It seems that dogs assigned to someone ([v]-[p]-[e]) do not get "released" from their assignment, when the dwarf they're assigned to dies, so they'll bundle up at the corpse. This obviously makes them sorta useless.
To give some background info, I set my starting site to be at a bunch of pink pi's (iirc) to see what it was. I put all points into Wrestler skills, leather armor and war dogs - got about 40 dogs. I put the dwarves in a squad, and assigned the dogs to 3-4 different dwarves, then sent my squad out to kill goblins.
The lack of a real fortress may cause the problem.
Screenshot of problem:
Bonus pic:
Edit: It seems that this isn't a new problem.
[ October 30, 2007: Message edited by: rawr ]