While it’s a travesty that you can’t pet any of the dogs in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, you can, at least, feed them. If you do, some of the good pups will lead Link to buried treasure. This has become the premise for one of the most adorable speedrun categories I’ve ever seen.
“All Dog Treasures” attempts to feed the secret-wielding canines in record time. The current world record clocks in at 1:35:51, and it’s held by Twitch streamer Vivoxe as of last month. The play through has some of the bread and butter techniques you’d expect in any given speedrun of the game; Link clips through walls, he uses his shield to bounce off enemies to gather great speed on his glider, and he also whistles while running. But Vivoxe is bee-lining to all the various stables and villages that have dogs in them, rather than dungeons, trials, or enemies. (Well, this is true after he grabs all the major abilities, such as Stasis and Bombs — which occurs at about 17 minutes in.)
To accomplish this feat, Vivoxe basically clears a couple of forests to collect enough apples and wood. Once he finds the necessary Good Boy, he’s somewhat at the whims of the dog. Sometimes, the pups will take a while to recognize there are treats in front of them, or they’ll eat a couple while ignoring the rest of the fruit. He also has to worry about how he drops the apples, because sometimes they won’t roll in the right direction. These are hilarious minuscule considerations that you never see in standard BOTW speed runs.
Perhaps the most ridiculous part of this speed run is that Vivoxe has to buy a house and then build Tarry Town — residents and all — just to feed the final dog. Now that’s dedication.