Dogs for leveling?

[Flarehunter]

'eya. I'm new here, but I wanted to ask: How would you rate a dog for leveling? I just tamed an Onslaught Bloodhound and I like it so far. I used to use a worm and a wolf, so how would ya'll rate a dog in comparison to those?

~Flarehunter

[Wark]

Depends on what content you're doing, what spec you are, what your playstyle is...

I'd rate them "fine in the right circumstances," same as all the other pets.

[Flarehunter]

I'm a level 73 BM Hunter, currently leveling in Dragonblight.

[amrasillias]

I'd rather level with a tank pet with aoe threat like a turtle or a worm. Certainly when entering places with mobs packed closely together. When the new zones open you could probably level with a dog in the 80-81 zones. After that the mobs will hit a lot harder so I recommend a tanking pet

[Flarehunter]

All right; I'll probably switch back to my worm then. I love my worm.

[Wark]

I'd rather level with a tank pet with aoe threat like a turtle or a worm. Certainly when entering places with mobs packed closely together. When the new zones open you could probably level with a dog in the 80-81 zones. After that the mobs will hit a lot harder so I recommend a tanking pet

Perfect example of playstyle differences. Some people love AoEing things down, and some people want to kite a single mob to death as their pet gnaws on its heels. If you're big on AoEing, a dog wouldn't be much use; on the other hand, if you like kiting one mob to death at a time, a dog could be right up your alley thanks to their handy dandy root.

[Flarehunter]

Yeah, I did have some trouble on one quest, and I can see where a worm would do much better. It's the one where you set up the crystal thing in dragonblight and you have to defend it. Too many mobs for my dog to handle, but my worm probably would have done okay with thunderstomp.

[amrasillias]

Perfect example of playstyle differences. Some people love AoEing things down, and some people want to kite a single mob to death as their pet gnaws on its heels. If you're big on AoEing, a dog wouldn't be much use; on the other hand, if you like kiting one mob to death at a time, a dog could be right up your alley thanks to their handy dandy root.

Sure I love to do both, but kiting a mob and running into another is a mess you don't want My turtle has saved me many times when in crowded areas. In that way I'm less of a dps class and more a party rolled into one

[Flarehunter]

Thanks for all the help guys. I'll probably use my worm for soloing and my dog or my wolf for DPS. Then occasionally do some grinding to get my pets up to speed.

[ZeroEdgeir]

I wouldn't worry too much about grinding their XP up. With only needing 5% and not 10% to level, AND gaining XP from Mining/Herbalism/Archaeology (yes, they gain like 60% or so from gathering skill XP gains), leveling pets will be a breeze.

[Rikaku]

I would use the dog or wolf over the worm for leveling (personally) as they fit my playstyle more I always find tank pets are just too 'slow' for my pace. I prefer a "kill it before it kills me" approach to leveling. Throughout my 6 years of WoW, I've always found wolves, cats and now Spirit Beasts to be the best leveling partners for my playstyle.

I use my SB almost exclusively now since it kills fast and self-heals if need be. Though for my soloing of raids (such as Karazhan) or tougher bosses in certain heroics (again solo) I use a worm or warpstalker.