Hi all , I don`t quite have the knowledge of the U.S Marines during the Pacific war with Japan , as I do of the Marines in the Vietnam war . However , as I was once the owner of a Doberman , this is kind of a tribute to the Dog breed and those Marines . It appears it was during the the Pacific War , that U.S Dog units found their place . A large percent at that time , of the dogs used were Dobermans . Built like athletes , with fine looks , these dogs were intelligent too . Often trained with two handlers , as the dogs were used both for message running as well as seeking out the enemy . The handlers were split between units , so that the dogs would recognise and respond to each individual handler over long distances , this was important as the humid heat often played havoc with radios , the dogs run these messages often under fire . The Dogs were used for " on Point " duties too , it is said they could sense Japanese snipers and Machine gun nests up to and exceeding a distance of 100 yards . The Dogs were trained to alert the handlers in silence , a couple of instances I read , that if the Dog stopped , looked left and right this was a sign that the enemy had been detected . I assume this one was at night in a fox hole , that the handler had to gently place his hand on the Dogs throat to " feel the growl " , that their was enemy movement out front . The kit is a mix of BBi and Dragon kit , the handler has souvenired a Japanese sword . I made a custom harness with pouches from British webbing, along with a custom lead for the Dog . The Doberman is from an old G.I Joe set , which was pretty cool in it`s own right . I did look for a more realistic Doberman , but they worked out quite expensive , maybe some time in the future . Hope you like them anyways .
