Dresser leg repair questions

[AlanS]

I have to repair three legs (short 5" stout legs attached to  'skirt' that attaches to the bottom of a dresser.  A lot of weight downwards and if the dresser is pushed, side tension.   The dresser originally had the legs doweled into the skirt (2- 3/8" dowels each).  These broke, took some meat out of the skirt and leg while at it.   Repair is complete. I have remade one of the skirts and repaired with new wood the other skirt.   So, I am at the point of assembly.   I could return to using dowels or I could route out 3/8" slots on both the legs and skirt ends to put stub tendons- made from oak.   
Any thoughts?    Also, when is epoxy used, vs. yellow glue.

[wood-chips]

A picture would be helpful.  That aside based on your description of the construction and the damage incurred I think I would be leery of routing a grove.  If you route a grove and the skirt is not very thick I think it would compromise the skirt, especially since the failure was caused by side thrust.

Is there room underneath the dresser and structure such that you could install wood gussets or blocking that would not  be seen? If you were able to do that it would certainly strengthen the legs.  The other possibility, providing there is room between the bottom drawer and the base of the dresser would be to add bracing to stiffen the dresser and add additional support for securing the legs.

With adequate structural support and tight fitting joints yellow woodworking glue should be sufficient for this repair.

[JGrout]

if the glued areas are clean yellow glue. If they are not clean them and use yellow glue 

is there any way to put glue blocks behind the skirt to assist the dowels in the legs in distributing any lateral ,loads away from the corner legs?

If so that would be a good choice 

Joe