I've read how Dogmeat will play with a teddy bear. I have put one on the ground by his doghouse and he ignores it. I've tried equipping it to no avail. How do I get him to play?

PS: Is there any way to interact with the cats in the game other than the Vault 81 quest?

You put it in his inventory and he will play with it during an idle animation meaning when you stand still,and he's around you.

Meat will play with just about any junk you drop in his inventory

That being said, why isn't the dog food an NPC consumable? Shouldn't DM be at least able to eat his own pre war designated food if my starving PC cannot? And where the hell is all the cat food??

If I drop him some Jet, will he play with it?

It's called cat meat and you have to beat it out of other cats.

try it and see. then report back here

You Sir, are one sick person......

Off topic: love your avie

Dog food? Mine gets Brahmin Steaks. I have well over 15 teddy bears along with several comfy pillows in and around his dog house. He's very messy and scatters them all over. We sell dog food.

You don't have to put a teddy bear in his inventory. It's an animation that will pop up from time to time.

As said above me, you don't need to put a teddy bear in his inventory. I've also seen and heard, the buzzing of a fly around him, which he promptly clamps his jaws on and eats, presumably, since the buzzing sound goes away

If you want to see it then dismiss him after removing all doghouses and placing 1 and only 1 doghouse near where you want him to be found all the time and he will play with his teddy bear often while he waits for you to take him again.

If you placed a teddy in his inventory, you can also "accelerate" the process by asking him to perform a trick. Sometimes he will execute the teddy bear animation, rather than the default one.

Usually I notice it when i'm busy with something like crafting, or a conversation, trading, etc. Usually catch him in the background playing with it while he's waiting on me

Now there's one I haven't seen yet. Love the DM sneeze and the back roll but I gotta see the fly trick now.