I read about the Soviet mine dog experiment of 1942 and how it proved to be a fiasco. Zvezda makes a dog soldier set, but the dogs are not running, just kept on leashes. Are there any examples of dogs actually running?
That was what I was referring to. Trouble is, like I said, the dogs are not actually running.
These are the only running dogs I could find:
Are the dogs running towards the tanks, or away from them? 
I’ve read that was the fiasco - all the noise, confusion, explosions, and MG fire just made the dogs run away. Very sensible dogs! That and the fact that dogs can’t really distinguish between German tanks and Russian tanks.
(The SPCA weren’t particularly thrilled at the plan either!) 
From Wikipedia:
The use of anti-tank dogs was escalated during 1941 and 1942, when every effort was made by the Red Army to stop the German advance at the Eastern Front of World War II. In that period, dog training schools were mostly focused on producing anti-tank dogs. About 40,000 dogs were deployed for various tasks in the Red Army.[10]
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. They would run back to the trenches and often detonated the charge upon jumping in, killing Soviet soldiers. To prevent this, the returning dogs had to be shot, often by their controllers and this 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).[6] 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.[6] 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 refuse to fight and send dogs instead.[6]
Another serious training mistake was revealed later; the Soviets used their own diesel engine tanks to train the dogs rather than German tanks which had gasoline engines.[9] As the dogs relied on their acute sense of smell, the dogs sought out familiar Soviet tanks instead of strange-smelling German tanks.[11]
2 Likes
I built the Zvezda Anti Tank Dogs figures set when it was a new release. One of the Zvezda dogs is advancing unleashed
One is being commanded by his handler, while still on his leash
And one simply being led on the leash by his walking handler
Please forgive the lower than contest quality paintwork on all of the subjects. Figures of troops are hard enough for me… dogs even more so… 
2 Likes
Animals are very hard to paint I know.
Looks pretty good from here, Stik
Thanks Ko. I will say that on screen the dogs are much bigger than in actuality, and digital cameras seem to highlight every flaw, so that seam on the dog being pointed really stands out here. 
3 Likes
I have the Zvezda set. The human figures are pretty decent - the dogs are pretty bad.
Masterbox makes a set of USMC WW2 dogs and dog handlers. They’re truly excellent…but also not running.
Dragon makes a couple variants of German troops with dogs walking on a leash, and I bet those could be used.
Other than that I suspect you might need to find some resin running dogs.
You should totally make a diorama with Mine Dogs versus Mine Exploding Monkeys.
Riich 1/35 Livestock Set- Dogs (6) - #35021 6953391900425 | eBay
Riich Models makes animals, but sadly not running dogs,