1. Genotypes. For ease of generating pups and to encourage accuracy, every dog will have a genotype, and it must be accurate to your dog's breeds. You MUST have your character's genotype displayed, but you do not have to do it yourself, as staff is happy to do it for you. There's a channel in our discord server under "Maintenance", called #genetics, where you can ask for help. There's also a thread you can go to for help.

Tools and References:

— Punnet Square (work in progress, go to file > make a copy to edit)

— Dog Genetics Documentation (they have a summary of the series here)

— Calculator (has a list of images you can click to get the genotype, but it doesn't have the full range of genotypes available)

2. Breed categories. The dogs of MUS are mutts, so it’s hard to determine the breed of an individual dog due to the amount of interbreeding and diversity over generations. However, to make things simpler the dogs are categorized based on appearance and proficiency. Every dog has 2-3 breeds in the breed breakdown to determine their color, weight, height, and appearance. For reference, check AKC to see how your desired breeds might effect your character’s appearance. Currently, your character cannot be a wolfdog, and they cannot be purebred.

— Hound: foxhound, beagle, greyhound, bloodhounds, borzoi, wolfhound, deerhound, elkhound, coonhounds, sloughi, saluki… (+1 WIS, +1 CON) AKC hound category.

— Terrier: Airedale terrier, pitbull, Staffordshire bull terrier… (+1 CON, +1 STR) AKC terrier category.

— Working: Dalmatian, poodle, schnauzer, boxer, rottweiler, malamute, husky, shiba inu, akita, doberman, great dane… (+1 STR, +1 CON) AKC working category.

— Pastoral: Rough collie, border collie, sheepdog, Australian cattle dog, German shepherd, malinois, Belgian shepherd… (+1 WIS, +1 CHA) AKC pastoral category.

— Retriever: Spaniels, golden retriever, labrador retriever, pointers, setters, vizsla, weimaraner… (+1 CHA, +1 STR) AKC retriever category.

3. Breed breakdowns. You must break up your dog’s genetic percentage based on the number of breeds they have, the highest percentage (or the highest number of similarities to the breed category if the percentage is even) will be your dog’s breed category. It all has to add up to 100%.

Example 1: Dalmatian 20%, German Shepherd 30%, Border Collie 50%, since the percentage of Border Collie is highest this is a Pastoral dog.

Example 2: Brittany Spaniel 50%, Poodle 50%, since the percentage is even and my dog has more similarities to the Working category, this is a Working dog.

4. Height/Weight. These are vast estimates based on a rough glance at the AKC website, which you should check to accurately narrow down your character’s height and weight.* It greatly depends on which breeds you select if you have a character that was born off-site.

— Hound: ♂/♀ 13-32 in | ♂/♀ 20-120 lbs

— Terrier: ♂/♀ 15-22 in | ♂/♀ 17-75 lbs

— Working: ♂ 21-32 in ♀ 20-30 in | ♂ 45-175 lbs ♀ 35-140 lbs

— Pastoral: ♂ 13-25 in ♀ 12-24 in | ♂/♀ 20-110 lbs

— Retriever: ♂ 15-27 in ♀ 14-25 in | ♂/♀ 20-95 lbs

* Due to the low chance of survivability in the wild, toy sized dogs are not permitted.

5. Tails, ears, and coat types. Hover to see examples. Note that the tails and ears are based solely on shape/length, your dog's ears and tail might look different due to their fur type.

* If your character's tail, ears, coat, or eyes change at any time do not change their tail/ear/coat/eye types from their original, as they still apply to your dog genetically. If something changes, write it in the Appearance Notes field, as cut ears/tails/scars count as cosmetic changes.

— Coat Types: Wirehair, Sleek, Silky, Wooly, Double, Hairless

— Ears: Floppy, Long, Perked, Folded

* Your character cannot have cropped ears. It doesn't make sense without humans around to crop their ears for them.

— Tails: Long, Stub, Medium

6. Eye colors.

— Brown: Common/default eye color.

— Hazel: Commonly caused by liver.

— Amber: Commonly caused by a dilute such as blue or isabella, but can also be caused by liver.

— Blue: Commonly caused by merle or spread by Siberian Huskies.

— Multi (Blue/Brown): Commonly caused by merle.

7. Age. The youngest your starter character can be is 7 months old. Characters will die of old age at 13 years. Your character will age up by month, so keep an eye on the date! Your character will only start actively aging once they've been set to active, so don't worry about them dying of old age while they're still in approval.