Dog's Life follows the journey of Jake the puppy as he navigates across the USA with the goal of thwarting Miss Peaches' sinister plan. Miss Peaches is determined to use dogs for her financial gain, by dog-napping Daisy the pedigree dog.
The game seamlessly integrates canine elements - sniffing out smells is done through Smellovision mode, highlighting a dog's exceptional sense of smell. Locating footprints also relies on this feature. As Jake interacts with 15 different breeds of dogs, tricks can be learned to gain treats from humans.
Jake must explore vast environments and form alliances with the dog breeds. The objective is achieved by either having more bones than them or winning a subgame against each breed. These games often involve activities like digging up bones or 'marking territory' to annex the screen.