Just been playing Fallout (the original Fallout that is, if you have not played it and want to see what it is all about or are a veteran and want to tell me I am doing it wrong you can find my playthrough https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0YU8aB3nao&list=PLuyfc0t3vlW0skuHmtgmde5hQF04-L6Q1&index=1) and currently playing through Fallout 2 and I have to wonder, is Dogmeat really a Dog?

I mean the Dog appears in both Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 which would make Dogmeat older than 80 years which is well beyond the average lifespan of a dog and while it is debatable whether or not the dogs that share his name in both Fallout 3 and 4 are the same dog if it is the same dog not only has he survived an extra 46 years he also changed form to resemble a German Shepherd!

So is Dogmeat really a Dog or is he a spirit from the great beyond sent to guide travelers across the wasteland? Perhaps he is a ghoul and ghoulification works differently on dogs turning them into German Shepherds?

I choose to believe not the same dog and the people in Fallout have just lost imagination re: naming pets. Since in the end, they're all "dogmeat."

It's not the same dog. Canonically, the Dogmeat in Fallout 1 was killed by a laser wall in Mariposa, and Fallout 4's Dogmeat looks completely different to the previous ones.

He's a Miniature Giant Space German Shepard.

It's the only logical explanation.........

So what you're saying is that Dogmeat...

IS A TIMELORD!

Of course!

It all makes sense now!!!

Dogmeat is just Wastelanders recognizing the fact that dogs are just emergency food supplies. Just look at how many domesticated dogs there are in Fallout 3 and 4 compared to domesticated cats.

Dogmeat is simply the ongoing name of 'the dog' any of the Fallout protagonists get.

Fallout 3's Dogmeat was an Australian blue heeler, which was a nod to the dog in the 2nd Mad Max movie. The dog in that movie was originally intended to be a three legged dog, and they had settled on a particular kelpie cross, but that had to be cancelled in favour of the heeler when filming would have required the owner on set for six months or so.

It's also a nod to a film called A Boy and His Dog...

So the Vault Dweller thought, but somehow Dogmeat survived and managed to reform himself from the ashes like a phoenix and return in Fallout 2! Only goes to support the theory that Dogmeat is some supreme being sent to guide a chosen few to their destiny, death is no barrier to the Dogmeat as he will always find his way back in a new form, perhaps he got tired of wearing the skin of a blue healer and decided to try German Shepherd? Who can say how many forms the Dogmeat has taken?

Besides in my game he was killed by Super Mutants in the Cathedral, but then again so were all my companions, except Ian who died in the Military Base.

Pretty sure he was always a nod to the Dog in Mad Max, in the first game some people tell you that his previous owner was a man in a leather jacket with a shotgun (obvious reference to Mad Max) and he will automatically join you if your character is wearing a leather jacket.

In the second I believe you just have to be wearing the Vault Suit and he will join you suggesting that it is the same dog in Fallout 1.

Alternatively you can always just feed him Iguana on a Stick.

Its a legacy name, like M'aik the liar, the name lives on through different dogs that are not related beyond the fact they share the same name, each protagonist is a new person at a new time but dogmeat is such a beloved character the name carries on to the new canine companion because, well that's what we expect.

Now Dogmeat gets YOU killed by a laser wall instead.

Obviously in the second Mad Max there was the dog with no name... But I remember an interview about FO3 where they said the movie A Boy and His Dog was the main inspiration for the name... In the film the dog is called Blood who the main guy can communicate telepathically but at one time he referrers to the dog as Dogmeat...

Kinda like 'Roach' in the Witcher series.

Dogmeat, in any of his incarnations, cannot be an ordinary dog. His appearance is far too purebreed for a dog that would have come out of the Wasteland. Domesticated dogs would all start to resemble Dingos within 30 years of the fall of civilization.

I took the German Shepard breed as a nod towards the Terminator movies.
At the end of the original movie that is the dog Sarah Connor has with her. Given some of the similarities between the synths and terminators I think that's fitting

Go for the eyes Dogmeat !! Gooo Fooorrr the Eyeess !!!

TimeLord clearly,

I also found the Tartus so basically Timelord.

Unfortunately my Fo1 character would never have learned of this fact or been able to inform any protags in the following games.

He ain't nothing but a hound dog.

Dogmeat is just a name for a dog like Fido or Spot. So you can name whatever dog you currently have Dogmeat. At least that is how I see it.

He is a 200 year old synthetic dog created by the institute to spy on you in fallout 1, 2, 3, and 4 that they telliport to you when you first start. They specially created him to block doorways that get you closer to finding out about them.

LOL yea, I keep that pooch at home. At first I did that to keep him safe, but after traveling with him for a bit, it's to keep me safe now!

Also, I think Dogmeat is a synth, build after the original Dogmeat. Maybe to honor the Vault Dweller's memory and dog? But yea, they are all different dogs and his name is a major piece of Fallout history. Dogmeat goes with Fallout like Meatballs with Spaghetti, or Vanilla Ice Creme with hot Apple Pie, or Syrup with Pancakes, or well you get the drift. LOL

Dogmeat is "Godteam" written backwards.

Thus I'm pretty sure Dogmeat is the harbinger of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, with Dogmeat balls . . . balls of dogmeat . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_7zkK6XzmE

Maybe he's a synth.

He used to belong to a dude called Mai'q the Liar.