NAZI scientists tried to breed a secret army of "educated" dogs that could speak, read and write, according to a new book.

Of all the experiments conducted by Hitler's henchmen in their search for the secret weapon that could help them win the war, the activities of the Tier-Sprechschule may be the most bizarre, according Dr Jan Bondeson, a lecturer at Cardiff University.

So called "educated" dogs were collected from across Germany and sent for training to the Animal Speech School in Leutenberg, near the northwestern city of Hannover.

They included an Airedale terrier called Rolf who, it was claimed, was able to spell by tapping his paw on a board, each letter of the alphabet being represented by a certain number of taps.

Rolf was said to have discussed religion, learned foreign languages, written poetry and once asked a visiting noblewoman, "Can you wag your tail?"

Another dog, a German pointer named Don, impressed his handlers by imitating a human voice to bark in German, "Hungry! Give me cakes."

The ultimate Nazi hound, however, may have been the dog that barked "Mein Fuhrer" when asked who Adolf Hitler was.

Dr Bondeson, an author of a number of history books, claims the Nazis viewed dogs as being almost as intelligent as humans and believed that only physical limitations prevented them from interacting as equals.

"In the 1920s, Germany had numerous 'new animal psychologists' who believed dogs were nearly as intelligent as humans, and capable of abstract thinking and communication," Dr Bondeson told The London Times.

"When the Nazi Party took over, one might have thought they would be building concentration camps to lock these fanatics up, but instead they were actually very interested in their ideas.

"Part of the Nazi philosophy was that there was a strong bond between humans and nature - they believed a good Nazi should be an animal friend.

"Indeed, when they started interning Jews, the newspapers were flooded with outraged letters from Germans wondering what had happened to the pets they left behind. They seemed to think nothing of human rights, but lots about animal rights."

Hitler himself was well known as a dog lover and had two German shepherds, called Blondi and Bella. He killed Blondi moments before shooting himself in his bunker in April 1945.

Dr Bondeson's book, Amazing Dogs: A Cabinet of Canine Curiosities, also includes chapters on acting dogs, travelling dogs, holy dogs and exceptionally faithful dogs.