2 war dogs in tier 1 gives you access to extra XP and creeps that you can't solo. it may slow your tech down by 1-2 vills.
as for combat, they do great damage and are dirt cheap, and you can make them midfight. build limit is crappy though
Keep in mind they get +25% hp from tier 2
Playing: Poker. Yay.
Retired: Age of Empires 3, Warcraft 3, Guild Wars, Dark Age of Camelot, Age of Empires 2.