If you follow the Main Quest, I think you'll find Dogmeat [being attacked by Raiders].

May be so, I finished the game. And didn't find him.

Spoiler Warning:
Am I the only one that hates the way the game ends? Can't continue? Thats lame!

South of minefields is where he is found I think.

is dogmeat really of use? like does he do decent damage against enemies and doesnt run into massive gunfire? If not, I wont get it

Noooooooo!!!! I told my dog to fetch me a gun and he never came back...... Stupid dog.

Visit Vault 101 or Megaton. He should be there waiting for you.

I'm dling it now so hopefully i can play it soon =D.

I wouldn't advertise the illegal downloading of games if I were you mate.

Actually, you can purchase and download it from EBGames.com, though that kind of failed when we tried. (Yes, we, me and my brother)
We ended up walking to the nearest GameStop to buy it, only to find it sold out. Luckily, we found it in another shop close by. And we ended up paying the equivalent of 73.20 US Dollars. It still hurts in my wallet. Or rather, my brothers wallet. :D
But of course, that might not be what he's talking about... (There is still the possibility of Steam though)

Also, i came in a rather sucky situation recently... I had found a Giant Ant Queen, and saw that it was pretty (bleep)ing tough. So i brought out my trusty Fat Man... Only to find out that i had all my mini-nukes in my house in Megaton. GAH. So i rawkitlawnchair'd it, but that didn't seem to hurt it that much. All in all, i ended up firing 7 missiles right square in its face, and a lot of Hunting Rifle shots. GAH. Those missiles were reserved for super muties. >:C
And to think, i could've ended the fight in like, 1 second, had i remembered to bring my nukes. GAH.

Heh, I have power armor now(actually, not too good. ranger armor is on the same level) but still havent picked up a fat man, I think the guy with it didnt die when he should have ;o