"Fallout" and Harlan Ellison's "A Boy and His Dog"
theportalist.com
Many "Fallout" fans still don't know that the franchise was partially inspired by Harlan Ellison's short story "A Boy and His Dog."

In 1969, he wrote a short story titled “A Boy and His Dog,” which tells the tale of a 15-year-old wasteland scavenger named Vic and his telepathic dog Blood. The story was also adapted into a 1975 film, which Fallout designer Jesse Heinig told The Escapist in 2009 “inspired Fallout on many levels” (including Dogmeat’s name, which was taken from a nickname Vic gives Blood in the film).

It also influenced “Love and Monsters” (2020)

https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/lq-jones-on-a-boy-and-his-dog-the-rt-interview/

And Mad Max.

Oh, and the dog is the same dog that was “Tiger” on “The Brady Bunch”