Animal Training and Handling

I recently had a request from one of the players in my old group for animal handing and training rules so he could make a dog trainer. Obliged to make a simple set of rules that would work well in Shadowrun I turned to one of my old books, the Ranger Handbook from AD&D. Below is a modified version of that text that will allow characters to train and use different animals in Shadowrun. It does not nullify any existing rules, only expands upon them. I hope to include all animals such as trained monkeys, horses, and of course-dogs, but of course suggestions are welcome. These are the simple rules sets, at at future date I hope to add equipment lists and better animal lists.

Skills

Vetrinary Sciences: This skill is what is needed to train and command animals.
Concentrations: Specific Animal
Specializations: Handling, Training, Raising

Trainability

• None - Small mammals, snakes, fish, bugs
  These animals have no propensity for learning. Most are farily stupid and none can learn any tricks or tasks.
• Low - Herd animals, birds
  Animals with low trainabilty can learn tricks but are not tremendously good at tasks. These animals dont' make very useful guard animals.
• Medium - Canines, bears, horses
  These are the animals that are typially trained for (meta)human use because of their high intelligence. All can learn many tricks and tasks.
• High - Dolphins, primates, hell hounds
  High trainability animals are seperated from the medium group by their ability to reason through problems. They show a certain degree of creativity and some may be better than (meta)humans at certain tasks.

Reactions, Tricks, and Tasks

All reactions/tricks/tasks require an uresisted vetrinary sciences (or animal handling) roll (TN 4) plus any modifiers to get the animal to perform, unless otherwise noted. Normally a roll is not needed, but under stressful circumstances a successful test is neccisary.

All reactions, tricks, and tasks are set in the following format:
(Catagory) /ReactionTrick/Task Name (Trainability Minimum) - Description

.

• (Reaction) Attack (Low) - A resisted skill test (versus willpower) will caused the animal will violently attack indicated target until it suffers a serious wound or greater. At that time the animal will flee as withdrawl trick.
• (Trick) Bodyguard (Low) - An expanded version of attack reaction. The animal will guard any target specified by the trainer fighting side by side if neccisary. Animals performing bodyguard will watch for danger, warn the person they are guarding (bark, tweet, etc.) then attack the source of danger.
• (Trick) Carry Rider (Low) - Animal will alow the handler to ride and control direction. This does not allow stunt moves, or movement greater than a trot.
• (Reaction) Come (Low) - Animal runs to handler at maximum speed and stops a few feet short.
• (Task) Complex Chore (High) - A complex chore is any skill that would require complex decision making. Examples are, using electronics, building fires, and household chores. Each chore is a seperate skill.
• (Trick) Fetch (Low) - Animal will retrive a specified object (shown to animal before throwing/hiding) and bring it back to the handler. The animal will search no more than 30 minutes before it gets bored.
• (Trick) Heel (Low) - Animal trails trainer at specified distance mimicing movements. Animal must learn come and stay before learning this truck.
• (Task) Lookout (High) - Animal will act as point or will guard without a controlling handler, watching for danger. When danger is sensed the animal will warn their handler.
• (Task) Retrive (Medium) - An expanded version of fetch. Animal will search for an object in a given category until told to stop. Each category is a seperate task. Examples of categories are drugs, explosives, (meta)humans, or food. The object to be found must be within the abilities of the animal (a color blind dog cannot search for red things).
• (Trick) Sit (Low) - This skill includes all variants of having an animal stay in one place until commanded to move, such as standing, playing dead, and rolling over. Each is a seperate trick to learn.
• (Trick) Speak (Low) - Animal will make its natural sound when commanded.
• (Reaction) Stay (Low) - Animal does not move for 2D6 rounds then continues whatever it was doing.
• (Task) Stunt Riding (High) - Stunt Riding allows the animal to perform complex manuvers with a rider (or alone if neccisary). Speeds when carrying a rider can exceed a trot, and animals are capable of performing any trick they are physicaly able to do.
• (Task) Track (Medium) - Animals that can track by scent can follow any creature specified by the handler. The handler must provide some source of smell or the animal must already be familar with the creature to be tracked. An animal with the tracking task learned can add +2 perception dice when tracking their prey.
• (Task) Weapon Use (High) - If an animal is capable, they can be trained to use a weapon correctly, gaining the appropriate skill.
• (Reaction) Withdraw (Low) - Animal flees at maximum speed for 1D6 combat turns.

Learning Abilities

First it must be determined what can be learned by an animal. Roll at time of animal creation to determine how many skills can be learned. Use the following guidelines based on trainability.
Maximum Number of Skills Guidlines

Trainability	Reactions	Tricks	Tasks
No Trainability	-	-	-
Low Trainability	1D6/2+1	1D6+2	1D6/3
Medium Trainability	All	*	*
High Trainability	All	**	**

* Any combination of tricks and tasks to 1D6+2
** Any combination of tricks and tasks to 2D6+3

Training Time

Trainability	Reactions	Tricks	Tasks
No Trainability	-	-	-
Low Trainability	1D6 weeks	1D6+2 weeks	10 weeks
Medium Trainability	1D6/2 weeks	2D3 weeks	8 weeks
High Trainability	1D6/2 weeks	1D6/2 weeks	6 weeks

Training requires 2 hours of training activity per day until the task is learned. The handler then rolls his training skill to have an animal learn any ability. The target number on this roll is 4 plus any modifiers determined by GM. If unsuccessful the animal can never learn the skill, if successful the animal will learn the trick after a certain number of days. To determine the time required divide the base time by the number of successes.

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