Dogmeat (Fallout 3)

Dogmeat is the dog companion of the Lone Wanderer.

Background
His name is a homage to the Dogmeat from the first Fallout and, according to the developers, he's the descendant of the Vault Dweller's original canine companion that died in a horrible accident involving a force field.

Recruiting Dogmeat
Dogmeat is found in the Scrapyard south of Minefield fighting several raiders. He will join your party regardless of your karma.

If the player reaches the Scrapyard and does not enter it, or somehow manages to pass by and trigger the event without speaking to Dogmeat, it is still possible to encounter him later in a random encounter. He will sometimes come to your aid when you are facing overwhelming odds. If during your travels you see the words "Dogmeat is unconscious" appear at the top of the screen, it means he is nearby somewhere and is likely being attacked. Dogmeat is an essential NPC until you have recruited him.

Shooting Dogmeat in the initial encounter without talking to him will make it impossible for the player to recruit him. He will appear outside Vault 101, but cannot be engaged in dialogue.

Retrieving items
Dogmeat can be used to fetch supplies, such as ammunition, chems, food or weapons, and he is able to bypass locked containers to get them. He can even enter Vault 101 if asked to search for something.

Combat
If enemies are nearby, Dogmeat will growl.

Since he's coded to be a higher priority target than the player's character, Dogmeat will draw attackers' attention away from the player character.

Dogmeat has a faster running speed than most humans and can run them down if they're fleeing.

Combat statistics

 * Health: 500
 * Combat Skill: 60
 * Attack Damage: 5
 * Attack Reach: 48
 * Turning Speed: 90
 * Foot Weight: 1.0
 * Base Scale: 1.0
 * Fatigue: 50
 * Speed Mult %: 100

Dogmeat and other followers
If Dogmeat is in your party, you can still have another follower. Dogmeat appears to have a reserved spot as a companion, so if he dies, the player can recruit two of the other followers at once.

If Dogmeat is killed by the player while having Jericho or Charon in their party, they will turn hostile and attack the player. Also, if Dogmeat is killed by the player while in Paradise Falls, the slavers turn hostile and attack you.

If the user opts for the Puppies! perk then after his death, Dogmeat's Puppy spawns at the location of his death and/or in front of Vault 101. Exploitation of this perk is probably the easiest way to get multiple followers.

Appearances
Dogmeat (this one) only appears in Fallout 3.

Behind the scenes

 * Before the release of Fallout 3, the process of how to recruit Dogmeat had only been shown as a small clip as the player holds something out to the wounded dog. The item is not revealed. Dogmeat was said to be found in a random encounter, which would appear in different places depending on where the player ventures to, but was meant to appear early on to help develop your bond with the dog. This was scrapped in the released game.
 * In the the 1976 post-apocalyptic movie "A Boy and His Dog" the main character calls his dog "dog meat" when angry with him.
 * Dogmeat is modeled after the dog in the movie Mad Max 2. The main character Max, played by Mel Gibson, had a dog that wandered with him. Dogmeat is the same breed as Max's dog, an Australian cattle dog.

Bugs

 * With Broken Steel add-on, Dogmeat levels with the player, but instead of leveling like a human follower, his health and attack multiply each level, which renders him nearly invincible.

Hoax

 * There is a viral hoax that Dogmeat can use weapons, or in particular Wazer Wifle. See Wazer Wifle hoax.