Got a Real-World Weapon, Armor or Tactics Question? Mk. XXIV

[Deepbluediver]

What exactly do modern attack-dogs and security-dogs do when they've reached their target? I know they bark loudly, bite, and scratch, but is it generally to maul, or to immobilize with agony while humans move in? How often do people get knocked down by these animals in close quarters? Which extremities are their favorites, or would they be trained to attack specific areas? Is more of the dog's work done through terror, or the dog's physical power?

How do trained dogs fare against armed and well-armored humans? We can assume the human is holding or wearing an automatic rifle or pistol (which he is trained to use) along with a backpack or duffel-bag laden with gear, is already in close quarters with the dog, and is wearing military-style armor designed to protect against firearms rather than animals. He also has a knife on his person. Would a properly-trained dog simply work around armor and bite less-armored areas? Will a few quick body-shots disable an attacking canine? We can also do a variant where the dog is wearing a typical armored vest.

I recall reading one account of police trying to determine if a dog had been used as the "murder weapon" in a crime- I think the man was accused of setting it on a woman. He claimed it was just an accident, and the police had to prove it had been intentional. Apparently the dog was very sweet and friendly, until they police brought out one of those padded suits used for dog-training. And just on sight the dog started snarling and barking and trying to bite it. Unfortunately since the police were never able to figure out what word was the "attack" command, they had to destroy the animal because they couldn't be certain no one wouldn't accidentally trigger it.

So dogs can definitely be trained to attack specific things- I don't know if they have the mental capacity though to recognize and AVOID a wide range of armor.

What might be easier is to just train the dogs to go for arms and legs, which tend to be less armored anyway. AFAIK, wolves mainly bring down large prey by encircling it and biting at the legs and hindquarters until it goes into shock or collapses from bloodloss. Even if a dog couldn't kill an armored enemy on it's own, it might trip them up, slow them down, or even just distract them at the crucial moment. Given how many resources it takes to train a dog and how easily one might be dispatched with a single thrust or shot, I don't know if it's worth it (I'm sure people have tried armoring dogs, but I don't know how effective it could be) to do on a large scale, but in a more small-group setting like scouting parties they might be useful.

The other thing you might try is getting dogs to attack the enemy's horses. War-horses are usually pretty well trained, but unless they were specifically trained against dogs, a snarling pack might be enough to panic a horse and break a charge, or at least trip, distract, slow down, etc. The key would be getting the dogs to only go for enemy horses if both sides are using them. Maybe you could put bells on your horse's ankles or something like that, and teach the dogs to only go for unbelled ankles.