As a dog + cat trainer and owner of working animals, I would love to see a more advanced system for raising and training animals.
-4 life stages for cats and dogs, including kitten/puppy (basic socialization and early training available, but mainly bonding and play focused), adolescent (The rebellious phase when they need the most direction from owners.), adult (Mature and focused, behaviours are more set in stone now), and senior (More naps, less play, may regress in certain aspects of training for dogs.)
-Consequences for poor training. (Example: A dog that wasn’t socialized properly with other dogs, or Zois, it will pull on a leash, get into fights with other dogs, or attack Zois if let out, and bark every time someone’s at the door or if another dog walks by. This will cause your Zoi to be fined for noise complaints if they live in a neighborhood/city due to constant barking, or potentially have their dog taken away if it gets into too many fights or attacks other Zois. Example for cats: A cat that wasn’t taught not to claw, or wasn’t socialized with strangers, will be aggressive at the vet or hide when people come over, it may claw furniture and ruin the value of the items in your Zois home.)
-Advanced traits and animal personalities. I think it would be really cool to make the pets unique and act more like the breed they are, so more options for traits would be amazing. But ultimately, I think core behaviours should be determined more by the environment and how the animal is raised, much like real life. A system could be implemented where pets have optional milestones to accomplish in their youth for training, and if you don’t do them, it affects the behaviour of the animal when it ages. (Milestones could be ‘Successfully had the puppy go potty outside’, ’ Corrected biting during playtime’, or ‘Stopped the kitten from clawing the couch.’)
-Huge selection of dog and cat breeds, ranging from small to massive. A big issue I had with Sims was the lack of breeds and how some of the animals looked nothing like the breed they were supposed to be. More advanced tools for customizing tail, ear, face, and eye shape, as well as fur length and texture, would be incredible.
-(Optional due to complexity, but would be cool) Dog-related events and careers. You zois could bring an adolescent or older dog to a dock diving competition, a group dog walk/jog event through the town, or a bitework/protection training facility for working breed dogs, or police k9’s. And for careers, I think being a k9 unit police officer, a vet, a dog or cat trainer, would all be very cool live careers.