Dog is Alyx Vance's "pet" robot, built by her father Eli Vance to protect his daughter Alyx when she was a child. Dog's original model was around one meter in height, but as Alyx grew older, she began adding upgrades and new parts to Dog, and he towers around 2.5 meters tall at the time of Golmar Uprising. Dog has a Zero Point Energy device, much like the Gravity Gun, built into one hand so that he can pick up and throw things. Dog's body is constructed largely of scavenged scrap metal, hydraulics and wires. He has what appears to be a scrapped Combine City Scanner for a head, though with only three flaps while normally Scanners have four. He is quadrupedal, walking on his knuckles like a gorilla, but can balance himself on his hind legs if it is needed, such as when he's lifting a heavy object.
History[]
Uprising[]
Gordon Freeman was first introduced to Dog in the Black Mesa East scrap yard. As part of a training to use the Gravity Gun, Alyx arranged a game of "fetch" between Gordon and Dog, using an inert Combine Rollermine as the ball, until they are interrupted by a Combine assault on the Lambda Resistance facility. After heading back inside, Dog opens the door into an unused tunnel leading towards Ravenholm for Gordon to aid his escape, after he gets separated from Alyx. While Gordon enters the tunnel, Dog stays behind to help Alyx and the others defend the lab.
Gordon meets Dog again after he and Alyx teleport from Nova Prospekt to Kleiner's Lab at the end of the chapter Entanglement. The company splits once more when Gordon and Dog set off to find Barney Calhoun, Alyx deciding to stay with Dr. Kleiner who refuses to leave without his pet Headcrab Lamarr. Dog is quick to leave Gordon behind and charged at a nearby group of Combine troops outside the lab, tossing a ruined car at them and even fighting off an APC. He then forced open a Combine Barricade gate for Gordon, allowing him to proceed. However, Dog was sidetracked by a landing Dropship carrying Overwatch soldiers and closed the door on Gordon to attack the landing soldiers. Dog then attacks the departing Dropship, now without cargo, and ends up being carried away by the synth to the unknown.
Dog eventually managed to find Barney, and Gordon met both of them in the square in the heat of the battle, knocked over a column topped with the large statue of a horse. As Barney reported about Dog probably aware of the fact that Alyx was already in the Citadel, and tried to reunite with her, being completely uncontrollable by others. The last time Dog was seen when he once again opened a passage for Gordon, this time allowing him to proceed to the Citadel's foot, by lifting a heavy section of Combine Smart Barrier, uncovering an ancient sewer tunnel.
Dog found Gordon lying in the darkness under a pile of rubble. The sound of Alyx and Dog searching for him leaks through, and after lifting up a large slab of rock, Dog's head and eye appear through a hole. He seems elated, and quickly lifts Gordon out of the rubble.
After Gordon's recovery, Dog helped Alyx contact her father, using his metal body as an antenna by twisting his hand to get a better signal. After much deliberation, Alyx and Gordon decided to enter the Citadel, however they were blocked by a large ravine. Dog ran off in search of something, and soon threw over a large empty car. Testing the distance by throwing a rock over the ravine, he let Alyx know that her and Gordon were to climb into the car, allowing him to throw them over. Eventually Alyx conceded to tell Dog to go back to Eli after he had thrown them. Gordon and Alyx both got into the car, before Dog picked it up and threw it across the dividing ravine.
Inside Alyx's observation room are some designs of Dog during his various stages of construction. Alyx also has a photo of Dog in his earliest constructed form.
Dog appeared swinging into the hangar, jumping off the helicopter and gave the crowbar to Eli, who handed it to Gordon before declaring they have a lot of work to do.
Personality and Trait[]
Much like a real dog, Dog is very friendly, loyal, and has an intelligent and excitable personality. Similarly to Barney Calhoun, Dog provides comic relief throughout the games with his quirks and many strange and odd decisions, even dancing when he is looked at for a period of time. One of his main forms of emotive outlet is his eye, which has an aperture used in much the same way as the human eye to show feelings by opening and closing. His head flaps also move according to his mood. Dog makes friendly and playful noises such as beeps and whines, emulating the sounds made by a real dog, especially when he is around Alyx. Dog shares a very close relationship with Alyx, often asking her to play along with him. Alyx treats Dog much like a pet, calling him "boy" and using similar body language and voice as when talking to a real dog. She pats her upper thighs when calling him at Black Mesa East, and tells him to "fetch" when Gordon throws the Rollermine.
Where Dog differs from the average pet is his intelligence. Dog is a highly inquisitive and resourceful creature and is able to figure out solutions to problems, as unothodox as they may be, such as throwing Gordon and Alyx across to the citadel on a rundown car. Alyx also implies that Dog is able to perform calculations, where in the same situation she suggests that Dog has "done the math", though Dog quickly refutes this. Nevertheless, Dog and Alyx have a mutual trust and friendship which has grown over their years together which makes Alyx now trusts Dog's opinions and hunches, as crazy as they may sometimes appear.
Like a real dog, Dog is also very protective of his master and by extension those she holds dear, like Gordon Freeman or Eli Vance.
Skills and Abilities[]
When angered, he can be a dangerous foe to those who anger him, using his immense strength and weight to smash enemies to the ground or tear them apart. Despite his seemingly haphazard construction, Dog is a highly durable combatant with strong offense and defense. Dog can withstand gunfire and powerful impact without a visible scratch, and is able to use his strength to devastating effect against similarly durable targets like Combine synths. Dog is also highly flexible and agile which helps when dealing with enemies larger than himself. All of this in combination with his intelligence make Dog a very powerful asset for the Resistance that can take down powerful enemies which would normally take a huge amount of effort for humans to take down.