Played this for a few minutes on a complete whim because I was in the mood for a humble vidcon about a simulated aminal. Nothing mindblowing, but surprisingly cute! Pet games are essentially desktop toys where you throw objects into the digital pet's playpen as you watch them react with canned animations and stat ups. Dogz gba seems to revolve more around the player character living their life while a new pet has been introduced to their family, so you're doing daily child chores while balancing dog duties. This level of context to the game does wonders, and as a dogless child, I'd probably be all over it for the placebo effect tbh. Also, the sprites are adorable. I aww'd at every little thing my character did as I excitedly explored the house looking for interactibles.
Hand on heart believe that this game's exact formula but gr8ly expanded could be the next halo killer.