40d Talk:Dog

War dog

is it me or can only male dogs become war dogs? i got a bitch that isnt recognized as trainable to war dog status... Twiggie 14:25, 27 November 2007 (EST)

Not at all. She's probably someone's pet already. Pet's can't be trained. Mzbundifund 13:42 27 November 2007 (CST)

Is it just for me, or are war dogs completely useless other than cannon fodder when restrained? When I assign them to dwarves they seem somewhat useful as they swarm the enemy. However, when I chain a line of 4-6 dogs at a choke point, 3+ goblins just plow through them unscathed and it seems like the dogs are trying to run from them rather than attack. Sphexx

Chained war dogs are very useful to deter theify kobolds and snatchy goblins. These units ignore traps and stealth everywhere, but dogs chained near the fort entrance will eat them immediately.--Dadamh 16:32, 30 May 2008 (EDT)

Is it possible to un-assign war/hunting dogs? --Drunken dwarf

Unassigning dogs is currently not possible. --Pugi 23:01, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

Hunting dogs

I was wondering what are the advantages of hunting dogs as opposed to war dogs. As far as i can tell the only one is that theyre weaker. --Makuus 17:53, 30 May 2008 (EDT)

"It sounds like Hunting dogs behave as if 'harass animals' was set to 'yes.'" --Kefkakrazy, from the old wiki. Also, see this thread, in which Toady says what exactly hunting and war dogs do in the 2D version.

In short, war dogs do double damage and hunting dogs are useless. --Savok 18:31, 30 May 2008 (EDT)

Useless? Doesn't the increased detection range count for anything, like guard duty? ( Ironic that war dogs spot enemies slower... )--Karp 17:45, 4 July 2008 (EDT)

From the words in the current wiki and elsewhere, it sounds like hunting dogs only work when they're assigned to someone. It may be even more strict and require the person to whom they're equipped be "hunting," but I can't confirm this. Would a hunting dog be able to see someone who is hidden from a distance, such as ambushers? --FJH 18:11, 16 March 2009 (EST)

Annoying problem with training dogs

I have tons of puppies, set to "Unavaliable", yet I never get any non-pet dogs to train. Is there any way to disable pets? This is getting ridiculous now. --AlexFili 05:46, 4 June 2008 (EDT)

unavailable means you can change it to available or ready for slaughter using b for butcher

only mature dogs can be trained

Only mature dogs, that are not in a setup cage(it can be in a stockpile though), can be trained. --PencilinHand 19:02, 25 January 2009 (EST)

The Life of a dog

A dog amazingly took down a troll by itself and now is dying from injuries. They don't heal right? Oh yeah it was a war dog.--Seaneat 06:14, 3 July 2008 (EDT)

(note, I have deleted two unsigned and very unhelpful comments here) Dogs with a caretaker will heal. Assign the dog to a dwarf (any dwarf will do), and turn on the Animal Care labor on that dwarf. After that, dogs will heal any wound that dwarves can.

I had a puppy that was wounded in a cave-in once: 2 mangled legs, 1 broken paw, moderate (brown) lower spinal chord injury. When it grew to a dog, I trained it as a War Dog and assigned it to my Captain of the Guard. 2 seasons later, the dog was fully healed except for the lower spinal chord injury, which didn't seem to slow it down at all. It went on to kill 4 goblins before I got bored of the game and abandoned the fort. --ThunderClaw 17:21, 9 October 2008 (EDT)

Puppies

Do puppies provide the same items if slaughtered as full grown dogs? – unsigned comment by MrMustard

As of currently, yes. They will provide bones, meat, fat, skin, and chunks just like dogs. (I know you meant quantity. People are speculating that the numbers are 2/3 the full-grown animal except for fat.) --GreyMaria 17:11, 9 October 2008 (EDT)

I dunno about dogs, but kittens provide 2 meat and 2 bone, instead of 3 each for cats. --RomeoFalling 09:53, 8 November 2008 (EST)

Hunting dogs flow

I can verify that unassigned hunting dogs follow the trainer just like war dogs. --PencilinHand 19:09, 25 January 2009 (EST)

Impotent war dogs

It seems to me that trained war dogs do not make puppies, regardless if they are assigned or not. Can anyone confirm/deny? --Liqum 08:30, 8 February 2009 (EST)

I can deny that. Zchris13 16:52, 8 February 2009 (EST)

What if all of your dogs are war dogs? Do male wardogs "mate" at all?

I'm fairly certain they can, I train all of my dogs to wardog status as soon as the mature. HeWhoIsPale 13:25, 16 February 2009 (EST)

Can anyone confirm/deny about a dog or animal limit? It seems I'm not getting any more puppies.... I have about 56 dogs and a total of 101 animals. At first I thought it was because I'd split up my war dogs among warriors, but putting stray war dogs in a single cage did not change the situation. Any info on this? Chess123mate 19:27, 26 February 2009 (EST)

Considering that I've spent the last two in-game years culling my animal population down from over 300, I'm pretty sure there's no limit on animals in general. --LegacyCWAL 02:09, 27 February 2009 (EST)

The explanation I recall is that there is an animal limit on births and migrations, but these don't apply to pets (who can continue having children indefinitely). I can't actually verify that, however. --Squirrelloid 02:15, 27 February 2009 (EST)

I've noticed the same thing that Chess123mate noted above. I also know that war dogs normally reproduce as shown above. None of my many (>50) dogs have had puppies in the last 3-4 game years. I thought of the animal limit as well (I had near 200) so I took care of it. Still no new dogs. Another strange thing is I've caught lots of my own cats in traps. I've never seen that before. I cannot assign the caught cat (like normally possible for caged animals), either. If I do build the cage and release it, it gets caught again (lucky) or squished (rock trap). Any thoughts?--Kwieland 08:37, 27 February 2009 (EST)

I wonder if that's related to something I'm seeing in my current fort. I've been breeding Cave Crocodiles out of a pair that I caught in my underground river, but lately a few of them have started being treated as only "half-tame", so to speak. They don't attack or scare dwarves, they are chained and caged exactly as normal, and they breed perfectly normally. However, I have to go to the z menu to butcher them, they get stuffed in a spare cage when unchained, and they show up as red on the overview map. One even started knocking over statues for no reason. I figured it was something about them being tamed "dangerous" animals, but it might be related to what you mention. --LegacyCWAL 11:44, 27 February 2009 (EST)

There is no limit to how many of an animal you can have, but if you get to 50 then they will stop becoming pregnant. Any already pregnant will eventually still give birth, pushing you over 50. I don't know if this limit applies to pets or not, but I know it applies to unassigned non-pet animals because I always embark with 49 dogs. (I fill my moats with war dogs, not water or magma.) Rkyeun 08:46, 27 February 2009 (EST)

That must be it. I have been able to buy them. Any idea on the cats issue?--Kwieland 11:36, 27 February 2009 (EST)

This would fit with what I've witnessed then. Although I personally prefer leaving my moats empty with a path back to the outer edge of my defenses...if you still want in after falling in the moat, you get to go the long way. While being filled with bolts =) --LegacyCWAL 11:44, 27 February 2009 (EST)

War Dog Burials, possible?

Just curious if any other players have been able to bury war dogs. Never used hunting dogs, so unsure about that. War Dogs are considered "pets" to some degree, but yet they don't seem to be buried in any caskets despite being "open" for pets.--DracoG 20:54, 9 June 2009 (UTC)

In my experience, war dogs aren't actually considered pets for the purposes of burial. I back this up with the fact that my current fort has a couple hundred "dog meat roasts" and yet have never chosen to butcher a dog. So, no grave wasted AND meat/bones/skin. Win-win! -- PersianLoveBomb 17:39, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

Yes, assigned dogs don't get buried. Unfortunately, dwarves still get upset about their pet dying and being left to rot. I stopped assigning war dogs to military dwarves and any others that leave the fortress walls to collect stuff, since the high rate of attrition was pushing some over into "unhappy". (Dogs don't do too well against zombie elephants. Civilians will easily run away, but their war dogs will charge and die.) --May Cause Drowsiness 19:53, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

War animals

Unsure where else to put this, but what are some of the more useful animals to have as war animals (raws edited to allow them to be, of course)? Currently I'm going on whatever the elves bring me in cages (so far, only a jaguar, and I'm thinking of putting a bull from the Dwarven caravan into the military). I was hoping to catch a giant bat, but after it went ninja and mauled my legendary miner, I had a squad of nine champions annihilate it. :(

Anyone else have any good experience in the best animals to use for this? Pariah 19:10, 1 July 2009 (UTC)