War Dogs

[Bewlay Bros]

At the beginning of Gladiator, Russel Crowe has a war dog. Is there any documented history that such dogs existed on the battlefield?

Thank you.

[dot.hawkes]

maybe more recently than you think, though not trained for quite the same purpose:
http://www.uswardogs.org/

[dot.hawkes]

quite an interesting subject actually:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_dog#Historica l_examples

[jake-the-peg]

Search for Canis Pugnax - war dogs

References in Pliny amoungs others and on artifacts.

If you have a mind to you can even buy the tags
http://www.romanofficer.com/Images/permcol35.j pg