Editing v0.34:Dog

{{Quality|Exceptional|08:28, 1 July 2010 (UTC)}}
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'''Dogs''' are common [[domestic animal]]s that can be [[animal trainer|trained]] to assist your dwarves in [[combat]] or [[hunting]] as either war dogs or hunting dogs. Like all tame animals they can serve as an [[butcher|emergency food supply]] and provide you with [[bones]], [[leather]], and [[skull]]s.  Dogs do not require any food.

== Using dogs ==

Dogs left to their own devices will wander around, spending most of their time in [[Meeting hall|meeting areas]], and attacking any [[invader|hostiles]] they see.

As with any friendly creature, dogs can spot [[ambusher]]s and thieves. You can assign dogs to [[restraint]]s to act as guard dogs. Guard dogs work particularly well when placed behind a hall of [[trap]]s or other siege-breaking devices. The traps will prevent aggressive invaders from harming the dogs, while the dogs prevent thieves from sneaking past the traps into the base. (Ideally, the dogs should be out of view of the trap corridor to prevent injury from ranged weapons.) Hunting dogs may be particularly well-suited to guard duty because of their improved [[observer]] skills.

You can assign a war dog or hunting dog to a dwarf via his preferences menu ({{K|v}}, select dwarf, {{K|p}}, {{K|e}}) to help him in combat. It will follow the dwarf like a [[pet]]. 

'''Note:''' ''Once a dog is assigned to a dwarf it can not be unassigned nor placed in a [[cage]]. A work-around for this is, when you train the dog, to use the dwarf you want the dog to be assigned to. Unassigned war dogs and hunting dogs follow the dwarf who trained them, but can still be caged. Assigned dogs '''can''' be [[pasture]]d; this is another option for keeping them away from danger if you have some advance warning. It's also a good idea if you decide to train the owner in a [[danger room]].''

'''Note:''' ''Using a [[civilian alert]] to keep civilians away from fighting affects war dogs as well, stopping them from following your soldiers into combat.''{{bug|1058}}

'''Note:''' ''War dogs can also be slaughtered for food.''

== Hunting dogs ==

''"A hunting animal will target the creature its owner is targeting if the owner is hunting, and it will be sneaking without a movement penalty if it is reasonably close to its hunting owner. A hunting animal notices creatures from farther away, although this isn't exactly effective if it decides to target what its owner is targeting. It all needs a bit of work, but that is true of hunting in general."'' -[[Main:Toady One|Toady One]], long before v0.31 <!-- still relevant? -->

== War dogs ==
Because of their training, war dogs do more damage in combat than untrained dogs.

Against heavily [[armor]]ed and armed opponents, dogs (war or hunting) can die quite easily, but that doesn't mean they are ''useless''.  Also, although a war dog is not nearly as dangerous against an armored opponent as an axe lord, they occasionally get lucky, and a pack of war dogs can be very dangerous indeed. They can also be used as walking meatshields, taking hits that would have otherwise injured your dwarves.

For this reason, some players attach them to any permanent close-combat military, and/or to any dwarf that regularly steps outside. However, the down side to assigning them to military dwarves is that they are very likely to die, since dogs move much faster than fully-armored dwarves and thus frequently charge in unassisted. A dead pet causes a serious unhappiness spike, and [[tantrum]]s with legendary weapon skills mixed in can really maximize the [[fun]].

For breeding purposes, female war dogs are no worse than dogs: they can give birth to puppies as well. Male war dogs also can play the role of their civil counterparts.

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{{Creatures}}
{{Category|Animals}}