Search For The Needle Pets: How to Unlock the Dog and Cow

Update 3 added a Pets system to Search For The Needle, and it changes how a hay run feels. Pets follow you into a chapter and haul hay on their own, shaving time off runs that used to depend entirely on how fast you could swing a tool. Two animals launched with the system, and only one of them can be earned without spending Robux.

Quick answer: The Dog costs 1,000 Gems at the lobby Pets barn; the Cow is 499 Robux only. Each chapter clear pays 120 Gems, and the PETS code adds 200.

Dog and Cow pet stats and unlock costs

There is no rolling or luck involved here. Both pets sit in the shop as straight purchases, so you either have the currency or you do not.

Pet	Cost	Speed	Grasp
Dog	1,000 Gems	8	10
Cow	499 Robux	5.5	20

The Dog fills its mouth with hay, runs to the trough, and dumps it, then turns around and does it again. It carries 100 hay per trip and moves quickly, which is why it works well on maps where the sell point is a long walk from the pile.

The Cow works differently. It eats a large amount of hay and sells it on the spot rather than running anything to the trough, so the slower speed matters less. It does not change how much your hay is worth. There is no Gem path to the Cow at all, which makes the Dog the only pet most players will unlock.

Where to find the Pets shop in the lobby

Both pets live in the Pets barn in the main lobby, a short walk from the party circles. Step inside and the shop menu opens with the Dog listed at 1,000 Gems and the Cow behind its Robux price tag. The Pet Cosmetics stand sits right next to it, so the two are easy to mix up on your first visit.

How to earn 1,000 Gems for the Dog pet

Gems come from finishing chapters and from codes. Clearing a chapter pays out 120 Gems, so the full unlock is a handful of completed runs rather than one long grind.

Launch Search For The Needle and press the Codes button on the side of the screen. Type PETS exactly as written and hit Redeem for 200 Gems plus a 30-minute 2x Luck boost for class spins. If it does not register, rejoin into a fresh server and try again.

Walk onto a party circle and create a FARMHOUSE party on Normal difficulty. You can run it solo or fill the lobby with up to four players; more hands clear the haystack faster, which shortens the run.

Farmhouse create party screen with Normal difficulty selected and party size set to one — The FARMHOUSE party screen, with Normal selected and the party size set before you create the lobby. Image: Garage Games

Dig hay by hand, sell it at the barn, and put the first cash into a tool. The Pitchfork costs $8.00 from the shop board inside the barn and immediately doubles how much hay you move per swing.

In-barn tool shop view screen with the eight dollar tool highlighted by the cursor — The in-barn tool shop, with the $8 entry highlighted at the top of the list. Image: Garage Games

Keep selling and buy the bigger clearing tools as cash allows. Dynamite runs $25.00 and blows away large chunks of the pile, and the Vacuum runs $69.99 for continuous pickup. Bag capacity upgrades matter just as much, since a full bag forces a walk back to the barn.

TNT purchase screen showing the Default skin and the one round, coins, and permanent options — The TNT purchase screen, where the Default skin is selected alongside the one-round, coins, and permanent options. Image: Garage Games

The Hay Drone costs 40 Gems, not cash. Buying it in every run is the quickest way to stall your savings, so skip it until the Dog is paid for.

Dig until the giant needle surfaces, equip it, and hand it to the farmer. He drops you through a trapdoor and the chapter summary appears with your time and +120 Gems.

Queue the BASEMENT chapter for another 120 Gems. This one is a puzzle map rather than a pure dig: pull the lever by the caged alien, pull the lever that powers the “DO NOT ENTER” door, solve the slide puzzle on the wall inside, then pull the third lever near the keypad to light the crystal stands. Once the alien walks out, the laser grid drops and the green haystack holding the golden key opens up.

Basement objectives panel showing the pull all the levers task checked off — The Basement objectives panel with “Pull all the levers” checked off. Image: Garage Games

Class spins draw from the same Gem pool, so every roll at the Spin Class board pushes the Dog further away. If you want both, finish the pet first and spin afterwards with the 2x Luck boost from the code still running.

Buying, renaming, and upgrading the Dog

Once the counter passes 1,000, return to the Pets barn and hit Buy. The Dog moves into your pet menu, where you can rename it and spend 200 Gems per level to raise its stats. Levelling is optional and the base Dog already works, so there is no need to bank another thousand before taking it out.

Equip it before you start a chapter, not after. In the lobby you can open your inventory with the Tab prompt to check that the pet is attached before you step onto a party circle.

Lobby view outside the red farmhouse showing the Tab key inventory prompt on screen — The lobby outside the red farmhouse, with the Tab inventory prompt on screen. Image: Garage Games

You will know it is working within seconds of the run starting. The Dog breaks off on its own, digs a bundle out of the haystack, carries it in its mouth, and sprints to the sell pile to drop it off, then repeats the loop without any input from you.

Pet cosmetics and shop restock chances

The stand beside the Pets barn sells hats and accessories that carry stat buffs rather than being purely visual. The Wizard Hat is a Rare item at 700 Gems or 49 Robux and adds 1.5% to pet grab. The Baseball Cap is Common at 250 Gems or 19 Robux and adds 5% pet speed. A Pirate Hat pushes movement speed by 10%, which helps the Dog and softens the Cow’s slow pace.

Stock is randomised and refreshes roughly once an hour, so what you see now may be gone shortly. These are the odds of each rarity showing up on a restock:

Rarity	Restock chance
Common	40%
Uncommon	30%
Rare	18%
Epic	9%
Legendary	3%

Check the stand between chapter runs rather than camping it. A rotation lands while you are clearing hay anyway, and Legendary rolls at 3% are not worth waiting on.

Two pets is a small roster, but the Dog alone meaningfully cuts run times once it is hauling hay in parallel with you. Clear both chapters, redeem the code, and the 1,000-Gem price is a couple of sessions away rather than a long grind.