I'm not currently super active with Fallout 4 Modding, but I will try to keep up and respond to any comments here.
If you have any trouble, feel free to let me know. BUT Before you do please check the "Known Issues" section in the description.
You can also look for help in my discord server! discord.gg/Idon'thaveadiscordserverforthisandthisisn'tareallink (don't try to click that it isn't a real link)
one of the dogs we had used to turn the key we had in the lock in the window, open the window and go into the garden.. we ended up having to take the key out of the window lock... luckily it couldnt find the key and put it back in the lock...
Now, this sounds exactly like what I have been looking for, Dogmeat gets to be a proper Service Dog :) ...thank you Axion :) ...I used to work as a civvie in a Special Forces Barracks, one of the Service Dogs was bought to us to meet, they were socializing the dog to help her towards retirement, it was asked if the dog had ever killed anyone, yes seven people, it's a bit confronting when you're petting the cute dog lol...though they look very much like German Shepards, they are not, they use Malinois Shepards, apparently the German Shepard is too big and heavy, not as agile, Dogmeat isn't very big, perfect :)
Glad you're liking the mod! Dogmeat is supposed to be a German Shepherd, canonically, but I agree that he looks like he could be a Malinois, or at least a mix. It is great you got to have that experience, and I am glad they were helping her in her transition back into civilian life. Hopefully she found a wonderful home. I'm not sure how much you know about the story of shepherds in the service, but it is actually pretty interesting stuff.
German Shepherds have a long history of military service, but you are correct that Belgian Malinois are one of the most prominent breeds in U.S. Military applications. When the War Dog Program, or K-9 Corps, was founded back in 1942 they had originally accepted about 30 breeds of dog into the program, but through trial and testing they narrowed that list down to only 7. On that list were the German Shepherd, and the Belgian Shepherd.
Although the DOD recruits a variety of dogs from all over the world, there is currently only one official program run by the DOD themselves. The only dogs born and bred into the U.S. Military are through the DOD Military Working Dog Breeding Program (or "Puppy Program" because holy s#*! that's a mouthful) which make up about 13% of all Military Working Dogs in the U.S. Military. These dogs come out of the 341st Training Squadron at Joint Base San Antonio, and they only raise one breed: the Belgian Malinois.
Belgian Malinois (a variety of the Belgian Shepherd) and the German Shepherd come from the same type of herding dog, so they're actually not too distantly related. Being shepherding dogs, both breeds are highly intelligent, trainable, driven, and have a strong work ethic. In addition, Belgian Malinois are more compact and agile than their cousins (as you had mentioned), which is one of the reasons that they are often preferred. They are big enough to knock someone down, but big enough to pick up, so they strike a good balance.
Malinois are also, unfortunately, a bit more neurotic and high-strung than their cousins, making them higher maintenance and more difficult to handle. Luckily, in military applications this is less of a concern. Training just kinda comes with the territory. This is one of the reasons why they are very popular with military and police, but less for regular ol' civilians. They are much harder to deal with if you lack the proper training/skill/experience. Especially for veteran dogs it can be tricky, socialization, like you brought up, is super important.
The most decorated war dog in WWII was actually a German Shepherd mix by the name of Chips, who received commendations for extraordinary heroism, and valor in combat (among other things). Through the years, long since Chips, there have been many German Shepherds (and mixes thereof) that have served in the US Military in some capacity as Military Working Dogs. They do still see use in military applications both in the U.S. and the armed forces of other countries, albeit not so much as the Belgian Malinois nowadays.
Anyway, yeah, sorry I guess I got lost. I was supposed to be giving a TEDtalk, but I think I took a wrong turn at Albuquerque, so now here I am posting it in a Nexus comment instead. My dog is neither German nor Belgian, but he is a goofus. My mom has a Malinois/German mix though, and my buddy growing up had a Malinois. They are super neat dogs.
Thank you for the very thorough reply :) ...I see this is a subject you love :) ...I just learnt a lot from your spiel and I appreciate it :) ...I'm actually in Australia, it was Western Australia where I worked in the Special Forces Barracks and they have nothing but Malinois there and from what i understand that is across the board in Australia's Military, though the Aussie Police from what I understand stick purely with German Shepards (outside of Sniffer Dogs) in their service, different needs.
I was raised with German Shepards, they are the only dog my mum will have, I have been around them all my life, so am very aware of their incredible natures :) ...if I ever decide to get a dog myself, it will always be a Shepard :) ...Thank you again for your post, I found it really interesting and glad you got side tracked and wrote a novel :D ...And thank you Axion for this very awesome Mod, Dogmeat is perfect with it :)
Okay so I am apparently a Ding dong. ha. I read the whole damn thing. I just wanted to say that this is hilarious. This is exactly what I'd write if I made a mod. I have found a kindred soul. Hello kindred soul. If you ever check these please call me a ding dong and my life will be complete. :D
Hello back at ya kindred soul, fellow wanderer, my dear yet unknown stranger-friend-companion-pal. it isn't meant to be hilarious I just don't know when to stop talking. A problem which will only become more and more and then even more apparent by the second. I may fulfill your request, but first I have a pressing question, and I must issue a quest in turn.
You said this is the sorta thing you'd write if you made a mod, so, uh, why don't you? I will repeat that I am not exceptionally smart or gifted, this wasn't hard to make. I'm not your parent, I can't and won't tell you what to do, but I would make a request.
IF THIS MOD TOUCHED YOUR LIFE IN A POSITIVE WAY TO ANY EXTENT If it brought any small amount of joy to you, whether by the mod itself or just my dumb description... Pay it forward. Do something. Make something. Go forward and spread the good word of doing cool sh*t. It is so easy to endlessly consume, but is it not also our responsibility to create?
The greatest repayment I could receive for the joy I may have brought anyone with my dumb rambling The absolute greatest gift I could receive Is knowing that I inspired someone enough to do something. Doesn't matter how little. You making your own mod, with its own dumb description, is worth ten thousand praises of my own work. Even the simplest of mods, a face preset, bodyslide preset, quick-and-dirty edit, whatever, anything. I know that may seem like a daunting task, a big burden to shoulder, but you are capable. Maybe you don't have time. Maybe you are simply too busy. That's fair, life is work and life is hard. But if the question is ARE YOU CAPABLE, the answer is a resounding yes. Whoever, whenever you are. You can do it. I believe in you. Even not knowing you, I believe in you. I followed in others footsteps to get here, and mine are no harder to follow.
I hope to one day be commenting on your mod and to be called a dingdong in your comment section. If not, hey, that's okay too, like I said life is hard and I get it, but that is my great wish. Either way, I gratefully accept your kindness. It truly does mean something to me.
Sincerely, thank you. Thank you for using your most valuable resource, your time, to read my dumb bullsh*t. Thank you for your kind words. Thank you for reading the whole d*mn thing. I spent too much time on it.
I shall now fulfill your request, kind traveler, and complete your life with my utterance:
YOU, TERRASORRA, ARE A DINGDONGUS OF THE HIGHEST ORDER A DINGDONG INCOMPARABLE AND INCOMPREHENSIBLE YOUR DINGDONGETRY IS TRULY BOUNDLESS AND AWE INSPIRING
now, with your life complete, go forth and do cool sh*t (even if it isn't making mods)
Holy s#*!, Dogmeat kicks all the ass now. Just ran through Green tech genetics for the courser chip and he was decapitating gunners almost as fast as I was gunning them down. He really is best boy.
When you say load it after other dog modifying mods does that include name change, dogmeat marker, dogmeat accessories, and fur texture? I don't know if that's a stupid question or not I just don't know how much that affects your mod and I still don't know how to put something lower on the load order.
Sorry for the super-mega-ultra-almost-a-year-later late reply, but uh, when in doubt load last. Whatever you want to take priority should be below the others, so if you care more about dogmeat doing the dogmeat things in this mod then that should be below anything else that makes changes, because those are what will overwrite.
That said, with stuff like accessories and fur texture it really shouldn't matter. Naming and markers? Probably not a problem, but idk sometimes things are weirder than you expect. Changing your load order is gonna just depend on what kind of mod manager you're using, or if you're doing it yourself, etc.
If you search "Editing fallout mod load order for x" in your search engine of choice, with "x" being whatever mod wrangler yer usin', it should get ya there.
But what exactly is the issue with the Reunion quest? From what I understand - correct me if I'm wrong - it has something to do with the part where you have to follow Dogmeat while he tracks down Kellog and leads you to Fort Hagen? Because I just did that entire quest while running this mod - along with a few other Dogmeat mods - and forgot to disable it before starting Reunion, but I haven't had a single issue. Just finished the whole quest and Dogmeat led me to where we needed to go just fine. So I dunno if I just got lucky or if it's something else but yeah, I was really concerned that it was gonna break Dogmeat entirely but so far this mod has worked perfectly.
so this is an amazing mod but there is one problem, the dogs can't open doors things, I didn't think anything of it at first, until I noticed my dog followers weren't following me places, and worse getting stuck, now if your just using dog meat it's an easy enough fix just use any mod that teleports companions behind you, but if your using an additional dog companion mod that doesn't use the traditional companion slots well your dog will get stuck and you'll either need to use console commands or just not bring them with you because constantly having to use console commands to move the dog gets old quick and comes with the usual risks of using console commands.
you mention providing a work around, so I'm hoping I can get that, for dogmeat alone like i said no problem i have aft so i just gotta draw my gun and boom right behind me, but i like using other dog companion mods like https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/51617#:~:text=Dog%20Companion%20Smelly-,Dog%20Companion%20Smelly,-Endorsements and it became too much of a pain to constantly console command that dog around seeing as he doesn't occupy a traditional companion slot and as such is not affected by AFT
Hmm, yeah, I didn't really think about additional dog companion mods. You could change it so dogs can open doors again, I explain how to do that in the mod description. A workaround for additional dogs would be complicated.
I always just used AFT for Dogmeat, and console commands in a few select situations, but with the former not applying to the extra companion dogs and the latter being a a bit of a pain, I'd say your best bet is, unfortunately, just disabling the "Dogs can't open doors" feature.
Lmao! you had me at "just want to see a dog eat the everloving sh*t out of people's faces. He will do that a lot." As for the door opening thing.. I don't see the problem... if you want him inside, then open the fkn door I guess... I hate how he is always opening doors and installed "locksmith Lock your doors n containers" partially just to correct this behavior.. (but mostly to have containers settlers can't steal from). Now i'm going to go out and about, and watch some face eating.. Cheers!
55 comments
I'm not currently super active with Fallout 4 Modding, but I will try to keep up and respond to any comments here.
If you have any trouble, feel free to let me know.
BUT
Before you do please check the "Known Issues" section in the description.
You can also look for help in my discord server!
discord.gg/Idon'thaveadiscordserverforthisandthisisn'tareallink
(don't try to click that it isn't a real link)
Same. xD
(1957? For reals? Or no?)
German Shepherds have a long history of military service, but you are correct that Belgian Malinois are one of the most prominent breeds in U.S. Military applications. When the War Dog Program, or K-9 Corps, was founded back in 1942 they had originally accepted about 30 breeds of dog into the program, but through trial and testing they narrowed that list down to only 7. On that list were the German Shepherd, and the Belgian Shepherd.
Although the DOD recruits a variety of dogs from all over the world, there is currently only one official program run by the DOD themselves. The only dogs born and bred into the U.S. Military are through the DOD Military Working Dog Breeding Program (or "Puppy Program" because holy s#*! that's a mouthful) which make up about 13% of all Military Working Dogs in the U.S. Military. These dogs come out of the 341st Training Squadron at Joint Base San Antonio, and they only raise one breed: the Belgian Malinois.
Belgian Malinois (a variety of the Belgian Shepherd) and the German Shepherd come from the same type of herding dog, so they're actually not too distantly related. Being shepherding dogs, both breeds are highly intelligent, trainable, driven, and have a strong work ethic. In addition, Belgian Malinois are more compact and agile than their cousins (as you had mentioned), which is one of the reasons that they are often preferred. They are big enough to knock someone down, but big enough to pick up, so they strike a good balance.
Malinois are also, unfortunately, a bit more neurotic and high-strung than their cousins, making them higher maintenance and more difficult to handle. Luckily, in military applications this is less of a concern. Training just kinda comes with the territory. This is one of the reasons why they are very popular with military and police, but less for regular ol' civilians. They are much harder to deal with if you lack the proper training/skill/experience. Especially for veteran dogs it can be tricky, socialization, like you brought up, is super important.
The most decorated war dog in WWII was actually a German Shepherd mix by the name of Chips, who received commendations for extraordinary heroism, and valor in combat (among other things). Through the years, long since Chips, there have been many German Shepherds (and mixes thereof) that have served in the US Military in some capacity as Military Working Dogs. They do still see use in military applications both in the U.S. and the armed forces of other countries, albeit not so much as the Belgian Malinois nowadays.
Anyway, yeah, sorry I guess I got lost. I was supposed to be giving a TEDtalk, but I think I took a wrong turn at Albuquerque, so now here I am posting it in a Nexus comment instead. My dog is neither German nor Belgian, but he is a goofus. My mom has a Malinois/German mix though, and my buddy growing up had a Malinois. They are super neat dogs.
I was raised with German Shepards, they are the only dog my mum will have, I have been around them all my life, so am very aware of their incredible natures :) ...if I ever decide to get a dog myself, it will always be a Shepard :) ...Thank you again for your post, I found it really interesting and glad you got side tracked and wrote a novel :D ...And thank you Axion for this very awesome Mod, Dogmeat is perfect with it :)
it isn't meant to be hilarious I just don't know when to stop talking.
A problem which will only become more and more and then even more apparent by the second.
I may fulfill your request, but first I have a pressing question, and I must issue a quest in turn.
You said this is the sorta thing you'd write if you made a mod, so, uh, why don't you?
I will repeat that I am not exceptionally smart or gifted, this wasn't hard to make.
I'm not your parent, I can't and won't tell you what to do, but I would make a request.
IF THIS MOD TOUCHED YOUR LIFE IN A POSITIVE WAY TO ANY EXTENT
If it brought any small amount of joy to you, whether by the mod itself or just my dumb description...
Pay it forward. Do something. Make something. Go forward and spread the good word of doing cool sh*t.
It is so easy to endlessly consume, but is it not also our responsibility to create?
The greatest repayment I could receive for the joy I may have brought anyone with my dumb rambling
The absolute greatest gift I could receive
Is knowing that I inspired someone enough to do something. Doesn't matter how little.
You making your own mod, with its own dumb description, is worth ten thousand praises of my own work.
Even the simplest of mods, a face preset, bodyslide preset, quick-and-dirty edit, whatever, anything.
I know that may seem like a daunting task, a big burden to shoulder, but you are capable.
Maybe you don't have time. Maybe you are simply too busy. That's fair, life is work and life is hard.
But if the question is ARE YOU CAPABLE, the answer is a resounding yes. Whoever, whenever you are.
You can do it. I believe in you. Even not knowing you, I believe in you.
I followed in others footsteps to get here, and mine are no harder to follow.
I hope to one day be commenting on your mod and to be called a dingdong in your comment section.
If not, hey, that's okay too, like I said life is hard and I get it, but that is my great wish.
Either way, I gratefully accept your kindness. It truly does mean something to me.
Sincerely, thank you. Thank you for using your most valuable resource, your time, to read my dumb bullsh*t.
Thank you for your kind words. Thank you for reading the whole d*mn thing. I spent too much time on it.
I shall now fulfill your request, kind traveler, and complete your life with my utterance:
YOU, TERRASORRA, ARE A DINGDONGUS OF THE HIGHEST ORDER
A DINGDONG INCOMPARABLE AND INCOMPREHENSIBLE
YOUR DINGDONGETRY IS TRULY BOUNDLESS AND AWE INSPIRING
now, with your life complete, go forth and do cool sh*t (even if it isn't making mods)
He really is best boy.
That said, with stuff like accessories and fur texture it really shouldn't matter. Naming and markers? Probably not a problem, but idk sometimes things are weirder than you expect. Changing your load order is gonna just depend on what kind of mod manager you're using, or if you're doing it yourself, etc.
If you search "Editing fallout mod load order for x" in your search engine of choice, with "x" being whatever mod wrangler yer usin', it should get ya there.
But what exactly is the issue with the Reunion quest? From what I understand - correct me if I'm wrong - it has something to do with the part where you have to follow Dogmeat while he tracks down Kellog and leads you to Fort Hagen?
Because I just did that entire quest while running this mod - along with a few other Dogmeat mods - and forgot to disable it before starting Reunion, but I haven't had a single issue. Just finished the whole quest and Dogmeat led me to where we needed to go just fine. So I dunno if I just got lucky or if it's something else but yeah, I was really concerned that it was gonna break Dogmeat entirely but so far this mod has worked perfectly.
Glad you're liking the mod, and glad you didn't run into any issues.
you mention providing a work around, so I'm hoping I can get that, for dogmeat alone like i said no problem i have aft so i just gotta draw my gun and boom right behind me, but i like using other dog companion mods like https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/51617#:~:text=Dog%20Companion%20Smelly-,Dog%20Companion%20Smelly,-Endorsements
and it became too much of a pain to constantly console command that dog around seeing as he doesn't occupy a traditional companion slot and as such is not affected by AFT
I always just used AFT for Dogmeat, and console commands in a few select situations, but with the former not applying to the extra companion dogs and the latter being a a bit of a pain, I'd say your best bet is, unfortunately, just disabling the "Dogs can't open doors" feature.
As for the door opening thing.. I don't see the problem... if you want him inside, then open the fkn door I guess...
I hate how he is always opening doors and installed "locksmith Lock your doors n containers" partially just to correct this behavior.. (but mostly to have containers settlers can't steal from).
Now i'm going to go out and about, and watch some face eating..
Cheers!