In one of my fortresses, I have dog patrol squads that are each basically a single dwarf with about 10 dogs each (a mix of war and hunting dogs). These are then given a patrol route around the fortress and take turns looking for enemies with their dogs in tow. I've caught many kobolds and goblins this way.
Something like this could be done for DF, too - Goblin attacks could include "dog squads" made up of a single goblin and a number of dogs assigned to him or her. This goblin could then order his or her dogs to attack enemies, a bit like the dog units in Rome: Total War.
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As a bit of a side note, I really hope the wolf AI is tweaked in an upcoming version. I went out into the wild in Adventure mode and got jumped and killed by four wolves. I mean, come on. Wolves do not hunt humans (and as a logical consequence, probably not dwarves and elves either). I'm sick and tired of wolves being these suicidal killing machines in just about every fantasy game I ever come across. It's as ridiculous as human-hunting foxes, or human-eating mountain goats. It does not happen. Sure, people are, very rarely, killed by wolves, just the same way they're killed by power outlets, tripping over their dog's water bowl, or having a plane crash in their heads, but this doesn't change the fact that it's an incredibly rare occurrence.
The ironic thing is that animals that often are aggressive towards humans, such as musk oxen, are pretty much always perfectly tranquil in fantasy/RPG games. Go figure.