Stardew Valley Update 1.6 Making Change to Pets

Stardew Valley is about to make it easier to get pets to move out of the way. This quality-of-life improvement will be part of the 1.6 update that is scheduled to reach Stardew Valley in a few days' time.

Eric 'ConcernedApe' Barone had originally announced the next major patch for his hit farming sim in April 2023. Over the following year, the Seattle-based developer teased a number of features planned to be incorporated into Stardew Valley update 1.6, including new items, NPC dialogue, crafting recipes, and mini festivals.

Taking to Twitter on March 14, Barone revealed yet another item on that list of forthcoming novelties, stating that the next version of the game will reduce the time needed to move pets from whatever space they are occupying. Up until now, cats and dogs blocking the player's way required one to walk into them for 1.5 seconds before they would start shaking, allowing the protagonist to walk through their sprite during the trembling animation. The 1.6 update for Stardew Valley will slash that time in half.

While this is going to be a rather minor tweak to the game's mechanics, its confirmation was met with widespread praise from the fandom, with ConcernedApe's announcement receiving over 34,000 likes and nearly 2,000 retweets within a couple of hours of going live. This won't be the only pet-related change that the patch is set to introduce, as Barone previously confirmed that Stardew Valley update 1.6 will also add hats for pets. Some fans have already described the ability to equip their four-legged companions with headgear as a welcome addition to the game, not least because the current selection of pet interactions is fairly limited.

Stardew Valley update 1.6 is scheduled to debut next Tuesday, March 19. As is normally the case, the upcoming patch will initially only be available on PC, with ConcernedApe promising that its console and mobile counterparts will follow as quickly as possible. Based on the developer's track record, the wait for the