ORIGINAL: rivetcounter
The Russians used whatever means they could to slow or stop the German advance the dogs where on a starvation diet and fed seldom when they where fed food was placed under tanks and trucks before going into action the Russians would starve the dogs for several days before unleashing them problem was the dogs didn’t differentiate between army’s and ran under any vehicle or tank including Russian so the dogs did cause devastation on there own side, the Germans where surprised by this new weapon but word spread quickly and any dog was shot on sight for fear of it carrying a bomb
This was one reason why, by 1942. special "Tank Destroyer Squads" involving several "dog handlers" and led by a junior officer were created; dogs were not randomly turned loose during a tank battle but were "aimed" specifically toward German armor. (The whole notion of using dogs to deliver explosives was being seriously explored around the time that the first T-34's were undergoing their super-secret "field trials", although an initial propsal to employ them in this manner had been made back in February of 1930 ! Stalin knew Hitler was going to make his move sooner or later and ...unfortunately for the USSR ... concluded it would be "much later") .
Interestingly, not all the dogs were sent on Kamikaze missions: one group, trained specifically to plant explosives on railway lines. simply wriggled out of their vests and returned to their handlers, to claim their "rewards" and await further "deployments". Other dogs fitted with "discardable" packs were used to plant delayed-action bombs inside buildings or under parked supply vehicles.
Small arms fire and a sharp lookout proved the most effective countermeasure to the threat posed by "Dog Mines", "Mine" being a Russian term for almost any explosive device not delivered by Aircraft, Tanks, or Heavy Artillery.