Purchasing pre-trained animals is possible under the rules given in Running Wild, page 35. The chart lists the cost multipliers for a training critters in single tasks... but what if I want to purchase an animal that can do more than one thing? Now, the rules do state that not all critters are available trained, and GMs have the final say on if a character can find a trained specimen, but since I'm looking for a trained, mundane dog... I don't think this will be a problem. But there is a problem, oh yes, you see if I want a trained dog I need to cough up over two million nuyen. That is not a typo.
The rules say "To calculate the trained price, multiply the base cost of the critter by the training level multiplier and then by the Willpower multiplier." So if I have a Dog (¥100), Willpower 3 (x2) trained as a Guidedog for the Blind (x7), it will cost me ¥1400... but, unless I've misread the book, the Guidedog won't know how to Sit, Stay, Lay Down, or sleep in its Crate.
Since every trick you pruchase it pre-trained in adjusts it base cost, a dog with just basic obedience lessons quickly exceeds the value of a new sportscar!
Dog (¥100); Sit (¥250); Lay Down (¥625); Crate Training (¥1,562.5); Bark on Command (¥3906.25); Shake (¥9765.63); Recall (¥24,414.07); Heel (¥61,035.16); Stay (¥152,587.90)...
Want it to be trained at Tracking? ¥2,136,230.60
Am I doing something wrong here, or did the designers of Running Wild really not want player's to have access to trained pets? Two million nuyen for a dog with basic obedience and a single Advanced training is nuts. I could just slap Skillwires, a Killswitch, and a bucket of Skillsofts into Fido for far, far less than the cost of getting him obedience lessons: Even paying detaware prices for the `ware and x2 or x3 the cost for special "canine edition" skillsofts. For the price of a trained Tracker... I can buy a fully armed tactical attack jetfighter.
At these prices, why would any Shadowrunner bother stealing paydata from megacorps or prototype weapons from the military? Just steal a guidedog from a blind person, sell it at 50% of market value, and retire to a permanent Luxury Lifestyle!