Denver

Dog City, Dog Town or Denver (known only as Denver prior to the Great War) is a city in Colorado overrun with feral dogs, including pre-War cyberdogs. It was annexed by Caesar's Legion after they assimilated the Hangdogs, a tribe who inhabited the outskirts of the city. Some of the Legion's dogs are taken from the city.

Before the War
A rich city known for its industry, Denver was a place of prominence in the pre-War United States. Its factories supported the development of Boulder, a city on its outskirts, and a major center of scientific research, developing technologies in medicine, energy, robotics, and even power armor. However, the prominence of Denver was marred by incidents, such as a disastrous leakage from the nearby Rocky Mountain Arsenal, which created a poisonous cloud that hit Denver, killing a lot of people. Although the military apologized and invested money into the creation of the Boulder Dome as compensation, the damage was done.

The incident heralded the city's dark future. For a time, everything seemed in order and the city entered a building boom shortly before the war, as many new jobs were opening there the city was swollen to bursting. Most of the construction was housing for these immigrants. But when the war with China did start in 2066, resource rationing occurred and suddenly the construction workers didn't have anything to build with and weren't getting paid. Union riots and strikes occurred because the city couldn't pay and the federal government wouldn't step in to help. When Mexico and the Great Midwest Commonwealth started to suffer food shortages, Denver was hit hard because of its high population. Food rationing began. Food riots started because of the rationing, and some buildings were set on fire. The National Guard was called in to contain the rioting, using InstaPens (aka "bullpens") to contain and imprison rioters. Some people deliberately attacked police and National Guard troops so they would be imprisoned and fed. Rioters, National Guard personnel who disobeyed orders and other military folk who refused to help contain the riots were sent west and east.

Then, an outbreak of the New Plague hit the city. Rioters burned down large parts of the city in their fear of contamination and anger at their treatment. Many panicked and fled the city by car, clogging the freeways when they ran out of gas and trapping everyone behind them. And then the bombs fell, destroying some of what was left and killing everyone who had managed to live through everything else.

After the War
Post-War, Denver has been abandoned by civilized folk, mainly because of lingering radiation (which is gone by now) and huge packs of wild dogs that have taken over the town. These packs swarm their targets and tear them apart, no matter how many of their own they lose. Centuries of natural selection resulted in Denver hounds becoming incredibly potent killers. A tribe of people learned how to live with the dogs, treating the feral hounds as spirit animals, companions in the post-nuclear world.

Between 2277 and 2281, Caesar's Legion came. The Hangdogs were assimilated and their culture wiped out, while Denver became a Legion territory. The cost was steep, however, as Legate Lanius lost many men to attrition caused by a combination of factors: No local tribes to assimilate, save the Hangdogs, supply lines stretched to the breaking point, and vicious dogs that killed many, almost breaking the Legion, in fact. The control remains formal, as the city remains dominated by feral dog packs (which may include pre-War police cyberdogs),  but the Legion were able to capture some and put them to use as war dogs.

Appearances
Dog Town did not appear in any of the published games, but was to appear in the canceled Fallout 3 project by Black Isle Studios codenamed Van Buren. Denver is mentioned by Antony, Lanius and The King in Fallout: New Vegas as being overrun by dogs and home to a few cyberdogs. It is also mentioned by Ulysses.

Behind the scenes
Denver is based on the real world location of Denver, Colorado.