They were intensively trained by Soviet military forces between 1930 and 1946, and used from 1941 to 1943 against German tanks in World War II. Initially, dogs were trained to leave a timer-detonated bomb and retreat, but this routine was eventually replaced by an impact-detonation procedure that killed the dog in the process.
The first group of anti-tank dogs arrived at the frontline at the end of the summer of 1941 and included 30 dogs and 40 trainers. Their deployment revealed some serious problems. In order to save fuel and ammunition, dogs had been trained on tanks which stood still and did not fire their guns. In the field, the dogs refused to dive under moving tanks. Some persistent dogs ran near the tanks, waiting for them to stop, but were shot in the process. Gunfire from the tanks scared away many of the dogs, which would run back to the trenches and often detonate the charge upon jumping in, killing Soviet soldiers. To prevent this, the returning dogs had to be shot, often by their controllers, which made the trainers unwilling to work with new dogs. Some went so far as to say that the army did not stop with sacrificing people to the war and went on to slaughter dogs too; those who openly criticized the program were persecuted by “special departments” (military counterintelligence).[5] Out of the first group of 30 dogs, only four managed to detonate their bombs near the German tanks, inflicting an unknown amount of damage. Six exploded upon returning to the Soviet trenches, killing and injuring soldiers.[5] Three dogs were shot by German troops and taken away without attempts by the Soviets to prevent this, which provided examples of the detonation mechanism to the Germans. A captured German officer later reported that they learned of the anti-tank dog design from the dead animals, and considered the program desperate and inefficient. A German propaganda campaign sought to discredit the Red Army, saying that Soviet soldiers refused to fight and sent dogs instead.[5]
Another serious training mistake was revealed later; the Soviets had used their own diesel engine tanks to train the dogs rather than German tanks which had gasoline engines.[8] As the dogs relied on their acute sense of smell, they wound up seeking out familiar Soviet tanks instead of the strange-smelling German tanks.[10]
Explanation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-tank_dog
Ah. Poor pups.