Dogmeat your trusty fallout 3 companion and all round loyal friend and trusted tactician, or just a useless mutt with not merit of his desrving name with his ridiculous appethetic attempts at combat. Or did he simply not show up for you the mangy selfish twat?

Myself, I found him an annoying addiction to my one many army of justice. He kept getting me spotted, I kept having to reload for him because hed run into enemy fire, he'd get trapped in the stupidest of places and by level 20, while fighting enclave soldiers just keeping him alive was killing me. While I could keep sending him out for ammo I had 4600 5.56mm round so, fuck it. Fawkes on the other hand.

Man, I still haven't even found him yet!

I found him and kept him around for all of 15 minutes. He was dying every 5 minutes no matter what I did because he kept charging head first into scorpions and raiders who promptly forgot about me until after they had killed Dogmeat.

After having to load my saved games multiple times just to bring him back to life, I tired of it and I now make him stay in my house. He really needs some more HP or something.

My only complaint with Dogmeat was that he had a bad habit of literally jumping in front of my bullets. He died a noble death thought when I found myself fighting an inordinate number of supermutants and accidentally triggering a MASSIVE explosion which killed all the mutants and poor Dogmeat with them.

He gets in the way...
But if you're desperate for ammo and have no bottlecaps he can be trustworthy
Win/Lose situation.

I found this dog when i was level 17 or so. He doesn't really serve much purpose for me, i generally leave him to guard my house. I don't tend to use the sidekick much. Taking the view that they are always to much hassle in going into the wrong building or forcing a fight when you don't want to, and the little positives they had are outweighed by this.

Although i do want to find the robot one, Because i heard he can carry lots of wasteland Junk, which i could actually use.

Found him walked acouple of yards then he died.

I didn't care, why have a dog when I have GUNS!!

Brokkr:
I found him and kept him around for all of 15 minutes. He was dying every 5 minutes no matter what I did because he kept charging head first into scorpions and raiders who promptly forgot about me until after they had killed Dogmeat.

After having to load my saved games multiple times just to bring him back to life, I tired of it and I now make him stay in my house. He really needs some more HP or something.

Yeah I told him to stay too.

Wouldukindly:
I prefer the Alien Blaster, less friendly but more loyal.

Yes!

Haven't picked him up on any of my characters yet (I know where to find him, just haven't felt like it.) The only companion I've had so far has been Jericho, who's proven sufficiently capable so far.

Just mod it so that he's marked as unkillable.

It'll save you a ton of trouble.

- J

The maingy little bastard attacked me unprovoked and somehow survived 5 rocket blasts before I managed to get away from him.

He was one of the last things I found. But when I did, I didn't want him to die so I would just send him away to some place safe.

I found him on my second play through. He never seemed terribly useful in any scenario. Never was I so desperate for ammo or stimpacks that I had to resort to using the dog to scavange. Yes, there were times where I was shoveling all of the semi-edible debris of an extinct civilization down my maw in order to press forward, and there were times where I was forced to use a weapon I wasn't terribly proficient with but that was all.

Keeping him alive as well as myself was a burden that didn't add anything meaningful to the game. He kept dying near a camp site and I continuously reloaded my last save only to have him mysteriously die again. After three or four times I decided I need to find out what was so effeciently dispatching my canine burden. A few moments of looking around and I had my answer in the form of a deathclaw almost knocking my head off. I didn't have a save anywhere convenient before the campsite and there didn't seem to be a way to keep both myself and the dog alive, so I sacrificed the dog, found a supermutant and went on my merry little way.

I told him to go wait for me at Vault 101 and then he never showed up, so I shrugged my shoulders and went on my merry way.

I found him, thought he was adorable. Went off, found a giant scorpion three minutes later, against which he died in seconds. "Oh well, not like I'm scarce for ammo", and off I went.

Personally my first stop after creating a character is finding Dogmeat, then when I hit level 5 he dies the way of Lassie; blown to bits by a frag mine. At least I presume that's how Lassie died, to be honest I watched enough to learn Lassie was a dog and then my trigger finger got itchy.

But on topic, he's good when you start out and don't have many caps, but by the time you reach level 10 either you can afford a useful mercenary, or you're able to handle yourself.

Dogmeat did some very strange things in my game, like show up at times when I'd left him at home. I'd be talking to someone and, "Huh?", I hear heavy-breathing dog-breath. This happened when the Enclave first arrived, so I was especially surprised. But ummm...Dogmeat is, first of all, a walking target. He distracts your quarry so you can blam them to fucking death. To those of you that end up shooting him? Uhhh...shoot over his head! The VATS is there for a reason. Dogmeat is funny, though, because he apparently can live through anything...so long as it's in moderation. Lots of health, and it regenerates in between fights. So, if you take on the huge rabble of mutants and then kinda' chill for a few seconds, he's okay. Besides, he doesn't count as a member of your party to the game, so you can still take Fawkes or whoever.

FalloutJack:
But ummm...Dogmeat is, first of all, a walking target. He distracts your quarry so you can blam them to fucking death. To those of you that end up shooting him? Uhhh...shoot over his head! The VATS is there for a reason.

I remember going into VATS and watching in Horror as Dogmeat was FIRMLY interposed between me and the target, he then proceeded to take the entire burst from my assault rifle straight to the head... in slow motion. That didn't kill him though it was just annoying.

PedroSteckecilo:

FalloutJack:
But ummm...Dogmeat is, first of all, a walking target. He distracts your quarry so you can blam them to fucking death. To those of you that end up shooting him? Uhhh...shoot over his head! The VATS is there for a reason.

I remember going into VATS and watching in Horror as Dogmeat was FIRMLY interposed between me and the target, he then proceeded to take the entire burst from my assault rifle straight to the head... in slow motion. That didn't kill him though it was just annoying.

There's been many a time when an otherwise well thrown grenade is charged into by Dogmeat on my character.

I like Dogmeat in that he provides a nice companion, walking those Wastelands get lonely. However, he becomes useless later in the game, as he is easily dispatched by Yao Guai, Deathclaws, and Enclave soldiers

Triffid:
I like Dogmeat in that he provides a nice companion, walking those Wastelands get lonely. However, he becomes useless later in the game, as he is easily dispatched by Yao Guai, Deathclaws, and Enclave soldiers

Now a Yao Guai companion ^_^

I found him when looking for Agatha's house. I was able to keep him alive, he's able to hold his own in combat(or at least he was for me.) I've seen him hold his own against Yao Guai, with a little assistance from Charon. He died as I was traveling through the Mall, when he stepped on an ill placed frag mine.