Certain dogs can also be recruited as followers throughout the game. You can have at most one canine follower at any time. If your canine follower is left to wait for a long time, a message will appear that the dog has grown tired of waiting and they will start walking to their original location. Note: The "body box" of dog followers is larger than their appearance suggests, thus ranged attacks will sometimes hit a dog even though you have a visually clear path towards your target.
You can recruit the following canine followers:
?Barbas is the only quest-related canine follower in the game. He is the daedra companion of Clavicus Vile who takes the form of a dog, and can be found outside of Falkreath. He is invincible and will continue to follow and fight for you no matter where you bring him if you choose not to complete the related quest.
?Meeko can be found near a shack, where his previous owner has passed away.
?Stray Dogs may be found in random encounters in the wilderness, usually in combat with other hostile creatures.
?Vigilance is a war dog who can be purchased from Banning at the Markarth stables for 500 gold. If you dismiss him, he will return to Banning and you must pay the 500 gold again to get him back.