Recruit Meeko the Dog!

Here is a very detailed but quick guide with screenshots on how to recruit Meeko the dog! Meeko is a non-essential NPC follower (meaing he can die.)
The main reasons why you would want to recruit Meeko are:
1) He is an animal follower, so that you can have him with you as well as a human
2) He is free (compared to the 500 gold dogs at Markarth)
3) He takes about two minutes to recruit with no monster fighting (unless a dragon happens to fly your way)
4) He has a name and also a small backstory which I have detailed below

Walkthrough for recruiting Meeko the dog

First, go to the area south of Solitude shown in the screenshot below:


You should find a stone road. Follow along it until you come to a dog standing on the side of the road:


Once you get close enough he will start to run into the woods. Follow him to this building labeled Meeko's Shack:


He will run inside and lay down next to a bed with a dead Nord laying on it:

You can then talk to meeko and by saying the obvious words he will be your follower, ready and willing fight off your enimies.

Lore for Meeko

Despite it being quite small there is a certain amount of lore behind Meeko and his original owner.
The screen-shot below is taken of the diary from the table next to the dead Nord. It tells of the sad yet courageous story of a man who has contracted Rockjoint and most certainly will die from it. He has no family left and says that he knows his faithful dog can take care of himself.

Side-notes

After recruiting Meeko you can tell him to wait at his current location, or if you wish you can have him go back to his home which is very conveniently marked "Meeko's Shack". With a reluctant growl he will "leave your services" and go back to Meeko's Shack where he will stay until further notice.

Closing

Thank you very much for checking out my guide on recruiting Meeko! I hope he brings you days of enjoyable adventures in Skyrim. Please leave a comment letting me know your thoughts on my first guide, and if it helped you out please rate it too!

[Focused Bokeh]

@Thuggiesstylez, how kind of you to say that! Seriously, that put a huge smile on my face just now reading your comment. I'm glad this guide gave you one too!

[Thuggiestylez]

I still love this old Guide and to this date i Find it Useful Thanks Mate for making it its been 5 years now since i commented last time and still enjoy reading it as much as i did back in 2k14

[Focused Bokeh]

Yes, you are able to make Meeko a house pet if you have that DLC!

[ZARIGAN]

Is there a way that you can make him a pet in Hearthfire? Or do you just make him wait at your home?

[Loker]

Is there a way to make him immortal? It would suck if he died. I know you can resurrect with console commands but is there anything more permanent?

[Focused Bokeh]

Unfortunately they are just regularly textured dogs like meeko. The war dogs you are able to purchase are right inside / next to the stables near the entrance to Markarth from a man named Banning, I don't believe there are an infinite number of dogs you can keep buying so take care to make sure he stays healthly.
Hope that helped harpie! =)

[Harpie133]

where do you buy those 500 gold dogs? In wich part of Markarth? Im rich, so im looking for ways to spend my money, and i want a dog. are they huskies by chance?

[Ratt Damon]

I used add "showallmapmarker 1" and it doesn't show it(showallmapmarkers 1 shows and lets you fast travel everywhere in the map, except for solstheim which is weird cuz it adds all locations there too).

[Emperor Nathus]

Great gide i've ben looking for him for a long time! and he is a great dog!!!!!!

[yrmama]

He's a great dog, loyal fighting companion, replacing Vigillance, who died fighting Sabre Cats for me...