I know that dogs were used in WW1. I know that they weren’t vital, but didn’t play a reasonable role in helping the soldiers in the trenches. However, there is one thing that confuses me: How were dogs used to aid in communication in the trenches? Such a task of getting them to deliver a symbol would take intense time wasting training. Something that can be invested in troop training. Other than communication, there only other uses were carrying equipment (not vital) and as a physiological comfort. Does anybody have any-more uses?
Yup. Although not vital to the war, they were useful.
As a final note, some dogs could hear shells before humans could. They would then alert their handlers. However, I only found this on one Wikipedia page and it was unsourced, so I would take it with a grain of salt.
And, yes, dogs were also used as mascots.