It's not "1,000 wasps or 1 dog", it's "1,000 dogs at once, or "1 dog at once, 1,000 different times". Rare but huge and coordinated siege, or a steady and predictable background radiation of small issues.

The latter is easier to handle, easier to fix, and much more suvivable if you do fuck it up a bit. It gives you some leeway to learn from mistakes.

If you make a mistake during the 1000 dog siege, or if you don't have enough guards on standby and ready to go just in case of this rare event, you're just cooked.