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

[Clistenes]

Dogs, called Greyhounds but obviously a different creature than the modern racing dog, were a major military asset for the Conquistadors and definitely terorrized and killed a lot of Indians including armed ones. Their value to the Spanish was immediately understood and exploited. It was considered that 3 or 4 soldiers in a village were vulnerable but with a dog the Indians were too afraid to start trouble.
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The Conquistador's "greyhounds" were big game hunting dogs, similar to wolfhounds, deerhounds and borzois; not the modern ones, that are bred for their looks and to win prizes at shows, but the old landraces that were used to hunt wolves, deer and similar...

They also had "alanos", which were big game catch dogs similar to argentine mastiffs used to hunt boars and bears. The alanos were the dogs who were expected to fight armed men who stood their ground, while sighthounds were used to chase natives who were running away.

They equiped their dogs with leather and cotton armor, good enough to stop crappy native arrows, spears and javelins.

And psychological warfare played a big part on it. Natives were terrified of european dogs, which they saw as alien human-eating beasts similar to wolves or cougars (they didn't have big dogs). On top of that, the native americans from the Caribbean and Mexico didn't have mounts, beasts of burden, working beasts, shepherd dogs or even specialized hunting dogs, so they weren't used to watch trained animals acting in a way that looked intelligent. The sight of a weird beast wearing armor, following verbal orders during battle and taking cover from arrows must have seem unnatural to them...

Another advantage dogs had was their ability to detect hidden enemies and to guard the camp at night, preventing both ambushes and nocturnal attacks.

And as somebody said, dogs could fight in pitch darkness. Becerrillo (Little Calf) was said to have killed thirty-three enemies during a nocturnal battle; it seems the natives assaulted the spanish camp at night, hoping to use the surprise and the lack of visibility to compensate for their lesser equipment, but they bumped onto Becerillo, who picked them one by one at his pleasure; the caribbeans couldn't see him, and even if they could hear him, they probably hesitated before running towards the screams of a fellow being butchered by a beast in pitch darkness...

The best dogs had a pay as high as a crossbowman (50% more than a swordman).