Harvest Moon: Winds of Anthos – a guide to canines

GHENT, WV (WVNS) – Harvest Moon, Story of Seasons, and even Rune Factory are all games of the same vein that each boast an impressive roster of animal companions to be befriended and recruited by the player.

One of the most recent installments, Harvest Moon: Winds of Anthos, is no different in this regard. While playing, you can tame up to five pets to live inside of your house. While five may seem like more than enough (and it likely would be if you were adopting pets in real life), you will likely find yourself agonizing over which ones to pick and which to heavy-heartedly leave behind.

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Admittedly, the game does allow you the chance to tame a creature, release it, and then find that creature out in the wild again and immediately bring it back home, but most Harvest Moon players likely want to keep their pets with them at home the whole time. That said, let us take a look at some of the options.

Dogs usually make an appearance in a Harvest Moon title and this time is no different. There are four types of collies that appear in the game: the border collie, the gray border collie, the black and tan border collie, and the merle border collie. The first two can be bought at the Lectenbury Animal Shop and provide one stamina heart if you pet them.

Lectenbury is the starting town so it makes sense that the ability seems rather lackluster. Although, that said, players may find that the regeneration of even a single stamina heart will make quite the difference in the early hours of gameplay before they have collected enough power wisps to permanently expand their maximum stamina hearts.

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The black and tan border collie has a similar ability except it restores two stamina hearts rather than one. You can buy the black and tan version at the Providence Animal Shop. Of note is you will be seeing the difference in that collie’s ability in its price tag as well. The first two collies cost 1,500 gold each, but the black and tan version will cost you a whopping 6,000 gold to take home.

The final collie is the merle collie. It has the very nice ability that allows it to recover three stamina hearts upon being pet. While this dog is quite adorable and its ability is rather nice, it may not be 12,000 gold adorable to some players. To add to that, it only appears in shops after reaching the 4th cultural level with the Providence town.

Maybe you don’t want a collie though! That’s perfectly fine because the game offers you four choices of shelties too!

You can pick the sheltie (the base version), the gray sheltie, the black and tan sheltie, or the merle sheltie. As you can tell, they follow a similar pattern as the collies. The first sheltie, a rather cute brown variant, has the same ability as the first two collies and will restore one stamina heart upon being pet. It also boasts the same price tag at 1,500 gold. You can pick up this furry friend in Herbstburg. The gray sheltie is also available in Herbstburg but doesn’t appear in the shop until you reach the 4th cultural level there. It has the same ability and price tag, but is a different color.

Like the black and tan collie, the black and tan sheltie will cost the player 6,000 gold to acquire and has the ability to heal two stamina hearts when it is pet. A rather unfortunate bit of news if you want this variant of the sheltie early on is that it is available in Zimagrad. That means you will have to brave the snow area and face the increased stamina reduction to find the village first.

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The merle sheltie is also available in Zimagrad but not before getting the town to its 4th cultural level. This pup also restores three stamina hearts and will cost the player 12,000 gold to acquire.

Pivoting to a completely different style of dog, Harvest Moon: Winds of Anthos also has a collection of cute and cuddly corgis! There’s the pembroke welsh corgi which is available in Providence. This little cutie will recover three hearts for you and costs 12,000 gold. At least it is not locked behind a cultural level though!

Scaled down versions of the pembroke welsh corgi also exist for those looking to be a bit more frugal or who would like a different color of pup. There is the cray cardigan welsh corgi and the regular cardigan welsh corgi. Both are available in Lilikaka, cost 1,500 gold, and can restore one stamina heart. Hilariously, another toned down version of the corgi exists and this one is locked behind Lilikala’s 4th cultural level. It is the black and tan welsh corgi. Whenever you do get that cultural level up, it can recover two stamina hearts and will cost you 6,000 gold. Unless you want it for aesthetic, you may just be better off going for the pembroke welsh corgi to be honest.

Finally, there is also a merle cardigan welsh corgi. This one can recover three hearts, but will put you out 12,000 gold and requires you to get to Likikala’s 5th cultural level.

However, if you’re going to be dropping some major gold on a dog and don’t mind getting a place to that high of a cultural level, you might just want to invest in the final pup on the list – the bernese mountain dog. This fluffy little guy can recover four hearts of stamina for you when you cuddle with it and it is not that much more expensive than the three heart recovery dogs. It will cost you 15,000 and enough time to get Zimagrad to cultural level 5.

All of these dogs are not available in the wild, but the DLC adds an extra option that is exclusively available by taming.

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The akita is one of the animals from the animal avalanche DLC. It can be found in the wild in the Herbstburg region during the day (that’s before 7 P.M. in this game). Petting it can recover three stamina hearts. To be honest, if money is an issue for you in the game and you are set on a dog, this is likely the easiest route you can take. Once you know how to tame the animals (sneak up on them, pet them, feed them a treat, rinse and repeat for a couple of days), it is not all that difficult to tame a new furry friend.

While all of these domesticated options are cute as can be, part of the fun of video games is the fantasy. For Harvest Moon: Winds of Anthos, part of that fantasy is owning animals you otherwise could not!

There are other, less than domesticated canines on the list that you can take home with you to be your pet in the game.

Actually, one of the very first creatures you may encounter is the fox. The basic fox sports the usual orange, black, and white design. The fox has a nifty ability in that it can bring you mushrooms. This does not sound all that amazing on the surface until you are desperately trying to piece together enough items with either hot or cold resistance effects for your volcano or winter area excursions. When you need those effects, suddenly the fox seems kind of handy. Albeit not as effective as just having those items stored up from foraging for a few days, but, hey, beggars can’t be choosers. The fox is, shockingly, a daytime animal. It can be found in almost all the areas with its absence only being noted in the desert, volcano, and Lilikala areas.

The more rare variant is the white fox. This fox also retrieves mushrooms, but its haul will be the more rare fungi. This fox appears at night and appears near specific Harvest Goddess warp statues across the north and south of the map.

Coyotes, dingoes, and wolves also appear across the map. Each will retrieve fish, but different types depending on the animal. Coyotes will present their owner with piranha, sardines, mosquitofish, and crucian carp. Dingoes drop off arowana, walleye, and tiger prawn. Wolves bring cod, lobster, seabass, and dorado.

The dingoes appear mostly in the desert and flatland regions at night. You might think wolves would be a rare creature but they actually appear many places across the map at night.

Coyotes can be found during the day or night. They appear frequently in the Herbstburg and Rocky Backroads.

While not everyone is going to pick up a canine during their playthrough, they certainly make for cute companions! Which was your pet during your first playthrough or which dog are you aiming to get? Personally, my favorite “dog” is my sea otter.

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