The Dog House - Dog or Alive Slot Review
One of the most beloved franchises, Pragmatic Play’s Dog House IP has a total of five games. In our The Dog House – Dog or Alive review, we are going to unpack the Western take on this dog-themed game. It has some nice things going for it, such as an interesting theme and a solid 10,000x max win potential. But there are caveats. For example, you might prefer the jackpot in The Dog House Megaways instead.
The Dog House - Dog or Alive
The Dog House – Dog or Alive RTP and Wagering
The Dog House – Dog or Alive slot is set across a 5-reel, 3-row layout, with 20 fixed paylines. This structure allows you to form winning combinations by landing three or more matching symbols on adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost reel. With a minimum bet of £0.20 and a maximum of £240 per spin, this slot game has a flexible wagering range suited for both casual players and high-stakes enthusiasts.
Before this, the initial Dog House slot, the Megaways, and the Multihold titles all had a bet range of £0.2 to £100 only. The reels were also all over the place. The Dog House – Dog or Alive is a consolidated and better version that came out on March 28, 2024. Pragmatic Play has released another title in the series very recently—Muttley Crew on October 2, 2024, offering cluster pays and a 5x5 layout.
Back to our current topic. The game has an RTP range (like all five games in the series) with the highest setting at 96.52%, which is slightly above the industry average. For those using the feature buy option, the RTP nudges up to 96.54%, providing a marginal boost for instant access to the Free Spins round. As a high-volatility slot, payouts may be infrequent, but they can be substantial when they do hit.
The max win, though rare, is a handsome 10,000x your stake.
Best Casinos to Play The Dog House – Dog or Alive
There are many casinos in the UK featuring this game. We have selected the best online slot sites for you:
Spin Genie
New Player Offer
100% up to £100
+ 65 Spins on Book of Dead
Genting Casino
Get 100% up to £150
+ 50 Spins on
Big Bass Bonanza
The Hippodrome Online Casino
Up to £100 Welcome Bonus
+ 100 Free Spins
The Dog House – Dog or Alive Symbols and Audio & Video Design
It is a nice mix of the Western tropes and the world of pets. The game takes you to a dusty frontier town in the Wild West, where lovable canines don cowboy hats and sheriff badges. The entirety of the Dog House series is pretty vibrant with the game’s reels set against a wooden backdrop complete with bullet holes in this one. You know, the typical classic Western feel. Everything is accompanied by a catchy, upbeat soundtrack with a country twang playing in the background.
Symbols include lower-paying card icons (10, J, Q, K, A) designed in a rugged wooden style, while higher-paying symbols feature classic dog accessories like bones and collars. The four canine characters, each with their unique charm, provide higher payouts, with the Rottweiler sheriff offering the biggest rewards. The Wild symbol is represented by a sheriff’s badge, appearing on reels 2, 3, and 4, and carries a random multiplier of x2 or x3, which can combine for even bigger payouts. The Scatter symbol is a vault that can land on reels 1, 3, and 5, triggering the Free Spins feature.
Here’s a quick look at the symbol payouts:
As is clear, this is a high volatility game. The 3x and 4x values are very low compared to medium volatility slots but the 5x values are several times higher. The middle symbols (Pug, Dachshund, Collar, and Bone) offer values in line with the majority of slot games but have a higher payout for 5x. Suits of cards also follow that pattern but their total payouts are extremely small, comparatively. A high volatility slot game is not for everybody.
Ten
3 = 0.1x stake / 4 = 0.25x stake / 5 = 1.25x stake
Jack
3 = 0.1x stake / 4 = 0.25x stake / 5 = 1.25x stake
Queen
3 = 0.1x stake / 4 = 0.25x stake / 5 = 1.25x stake
King
3 = 0.25x stake / 4 = 0.5x stake / 5 = 2.5x stake
Ace
3 = 0.25x stake / 4 = 0.5x stake / 5 = 2.5x stake
Bone
3 = 0.4x stake / 4 = 1x stake / 5 = 5x stake
Collar
3 = 0.6x stake / 4 = 1.25x stake / 5 = 7.5x stake
Dachshund
3 = 1x stake / 4 = 2x stake / 5 = 10x stake
Pug
3 = 1.25x stake / 4 = 3x stake / 5 = 15x stake
Shih Tzu
3 = 1.75x stake / 4 = 5x stake / 5 = 25x stake
Sheriff Rottweiler
3 = 2.5x stake / 4 = 7.5x stake / 5 = 37.5x stake
The Dog House – Dog or Alive Mobile Features
The five reels take up all the screen real estate. The controls are legible and easy to tap. The animations are smooth. The layout rearranges pretty neatly on mobile screens (for example, the Buy Free Spins banner goes from left on the desktop to below the reels on mobile). All in all, Pragmatic Play has done an excellent job in optimising the game for mobile, which is the case with all Dog House and the majority of the provider’s games in general.
The Dog House – Dog or Alive Bonus Features
Dog House games are well-known to carry good bonus features. Dog or Alive is no different. There are three features here that we will break down below.
Free Spins Feature
The Free Spins feature in The Dog House is one of the main attractions. You can trigger this feature by landing three or more scatter symbols represented by the Dog House anywhere on the reels. Once activated, players are awarded 12 free spins. During the Free Spins, wild symbols can appear on the reels, expanding to cover entire reels. Needless to say, this increases the chances of landing winning combinations significantly. The potential winnings from this feature can be quite substantial, especially with the added wilds.
Sticky Wilds Feature
Sticky Wilds are triggered during the Free Spins round when wild symbols land on the reels. These wilds stick in place for the duration of the free spins, paving the way for big wins as they can help create multiple winning combinations. The idea here is simple—even if you do not land additional wilds, the existing ones will remain in play, thus giving you multiple chances to win.
Bonus Buy Feature
For players looking to skip ahead to the action, The Dog House offers a Bonus Buy feature. Using this, you can purchase direct access to the Free Spins round for a specified cost. Sometimes, it is a good idea to bypass the base game and jump straight into the excitement of the free spins. But you have to be careful—it does not always work out and folks often lose more money on these features than the rest of the base game.
The Dog House – Dog or Alive Final Thoughts
Another excellent game in the franchise, Dog or Alive is a Western twist to the Dog House world of rottweilers and dachshunds that we never thought we needed. It is a solid game with a decent RTP, several nice bonus games, and a long-standing reputation as one of the best paying high-volatility games from Pragmatic Play.
Rating: 8 (Very Good)
I would have easily given it 8.5 or even 9 if it had a smaller difference between the 3x, 4x payouts and the top, 5x payout. High volatility does not always mean you have to create such a big gap. But well, this is what the Dog House franchise is known for. Also, the Bonus Buy features can create problems for a lot of people. But apart from all that, The Dog House – Dog or Alive is an interesting and thoroughly enjoyable slot game that definitely deserves its reputation as one of the most popular slot games on leading online casinos in the UK.
If you like The Dog House – Dog or Alive, then check out these other Animal Theme slot games
The Dog House – Dog or Alive FAQ
These are some common questions about The Dog House – Dog or Alive.
