Dog and God

Dog and God are two Nightkin inhabiting the same body

Background
Dog and God are two distinct people that inhabit the same body, caused by "multiple personality disorder" from past trauma. Dog is described as being "consumed by hunger", while God is "consumed by control", though both are "driven by need for the other". Only a single identity can control their body at a given time and thus, they take turns. When one is dormant, they are referred to as being "in the cage". In this state, they are able to hear the outside events, though are unable to witness them directly. Dog harms himself, such as carving his own name into his chest and placing a bear trap on his arm, in order to make God's voice disappear, which only makes God angry. God takes control of the body when Father Elijah is not present or if Dog is fed,  while Dog takes control when commanded by Elijah or if left unfed. As separate identities, Dog and God have their own experiences and the two "don't share everything", which causes its own difficulties.

Dog
As a Nightkin, Dog served in the Master's army under the command of the Master and Lieutenant as a stealth trooper,   and was conditioned to serve the Master "until death". While under the Master's command, Dog was guided by Lieutenant to hunt, kill and watch, as well as gather people to bring to the F.E.V. vats. While under the Master, Dog had to hide at the Mariposa Military Base and The Cathedral. He states that he misses both places and mentions when nightfall struck at the Cathedral, he would take off his Stealth Boy and stare at the ceiling of the church.

Dog has been at the Sierra Madre for "as long as [he] can remember", and found his way to there by following the Sierra Madre Broadcast. When Father Elijah arrived to the Sierra Madre, he became Dog's new "master", commanding him fetch victims for use in breaking into the casino. Dog attached Explosive Collars to each victim's necks, which was done by Elijah to ensure compliance and "encourage cooperation". Dog was also fitted with a collar of his own. Elijah's orders reminded Dog of the Master, which reopened "that door in Dog's mind" and made him obedient to him. As a result, he refers to Elijah as his new master.

In order to open into the casino, a gala event had to be triggered with multiple people. Dog gathered a team with linked collars to achieve this. Dog was stationed at the switching station at Salida del Sol South along with another person. When Elijah finally entered, the casino sealed itself, which trapped him inside. Due to an alloy in the casino's structure, the collar signals were scrambled, which caused them to unhook and detach, freeing all the victims. Dog became hungry and swallowed their detached collar, ruining God's initial plan to escape. Once his collar was swallowed, Dog was under Elijah's full control, and he continued to leave the Villa to gather victims, even when Elijah stopped speaking to him.

God
According to Dog, God was "always there", but only started talking when Elijah showed up. God mentions that he slept for a long time before and doesn't recall when he first spoke or started thinking for himself, but also says that he has watched over Dog "for so long" in an attempt to keep him tame, as well as prevent him from hurting and killing others. He states that Dog's "instincts" are stronger than he is. He describes himself as the "voice of reason" and Dog's "conscience".

God is angry that Dog is obedient to Elijah, who commands him to hurt and harm others. God has tried to prevent this, but says Dog has "the brain of a child" and that he can't help himself, even when he knows he has done wrong. When God subsumes control, he states that Dog's "sinew and muscle" are challenging to move conciously and that he only has "the brain" for Dog's instincts. His hands, coordination and fighting skills suffer as a result.

Other interactions
After recruiting Dog and watching him kill and consume one of the ghost people, the Courier can talk to Dog and, after going through a few speech options, receive the Ghost Hunter perk from him. However, if they have the Cannibal perk, it is possible to get the Ghost Hunter perk from him without fighting.

Effects of player action

 * If the Courier has the Wild Wasteland trait, Dog will say "OM NOM NOM" the first time he eats a ghost person.
 * Should Dog/God be killed in the Cantina Madrid and if the area is revisited, his corpse will be shown to have exploded into bloody chunks, due to the fact he ate his collar.

Companion interactions

 * God will engage Dean Domino in conversation while they are both dismissed to the Villa fountain by the Courier. He is apparently familiar with Dean and expresses contempt for the ghoul for not leaving the Sierra Madre when he had the opportunity.
 * Similarly, if Dog is a companion, he will engage Dean Domino in a short conversation if they meet at the Villa fountain. Dog will refer to Dean as if he was some kind of food, Dean's reply being "you stay in your corner while I stay in mine". Then, Dean will talk quietly with the Courier, asking them to "keep him away from this thing".

Inventory
Like Lily Bowen, Dog and God are limited in the weapons they can use. These weapons are:


 * Since Dog/God cannot equip any weapons unique to Dead Money and outside weapons cannot be brought into the Sierra Madre, Dog/God are effectively restricted to Unarmed fighting, frag grenades, and the sledgehammer.

Appearances
Dog and God appear

Behind the scenes

 * Multiple Personality Disorder is the former name of the real world disorder, now named Dissociative Identity Disorder.
 * According to dialogue script notes, the third identity formed when fusing Dog and God together is named "God Calm".
 * According to dialogue script notes, the person Dog had with him when he activated the Gala Event the first time was a girl he was trapped with. She had helped him, but Dog ended up "tearing her apart" and couldn't stop himself from doing it. It also states he is frightened by the memory of it, but "deep down" he "wants to do it again".
 * In the game files exists an unused character named Dog Script Test Dude, which is a generic super mutant used to test scripts related to Dog and God.

Bugs

 * The dialogue options "Who's this old man that brought us here?", "So you're the one that knows how I got to the villa", "You Brought Me Here to the villa", and "I want to know more about the man who brought us here" remain highlighted even if you have selected them.
 * Sometimes Dog/God may be unable to heal when idle or given stimpaks.
 * Sometimes when he is ordered to wait, Dog/God will attack the first ghost person he can find before waiting.
 * There is an exploitable bug where you can obtain God's perk without him following you. By having God as a companion, use Elijah's voice to summon Dog's persona. This is only temporary, however; as soon as you dismiss him at his post for Fires in the Sky, this perk will be lost.
 * Dog/God is prone to getting stuck in walls around the villa and may be unable to follow the player in the same cell.
 * Sometimes Dog will bug and repeat the phrase "Let Dog out. Hungry, hate being in here" after you have brought him to the fountain. This is because the game still thinks Dog is in the cage at the police station due to the result of buggy dialogue options when you are convincing him to leave the cage.
 * FIX: If updating the game or returning to a previous save is not an option, the console is the only solution. Go to Dog and open the console, then click him. Remember the first two digits of the number at the top then type set . Replace XX with the two digits from before.