Talk:Dog

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Dog article.
General discussions not pertaining to the improvement of the article should be held in Discussions instead. Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic. Please sign and date your posts by typing four tildes! (~~~~) Do not edit another editor's comment.

Marking

== What the hell is the benefit of dog eating bodies????????????????????????????????????

--207.32.19.165 (talk) 07:16, September 14, 2013 (UTC)

The introduction needs to be more complete sentences. Also, what the hell is the territory marking game?Cheeseslayersmu 15:57, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

I agree. The information is great, but it sounds awkward. I will attempt to rectify this. :)

-- XavierGrimwand 19:26, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for reverting the vandalism.Cheeseslayersmu 04:48, 5 June 2009 (UTC)

Where did you find Morrigan's discussion with Dog? It's gold. --AlexanderPrimus 20:22, October 6, 2009 (UTC)

It's from this post by David Gaider: http://www.dragonagecentral.com/single/1232569020

-- Xavier Grimwand on Tuesday, October 6, 2009 @ 4:53 pm (ET)

The territory-marking game is apparently referred to as Mabari Dominance, and revolves around Dog 'marking his territory' on significant landmarks. The flavortext seems to indicate that doing so provides him with attack/defense/etc bonuses while in the areas near where Dominance is in effect. NinjaWeazel 17:17, November 5, 2009 (UTC)

The landmark for the Circle tower is the boat at the initial area. The landmark for the forest (with the Dalish elves) is a tree near the rhyming tree. --DarkJeff 18:42, November 10, 2009 (UTC)

It's not always a tree (it's a tent and a boat at least once), but I find I can't entirely remember where it is in the forest. I don't remember if it sparkles, either. --DarkJeff 23:46, November 10, 2009 (UTC)

Nice job DarkJeff! Thanks for clarifying and fixing! Cynnamin 19:24, November 11, 2009 (UTC)

Rotten; this is my first play through where I used Dog regularly. I just discovered the Landmarks in Redcliffe Village and the Castle Courtyard need to be remarked during the Darkspawn attack. Shadizar666 (Ruck Rules) 06:18, March 16, 2013 (UTC)

Dog's New Pet

When you enter denerim and have dog in you party, while passing by Church, dog will run off and bring back some boy. In the end you tell your dog, he can't take that boy with him and have to return him. Something should be written about that situation, either here or in "easter eggs" article?? I have save, and could provide with dialogues if needed. --Tsumetai Ryujin 20:00, November 29, 2009 (UTC)

Location of Dog

I found out where to find Rabbit(Dog). It shows you on a Youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeFiRU81F9w. I put on here because I thought it might be spoilerish. Enter at your own risk.--EnrgyBomb 18:15, October 31, 2009 (UTC) --70.72.133.6 23:41, November 1, 2009 (UTC)--70.72.133.6 23:41, November 1, 2009

Link for Mabari War dogs exists: http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Mabari_War_Dogs Needs to be added.

Foof 06:44, November 6, 2009 (UTC)

Talents

On consoles, Dog has access to the Warrior talent tree, while he doesn't on PCs. Perhaps a mention should be made of this? --DarkJeff 03:29, December 6, 2009 (UTC)

Indeed it should. Thanks for pointing that out. Loleil 03:43, December 6, 2009 (UTC)

In the article is mentioned that in Witch Hunt Dog has access to the Awakening warrior talents on PC, too. In my version of the game he has access to the whole warrior talents tree, not only Second Wind. -- CompleCCity (talk) 11:39, August 25, 2014 (UTC)

Gender

Surely I can't be alone in noticing that in spite of being referred to as "he", Dog doesn't have the unfortunately distinctive male features typical of canines. Is this a result of prudishness or is Dog indeed a "she"? --vom 10:07, December 12, 2009 (UTC)

Poor Dog. He is indeed a confirmed boy see here. So I guess male Mabari must just be made that way hehe. Loleil 10:59, December 12, 2009 (UTC)

Well, at least me naming him "Dave" wasn't misguided in that case! So the Fereldans must geld their dogs, then? What utter cads. --vom 13:25, December 12, 2009 (UTC)

I see someone's decided to make it "official", then. :D --vom 18:19, January 10, 2010 (UTC)

I don't make Dog's gender official. I already name it Carol and Fluffly (lol). I don't think that he/she has a espefic gender. Well, it's not so important, is it? Male or female, its still a badass wardog, haha. Rocketai (talk) 17:33, June 24, 2010 (UTC)

You guys never noticed the way he lifts up his leg to pee, or the fact he marks territory? Both things Male dogs are usually found doingAgent51

Yes and they are both actions that female dogs do not perform.

Duty Helm

Dog retrieved the Duty helmet for me on my first try immediately after I entered the Aeducan Thaig. I added it to the list of places the helm can be found. --Hunterofjello 08:40, December 21, 2009 (UTC)

My first try in The Dead Trenches got me Duty, added to list. v1.0 00iCon 08:13, February 21, 2010 (UTC)

Bark. Bark bark bark bark!

For anyone interested, I finally got tired of listening to Dog bark incessantly while I was trying to speak to my companions at camp, as it tends to drown them out. I didn't want to resort to just turning Sound Effects off or WAY down (although this will effectively muzzle him), so I did a search to see if this barking was being triggered by something (not enough pats on the head!) and found this reply from Gabochido, from Bioware:

"I cant comment on any updates or mods to quiet him down, but I can tell you a little bit about the development and how it works. Please don't read this if knowing how the game is programmed ruins the magic and suspension of disbelief for you.

(HOW THE GAME IS PROGRAMMED SPOILER)

"The dog, as well as all creatures, has idle animations. Most games have this at least for the main character, its a set of animations (and accompanying sounds) that play after a random amount of time usually used to make the character play "bored" motions. The dog's idle animations mostly involve him scratching and barking and since a good part of AI is still being processed in the background during conversations, he will often go into his idle animation and start barking."

"During development the average random time that passed before characters started playing their idle animations used to be shorter, but the "dog barking too much" complaint came up and we increased the time until everyone that tested the game was happy. Obviously we didn't increase it enough for cat owners."

(END OF SPOILER)

and when someone asked if there was some modding that could be done via the toolset to fix it:

Sorry, I never really worked with the sound files. I worked more with the animation files and the internal code. In any case, I believe all the sound files are clumped together in one big binary file. If you have access to the 2DA files, there is one called global.xls that contains a variable that's named something like party_members_idle_timer (I can't remember exactly and I don't have acces to it right now). If you can make this variable have a notably larger value and recompile the file, the dog (and all other party members) will reduce the frequency with which they do their idle animations. Sorry I can't help you more as I don't really know exactly how much of the data files modders have access to with the toolset.

The thread can be found here: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/9/index/199791/1 and I wasn't sure if it was worthy to be put on the main page, so figured I'd put it up in talk and let wiser minds than mine decide. And, maybe some might find the information useful, in any case. Fritti Tailchaser 09:15, December 30, 2009 (UTC)

Nice of the to make a fool of you, I'll add my two coppers. I've found the sound effects drown out everything, and if you have base, they'll rattle the windows. Even the music will over power most of the dialogue. To this terrible reality, I've turned the music and sound effects to about three quarters while the dialogue is at full; I have no complaints about any now. Well that's a lie... they didn't seem to use a real dog, or a properly trained voice acting dog, his dialogue leaves much to be desired, lapdogs have more depth of lung and he's supposed to be about two hundred pounds, I should piss myself when he barks for the first time; hell, my dog has never been impressed by Dog. Shadizar666 (Ruck Rules) 07:21, March 15, 2013 (UTC)

Plot Hole

I'm not entirely convinced about the "plot hole" as detailed in the article: couldn't Dog make his own way to Flemeth's gaff much as he does when finding the player when starting from a non-human noble origin? I don't think it needs to be included, but thought it would be better to ask opinions rather than simply removing the paragraph in question. --vom 22:52, January 1, 2010 (UTC)

I haven't played Human Noble Orgin but if Warden doesn't even wonder how Mabari could go through whole tower full of Darkspawn and find lone hut in the wild forest, that sounds like plot oversight to me. For me Dog finding Warden scene looked like it was luck. Not Dog specifically searching for Warden, but Dog escaping away from Darkspawn and bumping into Warden's team on accident. Xalard 23:07, January 1, 2010 (UTC)

In a way I'd agree, but it does seem to have a parallel with Dog finding you just after leaving for Lothering; I guess the point isn't so much whether it's likely that Dog would be able to outrun the darkspawn horde and locate you over whatever distance but whether it was an oversight. In that regard, I don't think it was. There are similar elements to be found where the game's realism seems a little tenuous, such as its rather flexible concept of time and distance, but I think at some point we have to accept things as they are.

So my point is that I don't think it was an oversight, just the way things are done in Dragon Age. --vom 00:34, January 2, 2010 (UTC)

The most important aspect missed here about this "plot hole" is that Morrigan makes it clear that her description of how Flemeth saves you (turning into an Eagle and swooping down to pick you up) is a fanciful tale. Her last words are something to the effect of "If you want to know what really happened, why don't you ask Flemeth? She may even tell you.". In other words, they didn't want to describe a specific method of rescue; probably to enhance the mysterious and secretive nature of Flemeth and her powers at that point. Or maybe they were just lazy. Either way, there is clearly enough ambiguity implied that the actual manner of her rescue could account for saving Dog as well. I've removed that portion from the page in light of this. Nezroy 18:41, January 19, 2010 (UTC)

Given the events in DA2 (and the fight against her), she most likely turned into a dragon, not an eagle. Dragons might be able to grasp with their hind legs in this world, that would explain it pretty well.

Plot regarding the Dog seems pretty hole-y to me. Another thing I noticed missing is: a Human Noble's Dog is never treated against the taint and yet somehow it manages to chew its way through the entire horde with no ill effects whatsoever. --Shinen-san (talk) 19:55, June 2, 2015 (UTC)

Is there a way to rename the lousy mutt?

I acidently pressed "X" too many times and called him "Dog". Yeah. Any way to change the name? Thanks. Coroxn 21:21, January 9, 2010 (UTC)

Same issue here, although in my case it seems to be caused by an override-style mod. (I tested by disabling all my dazip mods, and still was unable to name him). A mod or console command that allowed you to name him, or rename him, would be invaluable. 216.186.140.210 22:15, January 31, 2010 (UTC)

Calling him a "Lousy Mutt" just because you were too impatient to listen to the conversation? It should teach you a lesson to be more willing to wait. Some of the conversations in this game are fascinating. Still, I think Dog is an awesome name for a dog, although I renamed mine "Dug". Karshí 19:29, May 15, 2010 (UTC)

I named my dog (2nd play through) Zevran... just to see if anything interesting happens. Haven't gotten to the part where actual Zevran joins yet. 24.35.19.132 (talk)

Re: Finding Items Note

Note: there is an apparently a bug where you get the message 'the Dog has brought you an item!' but you will receive nothing in your inventory. If you get that message but no item icon on the lower left corner of the screen, you will receive no item.

Is this truly accurate? I thought this at first but realized it just was an item I already had so was added to the stack. Hollowness 04:47, January 12, 2010 (UTC)

No, no, this is right. You sometimes get nothing. Well, nothing you'd want toput in your bag... Coroxn 09:19, January 12, 2010 (UTC)

How do the talents work?

I levelled Dog and he didn't get any new talents. Does he only gain them at preset levels, or via some other means, or what? Titanium Dragon 05:56, February 4, 2010 (UTC)

Your guess that Dog doesn't get a talent on every level up is correct. I've never really paid attention to which ones they are, but he does seem to get a point every few levels. By the end of the game, he should have been able to learn all his available talents (in my experience, there's also been one additional, unspendable point - presumably a glitch!) ♦ Zoev ^talk 13:33, February 4, 2010 (UTC)

In the console version, he also gains the Warrior talents, so he should never run into the issue of having an extra point. As for when he gains talent points, it's every 3rd level (Points at levels 3, 6, 9, 12, etc.). Assuming you gain all the possible experience, he may make it all the way to level 24, giving him 8 points for the player to spend (assuming a Human Noble Warden). Like all characters, he gets a starting talent (Growl), so with his set of 8 talents, he can indeed end up with an unusable talent point on the PC version.

Dog on fire!!!

That's a funny situation ... Buff your party with "Burning Weapons" and enjoy looking at the dog's ass catching fire. That happens because the burning effects are applied to the character's weapons, and since the dog itself is his own weapon his ass catches fire!

Snowflake? Really? Karshí 19:29, May 15, 2010 (UTC)

Lol, Snowflake... You should put Frost Weapons if he's called Snowflake. But Dog on fire is nothing! Behold my ice cream dog!

Rocketai (talk) 17:50, June 24, 2010 (UTC)

Return to Ostagar recruitment

I think we need to put a mention on how the Dog's recruitment works if you recruit him during the Return to Ostagar mission, as with my new character, I purposely didn't recruit him during the Battle at Ostagar, came back, found him, but was unable to recruit him. OLIOSTER ^(talk) 00:30, February 25, 2010 (UTC)

Approval

"Unlike other companions Dog's approval never drops below 100 and he can be recruited from both an origin story and a location."

This is in the "Featured Article" text, but isn't mentioned in the article itself..

If his approval never drops below 100, what is the point of the gifts for him?

Yeryry 09:29, March 30, 2010 (UTC)

There is no point, they are completely useless. Mictlantecuhtli 10:19, March 30, 2010 (UTC)

I think it's only for fun... And for waste. You wouldn't give a Lamb Bone for Alistair, would you? So you give to Dog. Rocketai (talk) 17:52, June 24, 2010 (UTC)

With the Feastday gifts, Dog is able to get approval bonuses if given the Stick. Does this mean that he is supposed to have the bonuses in Origins, but isn't being triggered because his approval doesn't appear to change? --76.92.198.182 (talk) 08:20, February 20, 2011 (UTC)

• No.--Yeti magi (talk) 23:54, January 17, 2012 (UTC)

I exploit this "glitch" by buying him the Protective Cone from the Feastday Pranks, just to get the plot point off of Bodahn, simply because it doesn't effect Dog's approval; then I let him run around with it for a bit, just cuzz I'm mean like that. Shadizar666 (Ruck Rules) 07:50, March 15, 2013 (UTC)

Found Item

While in The Dragon's Lair/Mountain Top, my dog found an old sword, rusted beyond use but with gems in the hilt that get put in your inventory. Not sure if it's a random item or if it's specific to that map. 69.114.65.137 (talk) 06:36, June 22, 2010 (UTC)

I just had a look and got the same message. However, the item didn't show up in my inventory. Is anything showing up in yours? Loleil ^Talk 08:47, June 22, 2010 (UTC)

I vaguely remember finding this elsewhere (I don't think I had dog with me during the urn of sacred ashes quest). But I could be wrong.

@Loleil: If it puts gems in your inventory and you already have gems of the same type, it might not become immediately apparent, because they won't be listed as the newest items. Unfortunately the game doesn't update the "found date" for item stacks when you add a new item to the stack, but the should still me marked as new when you scroll through the inventory. Did you check for that? --M.harmless (talk) 09:37, June 22, 2010 (UTC)

Ok, I dug out my old save game and can confirm that a) my memory is rusty at best and b) the sword is apparently always found at the Mountain Top. . When dog finds it a Sapphire and an Amethyst appear in my inventory --M.harmless (talk) 01:19, June 23, 2010 (UTC)

Magic Greatsword - This sword also appears in the list of Sacred Urn items in the toolset, but it's not located in any containers or equipped to any enemy throughout the questline. It may be a trigger item for the rusty sword found by Dog, as the tag is different than that of the regular Magic Greatsword. Mictlantecuhtli (talk) 11:31, June 24, 2010 (UTC)

What happens to Dog?

What happens to Dog at the end of Dragon Age Origins?

---

No one knows. There are speculations about what happened to him. In the Epilogue section says that if the Warden dies, Dog may stay with Sten since Sten respects him and calls him "true warrior" or Dog may stay with The Warden's friends. If the Warden survives, Dog stays with him/her but he doesn't appears in Awakening (which I found very ridiculous) so no one knows Dog's fate. --Rocketai (talk) 02:17, July 23, 2010 (UTC)

Ok..I thought he turns into a stray when you fight the Archdemon.24.87.4.53 (talk) 08:00, July 24, 2010 (UTC)

Isn't there something said about Fergus using dog to repopulate the mabari's lost during the Blight? Shadizar666 (Ruck Rules) 07:53, March 15, 2013 (UTC)

Reference to Rabbit in The Calling?

I've read that there is a reference to Rabbit/Dog in The Calling, but I can't find out what it is. Maybe it should be listed here or on the easter eggs page?

Move candidate

I think this is one of the instance when I think the disambiguation page is not needed. Dog in Origins has a more prominent role than the one in Dragon Age II. I would favor to remove the disambiguation page and simply use one of the notes on the wiki for disambiguations. Not all pages sharing the same title must have a disambiguation page (as we may get overzealous with this). --D. (talk · contr) 21:16, May 25, 2011 (UTC)

That was long overdue; the article has replaced the disambiguation page. --D. (talk · contr) 02:25, June 29, 2011 (UTC)

Correction?

a spoiler in the Landmark section says the Dalish Landmark Tent disappears if you side with the *elves*? I can't check up on that at the moment - can anyone confirm my suspicion that this is supposed to say "werewolves"? --Yeti magi (talk) 00:12, January 18, 2012 (UTC)

Dexterity Bonus?

The article says giving him gifts at 100% approval "will still improve its dexterity, like all companions". That isn't correct, based upon experience... RomeoReject (talk) 08:11, May 26, 2012 (UTC)

It's been corrected to say that only Stick will improve dexterity. ··· d·day! 14:33, May 26, 2012 (UTC)

Goofy Glitch

ps3 Dog fell in combat, but was risen and finished the battle. However, his "at rest" pose kiltered to forty five degrees; as long as he was in motion, he was fine. The following cut scene corrected the problem. Shadizar666 (Ruck Rules) 21:24, March 9, 2013 (UTC)

split candidate

In consistency with other articles/pages that are distinguished in the same way, I believe Dog should be moved to Dog (Origins) and "Dog" page to become a disambiguation one. However if the candidate is successful, this does not end there, as all the pages that link to "Dog" should re-link to Dog (Origins). 23:14, August 18, 2013 (UTC)

Per D-day above, I think this Dog has a much more significant role so I favour leaving this page name unchanged. Loleil ^Talk 08:22, August 22, 2013 (UTC)

Same reasoning as a few posts above (under "Move candidate"). I don't believe consistency is enough to warrant a split. ··· d·day! 18:08, September 4, 2013 (UTC)

Been awhile since this was proposed but I'm against splitting it, for reasons given above by others. Kelcat (talk) 19:29, November 27, 2013 (UTC)

Same reason.FirstDrellSpectre (talk) 19:31, November 27, 2013 (UTC)

I have removed the split proposal per the discussion. ··· d·day! 19:57, December 6, 2013 (UTC)

two dogs?

hey, I hate to point this out... but isnt the human noble dog, technically an entirely different living entity from the dog from ostagar. Although their effect on the game is identical... and they do the exact same things... these dogs are two different dogs < _ > my brain hurts D: ralok (talk) 01:18, October 7, 2013 (UTC)

You're technically correct. Human Noble origin dog is the player's personal dog, that he/she has presumably owned for some time. The dog that can be recruited in Ostagar, and later as a last chance in the DLC, is just another Mabarri that happened to have imprinted on the player. They are only referred to as the same in the context of there being only one dog as a companion, whether it's the Human Noble's personal Mabarri or the Mabarri from the King's army. 68.83.57.83 (talk) 06:57, January 2, 2014 (UTC)

It's possible that, since all the Origins happen regardless of which story you personally chose to play through, that this IS the Human Noble's Mabari - when Howe's troops attacked, Dog was the only survivor, and ran off to look for Fergus, maybe told to seek him out by their dying owner. Mabari are supposed to be smart enough to understand human speech, so it's conceivable that he followed soldiers he overheard mentioning being en route to Ostagar. The Kennel Master says his owner "died in the previous battle", but given how many soldiers probably died in that battle, if Dog was found among the wounded, maybe looking around for a familiar face or voice, it would be easy to assume that his owner was among the dead. Would the kennel master really know every dog? Especially given the nature of imprinting, it seems likely that most soldiers with their own Mabari would keep theirs with them in camp. Obviously this is just a silly idea, but I like the idea that they're the same. 99.17.242.91 (talk) 08:35, August 5, 2016 (UTC)

Should Dog be listed as a Warden?

In The Calling, Hafter is said to essentially be a Warden since he's fought darkspawn and ingested their blood. Even his page lists him as a Warden. Since the same goes for this dog when it comes to fighting darkspawn, perhaps he should be listed as a Warden as well?

StillAlive (talk) 02:22, February 25, 2014 (UTC)

As you know digesting darkspawn blood is not the exact way to become a Grey Warden. In fact, Hafter is expected to have undertaken the Joining, unlike the Dog. I don't remember it being explicitly stated in the novel but I think it's heavily implied. 02:39, February 25, 2014 (UTC)

Landmark redirection

I noticed Landmark redirects here. It made sense, but now that DA:I has a category of Collectibles called Landmarks, it may be less appropriate. Perhaps we should have a disambiguation page for Landmark/Landmarks pointing to here and Collections ? FR (talk) 14:43, December 28, 2014 (UTC)

Yeah, it makes sense. – mostlyautumn • talk • contribs • 22:43, December 28, 2014 (UTC)

Disambiguation Page

• Since there is a separate page for Dog (Dragon Age II), I suggest that this page be moved to Dog (Origins) and that Dog becomes a disambiguation page. DaBarkspawn (talk) 15:35, June 16, 2017 (UTC)