Can't you dumb dogs heel?!?

[Vaporisor]

I am new to the game but what if you just dont choose a master for animal (none)? You can train them everything and when they dont have master then they cant go into fight.

If you train animals you can expect that master will pretty soon make a bond causing debuff(-10 or something like that) if animal that is trained in obedience does not follow his bonded master.

I have only seen that penalty when they are assigned to somebody else.  Either that or I havent noticed it correctly.

[sadpickle]

I assign them all to the pacificist doctor until after the fight is over. She hangs back and has a nap while everyone else shoots.

EDIT: I think animal intelligence needs a little work. Obedience is really just "follow me when drafted". The impulse to follow a colonist when drafted should stem from another skill. Clicking dogs to click a 'heel' button sounds like painful micromanagement.

[Wolfen Waffle]

This year old thread still applies today, I can't get through this raid without my brainless dogs playing in the middle of a shootout

Does anyone know of a mod that addresses the stupidity of my dogs?

[Mufflamingo]

Question: How long is the debuff when you sell/kill bonded animals?

[Mday]

I just accept the loses and train more animals.

Early game I let the animal assault the enemy from one side, and send my man to flank the enemy from the other side. While this move can reduce unnecessary losses from friendly fire, some of the enemy will return fire at your pawn. An unlucky hit and your pawn will be forever missing a nose or ear. So I just keep breeding and training more animal until at some points I have enough animal to repel any raids without firing a shot.
Do not sell your animal. If you sell your animal you get a bigger debuff (similar to when it get killed). That very same animal can then reappear as wild life. Yes it still has its old name. If it die for whatever reason your pawn will get upset.

To get rid of bonded animal, form a caravan then abandon them in the wild. This way you only get a -5 debuff for 5 days, which shouldn't be to hard to handle. I have yet seen an animal reappear after being abandon so I am assuming this is the safer way to go.

[TrashMan]

Right now the only technique I have to prevent animals from engaging in fights while still being able to fight with all my colonists involves getting the animals in a room and locking all the doors. It's a bit tedious.

You idiots do realize that you can simply turn off "follow maters when drafted" in the animals tab, right?

[Aerial]

You idiots do realize that you can simply turn off "follow maters when drafted" in the animals tab, right?

No need to be rude. 

However, he's correct.  In the animals tab there is a row of items that can be checked if you want the animals trained in that area, including rescue and hauling.  The last two in the list are to follow the master into combat and follow the master when doing fieldwork (hunting, etc).  If you uncheck those, the animal will stay inside its assigned zone.

The problem is that the moment you successfully train Obedience on an animal, those get set true automatically.  Tynan should change it so the default is to keep those unchecked.

[quilzas]

The last two in the list are to follow the master into combat and follow the master when doing fieldwork (hunting, etc).  If you uncheck those, the animal will stay inside its assigned zone.

The problem is that the moment you successfully train Obedience on an animal, those get set true automatically.  Tynan should change it so the default is to keep those unchecked.

Yeah, it would be nice if training obedience didn't autocheck those two options. I'm always undoing them and setting master to none (unless someone got bonded.. ugh). I just keep puppies for hauling.

During a raid I restrict all animals to an inside zone where they'll be out of the way of the raid.