I just woke up, still got crust in my eyes... so I'm cheating & copy pasting the below from a previous thread.
I'm simply saying that its not hard enough... as the following example shows.
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Game I just played through to season 145 started out with 2 wolves and a darkling nearby in season 2. Each wolf had 44 to 64 hp & the Darkling had 86 hp. Needless to say I thought I was a dead duck & all that. Turned out that with a regular ol' spear, a padded cap & cuirass (purchased with my starting gilder); with stats all starting at 11, I kicked the snot out of them all. I made sure my Sov ran like the chick she is to a +10% def tile surrounded by neutral or negative def tiles. The xp was insane and well... 16 seasons later wiped stacks of wolves & spiders with a CR of 60-100++ with my lil ol stack of CR 27. Needless to say my Sov (named Goddess of Death) & Janusk (renamed Merchant of Death) were both lvl 6+ just 20 seasons intot he game. My game is set on rediculous; and ...
...it needs to be harder.
The AI can't handle my shwartz.
Hope the tip regarding tactical combat helps you out with your rabbid dog problem. 
So, with a little bit of armor & a basic 9dmg weapon, you can hold off the hordes of trash & if your lucky you will barely take any damage at all. Every coin earned from those combats went into buying more padded armor, etc. I never rely on def units early in game, not until they can weild a warstaff with leather armor, before that they simply become pet treats for those spiders & wolves. Needless to say, when I 1st starting playing I thought the starting trash was too dificult as well, but now it most definately is not.
Good luck & good hunting; let me know if you want/need any more tips or tricks. I smell fresh coffee in need of Baileys... happy holidays !!
