What is In The Doghouse?
In The Doghouse is a pet-themed logic puzzle game developed by Nitrome. The central goal is to guide a hungry pup through a messy household by shifting rooms around to clear a walkway toward bones and the room exit. Instead of steering the pet directly across the floor, you slide entire chambers like tiles on a board to construct connected pathways. The game runs free in desktop web browsers without requiring any installation.
Key features
- Sliding chamber layout: Rearrange domestic hallways and living areas to connect disconnected sections of the home.
- Strict vacancy constraint: Shift only empty rooms, meaning any space holding the pet remains locked until vacated.
- Bone guidance system: Direct the pup along open corridors by dropping a bone where you want the animal to walk.
- Elevator transit: Use working elevators to transport the dog vertically between different floors of the house.
- Desktop mouse input: Handle room rearrangement and bone placement entirely through mouse interactions.
- Treat collection: Help the dog retrieve lost snacks and playthings on the way toward the doorway.
How to play
- Examine the house layout to locate the starting point of the dog and the final exit door.
- Find open slots where neighboring empty rooms can slide into place.
- Drag empty chambers using the mouse to create an open corridor between rooms.
- Drop the bone along the newly connected path so the pup walks forward.
- Direct the pet into an elevator whenever travel to another floor is required.
- Lead the pup into the final doorway to complete the stage.
Controls
| Action | Keyboard / mouse |
|---|---|
| Shift rooms | Drag empty rooms with the mouse |
| Place bone | Drop the bone using the mouse |
Room rearrangement mechanics
Each stage presents the house as a grid of chambers containing doorways, elevators, and toys. Players cannot slide rooms that contain the dog, which means room movement and animal pathfinding must alternate carefully. Moving an empty chamber next to an occupied room creates a passage for the pet to cross. Once the dog steps into the newly attached room, previous areas become empty and eligible to move again. Elevators allow vertical travel across floors, providing links when horizontal doorways do not align.
Tips and strategy
- Plan routes before placing treats: Moving empty rooms into position before calling the pup prevents trapping the dog in dead ends.
- Keep the dog stationary during setup: Leave the bone near the pet until passages across multiple rooms are properly aligned.
- Use elevators to swap elevations: Line up elevator shafts across floors so the dog can smoothly move up or down without getting stuck.
- Remember the vacancy rule: A room holding the dog cannot budge, so guide the animal into an adjacent space before attempting to move that chamber.
Similar games
If you enjoy spatial puzzles and mouse-driven challenges, take a look at these titles:
- Pull My Tongue: A physics puzzle game about stretching a hungry tongue to collect treats.
- Energy: A clean logic puzzle where you rotate loop components to form electric connections.
- Traffic Escape!: A grid puzzle about clearing congested traffic by clicking vehicles in sequence.
Nitrome also created classic titles such as Gunbrick, Cheese Dreams, and Canopy.
Developer and history
In The Doghouse was developed by Nitrome. Originally released as a classic Flash browser title, it was later updated to modern HTML 5 to remain playable on current desktop web browsers.
