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[MoonyTheHuman]

We use dwarves, dragons, and fbs.. why not hamstrers and other creatures?!
I think with a bit of mincart logic and  drop of !!SCIENCE!! we can do this, let do this fellas c:

[Shonai_Dweller]

How much damage does a falling hamster do to a goblin in a copper helmet?
If you drop 1000 hamsters at once from a quantum stockpile, does the goblin have to dodge each one individually? How much time can 1000 hamsters spend together on one tile before killing each other? Does it matter, do live hamsters do more damage than dead ones?

Science must be carried out.

[Sanctume]

You want heavy hoofed animals, like those over populated horses.

[cochramd]

1. Open creature_domestic.txt
2. Add the [TRAINABLE] token to all hooved animals.
3. Build a fort and acquire lots of hooved animals.
4. Train the hooved animals for war and pit them against goblins.
5. Post results.

[Diamond]

Animals huddled close together start attacking anyone close, be that fellow animals or passerby dorf, so it's safe to assume that they will attack anyone else as well.
So, dig a 1-tile wide, 3-tile deep pit, fill it with wild animals, drop a goblin in there, have them bite/peck/bruise him slowly to death (or legendary dodger). Assuming that goblins don't fight wild animals and animals don't murder each other before the goblin.

[FantasticDorf]

Water buffalo are the biggest embarkable 'domestic' animals', so if you want something to get mad and aggressive with horns, that's your ticket.

Here's a science question, would a war-ram (male caste restricted trained war/hunting sheep) be more effective in combat (with off combat value also totalled) than a larger or smaller animal? Female sheep don't possess horns, but sheep seem to accommodate that in-between space of being neither too big nor-too small.

Perhaps small enough with some quick footedness to avoid some attacks with the horns and force to ensure a whoopin, throw on some extra tags such as enragement and it sounds good on paper. Though they probably wouldn't be much use for anything other than domestic bodyguarding against keas or macaques (with the odd occasional kobold thief) because of the [benign] tags encouraging skittishness.

(A small test in the arena shows that base rams en-masse are terrifying opponents who employ a tactic of suffocating smaller beings in their own vomit by chokeholding them invisibly and repeatedly charging them because they are already lightning fast and can dodge well, a small herd of 8 rams can mortally injure and knock down a goblin *or anything much else* with ease, i dont know what training would do to improve them.)

[Pirate Santa]

War animals are significantly stronger than their untrained counterparts - The Wiki on war animals

They are intrinsically faster and more agile than a regular tamed animal, and can sneak alongside their partner, but are not as strong as a war animal and cannot be unassigned. - The Wiki on hunting animals

Presumably war training gives a strength/durability boost, while hunting training gives an agility boost which they seem to not need.
So they should be able to fight a bit longer before exhaustion sets in and also cause injuries easier from increased strength.

[Melting Sky]

Once upon a time I had a human caravan visit my fortress. One of the bastard guards from said caravan decided to take it upon himself to run deep into my fortress to kill all three members of my captured jabberer breading program. To pay for his sins I walled in his caravan and then drooped the corpses of my beloved jabberers on him and his treacherous comrades from about a dozen Z levels up. My research suggests that large falling animal corpses tend to be super effective at maiming greedy, arrogant human filth. Thus was born my hatred of the craven hairless apes and my corpse weaponizing program.

The moral of the story is never trust a filthy human and never let a perfectly good dead pet go to waste.

As for weaponizing living critters, you won't find much better than Jabberers. These things will strait up rip the heads off most enemies, they can be war trained, reproduce rapidly and mature quickly. Grizzly bears are also noteworthy but are level of magnitude less effective. Polar Bears are supposed to be excellent as well although I have never used them myself. If you go the mine cart shotgun or drop chute route it would be hilarious to drop about 50 angry bears on some unlucky foe.