go potty whenever they start following you around the house and whimpering.What happens when the bug occurs?  I get a popup claiming that if I tell my dog to go potty they'll eventually learn to do it by themselves, but this never happens. I've told her to go potty probably a hundred times by now.What do you expect to see?  I expect that if I get a popup telling me that if I tell my dog to go potty they'll eventually learn to do it by themselves, that they might eventually learn to go potty by themselves before they die of old age. Have you installed any customization with the game, e.g. Custom Content or Mods?  YesDid this issue appear after a specific patch or change you made to your system?  Neutral/Not Sure&nbsp;
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I can't tell you precisely when this started, because once upon a time, a long long time ago, I had an elder dog that was potty trained and I fed him an age down treat and he never was able to go potty by himself again.&nbsp; He also couldn't find the multiple food dishes scattered around the house and apparently was almost taken away for neglect because he couldn't find food with five kibble towers scattered around the house. I'm honestly more of a cat lady anyway, so I decided that Sim dogs were adorable but too much work and I just wouldn't have any more.

However, my Super Sim needed to max all skills including pet training, so it was second dog ever time!&nbsp; My new dog can find food dishes, hooray! but I've had her for a VERY LONG TIME in game and she cannot go potty by herself, no matter how many times people tell her to go potty.&nbsp;

It turns out that both dogs in question are smart.&nbsp; There used to be a bug about that.&nbsp; https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/FIXED-CD-Smart-Dog-will-not-go-potty-unless-directed/m-p/6423605/highlight/true#M51198

I've just retraited my current dog and will let you know if she becomes able to go potty by herself.&nbsp; In the meantime, every time I get that popup I'll continue to shout "IT'S A LIE! A LIE!" at the screen.&nbsp; 😉&nbsp;

Infuriatingly, we were visiting the Heckings and I told Rosie to go potty ONCE and got the popup that she's learned to potty by herself, so I know it happens, just NOT FOR ME or my dogs!

Edit By Crinrict:&nbsp;Added Tag to Title, adjusted title

jonao703 · Answer

@xochiquetzl_xkvn&nbsp;Hi!&nbsp; Just to add a bit of an update, I watched my "smart" dog over a number of days and she never got the "learned potty" notification but I observed her going potty outside.&nbsp; I kept a close eye on her and not once have I observed her going potty inside.&nbsp; I do think it's strange that there is no notification for it though and so it likely is a bug that should be addressed.

xochiquetzl_xkvn · Answer

I'll try that, thank you, and will let you know.&nbsp; The first dog was a vanilla game with testing cheats disabled, but that was some time ago.&nbsp;

(I don't have anything crazy; the only thing not in the hero-approved mods post is the Iced Cream hybrid stabilizer, but I'll still try it.)

Okay, brand new save.

So, I not only disabled mods and custom content, I dragged my mods folder out to the desktop.&nbsp; This is a vanilla game.&nbsp; No mods.

I have a rando Sim (Athena DogLady) with the Geek, Dog Lover, and Loves the Outdoors traits (I modified a Sim from story mode).&nbsp; She got the business career from story mode, but I decided that she needed a work from home job so she could spend more time with her dogs. Two.&nbsp; A test dog, and a control dog.

Our test subject, Spot, henceforth known as Smart Dog, has the traits Smart, Loyal, and Friendly.
Our control subject, Fido, henceforth known as Control Dog, has the traits Glutton, Loyal, and Friendly.

I intentionally created them with only one different trait (one is Smart).&nbsp;

We started our completely vanilla game in a tiny house with the lot traits Home Studio, Study Spot, and Training Ground, but the adorable tiny house I downloaded off the gallery was COMPLETELY NONFUNCTIONAL so I bulldozed the lot and built my own, which apparently removed the lot traits (oops).&nbsp; So no lot traits.&nbsp; (I just put them back.)&nbsp;

We started our game on the first day of Spring, a Sunday.&nbsp; On Tuesday at 9pm, I got the popup that Control Dog had learned to pee outside.&nbsp; I've continued to play for over a week and Smart Dog has yet to generate the same popup.&nbsp; There are also random puddles appearing on the floor and I'm not sure where they're coming from, and at one point I discovered dog poop on the floor (indoors) but I didn't see which dog did it. I do regularly tell Smart Dog to go potty.&nbsp;

Both dogs are able to flawlessly run an obstacle course, and can sit.&nbsp; Rando Human has been putting a lot of attention into her freelance career to support her dogs in the style to which they would like to become accustomed,&nbsp;😉&nbsp;and since they're both loyal they would rather she pay attention to them all day, alas.&nbsp;

How long do I need to play before I decide I'm just not going to get a popup telling me that Smart Dog has learned to pee outside?&nbsp;

[Edited to Add:&nbsp; Okay.&nbsp; So.&nbsp; Smart Dog circled the ground outside with the fire hydrant thought bubble, then peed with the smart dog icon in the thought bubble.&nbsp; (He was already outdoors.)&nbsp; So I honestly don't know whether he's not learning to go outside, or whether he learned but I don't ever get a popup.&nbsp; I also still don't know where the puddles are coming from.&nbsp; Either way, it's a week in game since Control Dog got his "learned to pee outside" popup, so I give up on Smart Dog getting one.]
Annnnd, back in my modded save, where I retraited my dog from Smart to Loyal?&nbsp; I asked her to go potty maybe two or three times, and...

As a smart dog, I can't even tell you how long she's been alive and how many times she's been told because I used MCCC to mark her as Immortal.&nbsp; (Sorry, I have enough sick and dying pets in my life and don't need them in my game.&nbsp; I play to escape that kind of thing.)&nbsp; Probably a year, with four week seasons.&nbsp;

As a loyal dog?&nbsp; Three times.

I feel confident that the problem is the Smart trait.

(merged a few post) - Atic&nbsp;

stjmk · Answer

@xochiquetzl_xkvn All of my dogs are smart dogs, because, hey, who doesn't have intellectual conversations with their dogs? And I never knew that pop-up was even a thing.

But they all go "outside" to do their business (although, some porches can be iffy on the inside/outside thing). I just figured that smart dogs were so smart that house-training them was a piece of cake.

Honestly, if the pop-up is a thing, smart dogs should get it after being told once! Because, aside from my pets being immortal, that's actually pretty realistic.

jonao703 · Answer

@xochiquetzl_xkvn&nbsp;Hi!&nbsp;I tried this in my test save, over 5 sim days.&nbsp; I do believe there is a bug with not getting the "learned" notification&nbsp;but I'm not sure about whether or not the dog actually did learn to go potty.&nbsp; The first two days, my sim had one dog with smart, active, and friendly traits. On the third day, I added another dog with couch potato, friendly and loyal traits. I had my sim ask them to go potty three times a day. The "smart" dog learned how to sit, heel and rollover and received learned notifications.&nbsp; She did not receive the learned potty notification after 15 attempts. The "not smart" dog received the learned to potty notification after two days and only 6 attempts. I did observe the "not smart" dog go outside to potty after that.Here's the thing, though.&nbsp; I kept watching over the next couple days, without giving the potty command. I wasn't sure because the "smart" dog was outside going potty. Then she pooed on the porch.&nbsp; This was on the Daisy Hovel lot in Willow Creek.&nbsp; Does the game consider a porch as "outside" even when it's covered?&nbsp; The porch has no ceiling so probably.&nbsp; Later, I observed the "smart" dog have the fire hydrant thought bubble and immediately went down the stairs and off the porch to pee.&nbsp; So, it kind of seems like maybe she did learn to go outside even though I never got the "learned" notification.&nbsp; I'm going to keep an eye on this for a while longer and will post any updates.

xochiquetzl_xkvn · Answer

@crinrictYeah, at this point I'm very confident that smart dogs don't get the popup, and less so that they don't actually learn.

Alas.&nbsp; I retraited my dog back to smart, and her icon has the red "uncomfortable" color, and...

(CM: Multiple&nbsp;posts merged. Check out&nbsp;this post&nbsp;for tips on how to edit and add more to a post.)

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[NEEDS SAVES] [CD] Smart Dog never learns to go potty outside (No Message)

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