I am level nine, have a stealth folder, and two stars from sneak....... But I keep getting spotted and I can't figure out why. Is it Dogmeat?

Sneak is only activated when you're crouching. Are you doing this?

That being said, Dogmeat is a terrible companion in my experience if stealth is your goal. He'll go tearing down a hillside to go try and start a fight when you're hanging way back and trying to snipe everyone. It'd be nice if he wouldn't do things like that. I haven't traveled with Dogmeat in a very long time.

I think every companion [censored]s up stealth, sadly. I'm currently travelling with every companion that I can find to explore special quests and relationships, but I'm planning on making a lone wanderer soon so I can finally be stealthy.

Every companion ruins stealth. Even the "stealthy" ones.

I haven't really found that to be the case for the rest of the companions. Most of them stay behind me and don't move out into a new area until I do. Dogmeat just kind of does his own thing.

The only way you get spotted by a companion is when they pull the enemies closer to you, I've had moments when I am crouching undetected and my companions are completly next the enemy without being noticed. They will not initiate combat if you are sneaking around. I think it was worse in older games. Fallout companions always had terrible AI, specially in the first two games. But I think they made the companions much harder to detect this time.

yeah apperantly hee does break stealth like evry other companion ecxept Cait

i was browsing nexus there is a mod that aply,s stealth too every companion it said that Cait would be the only one with this ability and the mod should pass it too every Comp.

i would like too mention in my experience with dogmeat ive noticed sometimes when i was stealthing hee would follow me a few or decent feet behind me or meters in EU language i thought Yes this is the perfect distance too follow me stealthing so it was there in very few occasions

Once you build stealth perks then yes, companions will break your stealth by attracting enemies on to themselves (and toward you). But that is to be expected.

As for dog meat, he newer goes chasing enemy while in stealth mode until enemy actually charges you or him or is very close. In stealth mode he also tend to hang behind unlike in normal mode when he tries to stay in front. That's nice touch on his AI.

You have to actively use new command options if you want to have companion during stealth approach. You can command him to stay at the distance, you don't have to talk to him. Just point at the place away and once he arrives there, point cursor on him and it will allow you to tell mi to stay there. You can then recall him back the same way from a distance.

My only issue is impractical command interface where you have to first click on companion to enter command mode. There should be shortcut for that.

Ah I thought it was like that for everyone, that explains I never had problems with Cait on my stealth run.

All of them except Cait ruin stealth. And even Cait ruins it once you're in combat. For example by giving away your location when you're stealthily sniping from a distance.

It would help if companions were less aggressive and less prone to charge off like a bezerker. Imho we either need Bethesda to add the ability to change companion behaviour (passive/aggressive/impetuous/etc) through dialogue or commands, or we need a mod for that. The latter will require the GECK.

Dogmeat ruins

EVERYTHING

even dinner

At least we know a mod will help fix the companion AI at some point.

Cait is the only one companion in the game which behavior is flagged as "Doesn't affect stealth meter", which I believe is pretty self-explanatory. So if your character is a sneak you should definitely choose her.

He can get spotted and if he is close to you they can also spot you if they run up to him. He also exits stealth and attacks all red dots near you weather they see you or not.

Dogmeat (and all companions) definitely get spotted by enemies, but they don't necessarily break stealth for you. You just need to not be close to them.

I often order my companions either to hang back, or to proceed ahead of me. The former if I want to get the drop on something, the latter if I want to use them to get aggro while I snipe from a distance. It's not perfect- companions don't always do what I want, but leaving their location and re-establishing stealth does always work.

Companions' un-stealthiness is an asset, imho, if you use it to your advantage.