**UPDATE 3/18/2016**
GameSpot has announced that Fallout 4’s main character (as far as we’re concerned) has won the World Dog Award for Top Video Game Dog of 2015!
You can read more about River and her video game designer human below, or watch them in action in this video. Congrats again, River!
**UPDATE 1/11/2016**
Remember River? The German Shepherd who was famously cast as Dogmeat in the Fallout 4 video game? Well, Dogmeat’s pivotal role as an immortal pooch companion in the record-breaking video game series has earned him a nomination for Top Video Game Dog at the 2016 World Dog Awards.
This nomination is a huge paw-nor for any pooch in search of the spotlight. The competition is fierce this year, with fellow nominees such as D-Dog from Metal Gear Solid and Chop from Grand Theft Auto 5. Although voting for the event is closed (we know you all voted for Dogmeat already), the results won’t be revealed until the live broadcast on the CW on January 14th at 8/7c.
Make sure to tune in and cheer on River! GO RIVER, GO!
**Original Post**
River is the real life dog behind the grimly-named character, “Dogmeat,” in the video game, Fallout 4.
@DanGheesling this is River the model for dogmeat. 😊 pic.twitter.com/5M1M5WKWiw
— Michelle Burgess (@MichelleBurgess) July 1, 2015
The pup calls Joel Burgess, a senior designer at Bethseda Softworks, his human. Talk about a convenient work relationship!
Players can interact and play with Dogmeat in the game. In the game, this digital pup can be found at a Red Rocket Station near Sanctuary Hills. It’s real cool to see a dog character supporting video game play in a fun and constructive way.
Dogmeat is a companion character, which means he can’t die during the game play. (Yay!) The pup will lie down and sleep when he’s low on health. You can also take care of the pup and build him a dog house in the game as well.
So far, Dogmeat is only appearing in Fallout 4, but we hope to see more of him in future games!
