If you can’t have a dog in real life, get one in The Sims 4. Of course, you need the Cats & Dogs expansion pack to do that.
Unfortunately, dogs may sometimes act confused and refuse to play with your Sim. This unexpected behavior can be very confusing. After all, all dogs play. That’s in their nature.
The problem is that you use the “Play” interaction, nothing happens and a balloon with a question mark pop up over your dog’s head. This indicates your pet doesn’t understand the command.
If you use the same interaction again, a question mark shows up over your Sim’s head indicating they’re confused by their dog’s behavior.
Why won’t my dog play in The Sims 4?
If your dog won’t play, use friendly interactions to level up the friendship bar. Wait until you become good friends with your pet and then use the “Play” interaction again.
If your dog has the Couch Potato trait, it won’t respond to the “Play” interaction. Dogs with this trait are pretty lazy. Sitting on the couch all day long is a lot more interesting than playing with your Sim.
Dogs that are scared, fearful, or sad will refuse to play. Wait until the negative emotion is gone and try again later.
By the way, dogs may sometimes run away when they’re scared. Rest assured, they typically return after a few days.
If the dog won’t play indoors, go to the local park and check if you can play with your pet there.
Go back to your apartment or house and check if the Play option works. Equally important, play with your pet in an area where there’s a lot of free space.
Make sure your dog has enough room to play and run.
Remove mods and repair your game
If you suspect this is a technical glitch, move the Mods folder to your desktop and delete the localthumbcache.package file in the game folder.
Then, go to your Origin Library, right-click on The Sims 4, and select Repair Game. Wait until Origin repairs your game files and launch The Sims 4 again.
The game will automatically create a new mods folder when you launch it again. You can add your mods back into the Mods folder one at a time.
Check each time to see which item is causing the glitch.
Hope something helps.