River, the dog best known as Fallout 4’s Dogmeat, has died

River, the dog which served as both model and inspiration for Fallout 4’s Dogmeat, has died. Developer Joel Burgess, who was River’s owner, announced the death on Twitter and went over River’s impact on Fallout 4’s development as a constant presence for the development team to understand a dog companion. River was also filmed, recorded, and had her behavior watched as a reference for Dogmeat. 

In that Twitter thread, Burgess goes deep into detail about how River influenced his desire to have a dog companion in Fallout 4 be more than a weapon, but a true friend to the player. Bringing the personality of a loving, protective, outgoing dog to Fallout 4 was one of Burgess’ design goals for the character, and so River’s looks, movements, but most importantly personality were reflected in the in-game character. Dogmeat’s propensity to bring you large objects, even ones you didn’t want, was based on River.