every character i have made since skyrim came out

has eventually has gotten bugged

the stray dog or any pet for that mater eventually disappears unable to be found .

and then you can no longer get a new pet because the game believes you already have one .

can we please have a fix for this

i know its not a game killing bug but its a really annoying one at the very least .

or at least a patch that gives us a companion locating marker on the map for when these things happen .

I would like a companion marker for Lydia. We get separated and I can't go find who or what she killed to get their stuff. Make a green dot for dead things on the compass. How do you get a dog? I have two kids and they found a pet crab. I would like to get a dog.

The stray dog is a part of a random encounter situation and usually disappears as soon as you leave the cell in which he spawns. Additionally, if you encounter the dog and he dies or you encounter him and don't tell him to go home, the game thinks you still have a animal follower. Don't try to use the stray dog for a pet with the Hearthfire expansion either, he will likely eventually disappear or be extremely bugged. Use Meeko or Vigilance as a pet instead (if you want a dog for Hearthfire).

There is a fix for this bug, however, it requires that Meeko (the dog found at Meeko's Shack) is still alive. Travel to Meeko's Shack (it is just off the main road between Dragon Bridge and Fort Snowhawk) and tell Meeko to follow you. Once he starts following you, dismiss him. This should clear the bug and should allow you to recruit another animal as a follower.

Note: The stray dog encounter is reoccurring and as mentioned previously, you will need to dismiss the stray dog everytime you come across him in the future to avoid this bug. Sometimes you are not even aware that the stray dog has spawned nearby, so this bug is often unavoidable. The fix mentioned above is repeatable (as long as Meeko stays alive) in case you become unable to recruit an animal follower again.

Lydia sometimes doesn't return to Breezehome when dismissed for unknown reasons. She is most likely in the same area where you last dismissed her. It is best to have her follow you back to Whiterun before dismissing her to avoid this problem.

To get a dog, you need to have one follow you to your Hearthfire home (or whatever home your kids live at). Choose either Meeko (from Meeko's Shack) or Vigilance (who can be bought from Banning at the Markarth Stables). The stray dog is not a good choice, as he usually disappears or gets otherwise bugged. The armored husky, Sceolang (from Fort Dawnguard) is also supposed to work, but I haven't testing him personally. When you bring the dog to your home, one of the kids will usually ask if they can keep the dog. I think that you can only have one pet per child (or a maximum of two), so if your kids already have a crab, one of them should still offer the dialogue for a dog, however, sometimes this does not happen for unknown reasons (I think it has to do with a bug when encountering the stray dog and accepting one of your kids' requests to keep a dog, even though you do not have one following you at that particular time).