Heinig himself said: "My understanding is that [Fallout designer] Scott Bennie settled on the name 'Dogmeat' for the character, and it's likely that he did pick that from the story in question.

I was shocked when I heard of all the work people went through to keep Dogmeat alive to the end – especially the hell that they went through with the force fields in the Military Base."

[2] On June 27, 2021, Fallout 4's senior game designer Joel Burgess confirmed via Twitter[3] that River had died.

[6] In the original Fallout by Black Isle Studios and Interplay Entertainment, the protagonist player character, the Vault Dweller, first encounters the stray Dogmeat in Junktown.

Dogmeat's former owner (an unnamed man closely resembling Max Rockatansky) died at the hands of thugs hired by a local gangster named Gizmo.

[10] In Fallout 2, Dogmeat makes a non-canonical appearance in an easter egg type special encounter "Café of Broken Dreams".

However, there were no plans to bring back Dogmeat for the original third Fallout game project by Black Isle Studios, the canceled Van Buren.

after reaching 22nd experience level) allows a killed Dogmeat to be replaced by a new one (with twice as many hit points, that is a starting value of 1,000 instead of 500) whenever he dies during the game.

Wilzig later is mortally wounded by the Ghoul (Walton Goggins) during a shootout in Filly, and dies as Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) is escorting him to meet Lee Moldaver (Sarita Choudhury) at the Griffith Observatory.

Sometime later, the Ghoul encounters CX404 locked in a Nuka-Cola dispenser at a gas station after having been abandoned by Thaddeus (Johnny Pemberton).

: The Guide to Great Video Game Design by Scott Rogers used him as an example while discussing how the "party members don't need to be human".

"[9] In 2009, Michael Fiegel of The Escapist called Dogmeat possibly the most beloved character of the Fallout universe, writing that "in an uncaring wasteland ... Dogmeat is a moral compass: Though your needle might swing towards good or evil, his center always holds strong provided you protect him.

"[1] In 2021, Lauren Rouse of Kotaku included Dogmeat as her "best animal companions that are the real mvps of video games", and further stated that "he can fetch, he can attack, he can be dressed up in crazy costumes and he will love you unconditionally.

"[30] Conversely, John Walker of Rock Paper Shotgun expressed his dislike of Dogmeat, calling it "stupid" and claiming that it "didn't have a strong headstart winning over my love.