Well, Hitler was a dog person. Loved his Alsatian, Blondi.
The question on my mind is whether the intelligent German dogs could stand up to the cyborg Collie the Russians were working on.
"Rall rour rases rar berong to rus!"
What I find most interesting about that is that somebody (even hypothetically) thought it would be a good idea to give that body to a creature known for chasing cars, chewing on important items, stealing food, making messes, jumping on people and taking an aggressive interest in your crotch.
Unless the idea is to enable Lassie to get Timmy out of virtually any trouble all by herself. Then it kind of makes sense.