Thursday, May 26, 2011

Hitler's Talking Dogs

A number of books and documentaries have been produced exploring Nazi fringe science experiments conducted during the Second World War. But so far none of them have touched upon this latest story, that Hitler aimed to create a race of educated dogs that could talk and read to assist with the war effort.

Adolf Hitler apparently felt man's best friend could be the Allies' worst enemy with a little bit of help, so a special 'dog school' was set up by the Germans where gifted mutts could hone their talents.

The Nazi canine recruits were trained to speak and tap out signals using their paws, with one reportedly able to say 'Mein Fuhrer' when asked to identify the Nazi dictator himself.

The Daily Telegraph reports that the school, named the Tier-Sprechschule, was set up in the 1930s and ran throughout the war period.

Nazi scientists also conducted experiments on human-canine telepathy, shown above, predating the work of Rupert Sheldrake by decades. Dog lover Adolf Hitler supposedly believed that canines were nearly as intelligent as humans and with the proper training could augment the power of his armies substantially.

When reports like this surface I'm always left wondering what else was going on in those Nazi research labs that has yet to be uncovered. Could any of it really be more ridiculous than this?

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Unknown said...

Oh lord, and I thought the Anti-tank dogs were ridiculous...

Scott Stenwick said...

You have to admit, if the anti-tank dogs could talk they'd be that much more effective. Sometimes when assaulting an enemy target you're forced to talk your way past sentries and checkpoints, and besides, what better way for a dog to get itself brought into the middle of camp than by demonstrating the ability to speak? Just like those "talking dog" YouTube videos I'm thinking that whoever encountered such a dog would be pretty motivated to show it off to the whole garrison.

Unknown said...

You guys don't get the point a dog would be a perfect undercover. It could easily get the enemies information and Chang a whole war. It was mentioned to be a weapon of war but not a physical weapon.

Scott Stenwick said...

Well, it is true that dogs seem to have the ability to transform a significant percentage of otherwise mentally healthy adults into babbling simpletons. Cats do the same thing. So perhaps this was indeed intended to be some sort of infiltration program - you know, if they could have ever gotten it to work.