Hmmm..just remembered that cougars, being big cats (and like all little cats), can't be trained. I have decided that the Elves are messing with my mind.
Untrue, one of my forts had War Leopards. 34.11 though, not sure about 40.x yet.
Really? The DF Wiki says cougars can't be trained. Also, I am getting bored waiting for the children to become adults. I want to see what they are like when they become fully grown Dwarfs (a few of them are already becoming hardened and a few have died from lack of attention). I have plans for them once they hit adulthood. But I think I have to wait at least another year, game time, before the first few become adults.
So it is either start killing Elves, to help make my soldiers even more use to death and blood and screaming OR start filling the hallways with random spike traps to train the children, AND adults, to become even more hardened and uncaring.
Oh, on the other hand my animals are doing great due to the advice this forum has given me. All my animals are fat, I have increased my egg laying birds at least four fold, and now have a steady, if small, supply of milk, cheese, and other animal byproducts. My fields grown under the weight of food and material they grow every season. Most of the Dwarfs not in the military, or unemployed because they have nothing to do, are content or happy. Even those who live on the surface.