Summon Zombie Dogs

Summon Zombie Dogs is a Defensive Witch Doctor skill.

In-game
When activated, summons Zombie Dogs, which are autonomous minions following the Witch Doctor. Originally the spell summons three of them, and only three can be summoned at a time, but with certain passives, the limit (and amount summoned per cast) can be increased up to six. All means of summoning obey this limit.

Each Dog will have a limited amount of Life, but they do block enemy pathing, and deal rapid blows for Physical damage. They have roughly 100% of the Witch Doctor's total Toughness, and fully benefit from their Elemental Damage skill bonuses, elites damage and damage reduction,  and many other stats, but not from Life per Hit, and their attacks have zero proc coefficient.

The cooldown of this skill prevents spamming the enemies with Dogs, but they last unlimited time.

Many other skills and items may summon Zombie Dogs, even if the Witch Doctor has no Summon Zombie Dogs skill, but having it is the only way to enhance them with runes.

Zombie Dogs (no matter if they were summoned through the Summon Zombie Dogs spell or not) may be sacrificed.

Runes

 * Rabid Dogs: The Zombie Dogs now deal Poison damage. In addition, each attack made by the dogs will inflict a poison on the victim that deals  damage as Poison per second for seconds. Poisoning stacks, but is not renewed, each stack having a separate duration.
 * Chilled to the Bone: The Zombie Dogs now deal Cold damage. In addition, any enemy that hits or is hit by Zombie Dogs is Chilled (moving 60% slower) for 3 seconds.
 * Life Link: of all damage taken by the Witch Doctor is split evenly among Zombie Dogs instead. If no Zombie Dogs remain, has no effect.
 * Burning Dogs: The Zombie Dogs now do Fire damage. In addition, each dog radiates an aura of heat, burning enemies within yards of itself for  damage as Fire per second.
 * Leeching Beasts: Zombie Dogs' attacks now benefit from Life on Hit, healing both the Witch Doctor and themselves (the Proc Coefficient stays at zero).

Non-rune enhancements

 * Uhkapian Serpent (Legendary Mojo): additional 25-30% of all damage taken by the Witch Doctor is split evenly among Zombie Dogs.
 *  (Legendary Mojo): every 2 seconds, automatically summons a Zombie Dog, and increases damage done by Sacrifice by 20-25%.
 * Mask of Jeram (Legendary Voodoo Mask): increases damage of Zombie Dogs by 150-200%.
 * Tasker and Theo (Legendary Gloves): Zombie Dogs attack 40-50% faster.
 * The Tall Man's Finger (Legendary Ring): all Zombie Dogs are replaced with one colossal Dog, which has +350% more Life and +60% more damage than all other Dogs combined.
 * Anessazi Edge (Legendary Ceremonial Knife): each Zombie Dog will Stun all enemies within 10 yards of for 1.5 seconds when summoned (through any way).
 * Enforcer (Legendary Gem): increases damage by 15% (+0.3% per rank) and reduces damage taken by 90% (rank 25 bonus).
 * Death is Life: each enemy dying in the Grasp of the Dead area has a 70% chance to summon a Zombie Dog.
 * Next of Kin: each sacrificed Dog has a 35% chance to be resurrected with full Life.
 * Devolution: an enemy killed while under Mass Confusion will summon a Zombie Dog.
 * Boogie Man: an enemy killed in the ritual area has a 50% chance to summon a Zombie Dog.
 * Zunimassa's Haunt Set (Set Bonus for 4 pieces): for every Fetish (regardless of type) the Witch Doctor has, they and their pets take 3% reduced damage.
 * Zunimassa's Haunt Set (Set Bonus for 6 pieces): Zombie Dogs deal 15000% more damage to enemies damaged by any Mana spender skills for 8 seconds, the effect does not stack.
 * Helltooth Harness Set (Set Bonus for 2 items): Zombie Dogs will apply Necrosis to attacked foes, slowing enemies by 60% and inflicting 3000% damage per tick for 10 seconds. Elemental Damage type is chosen from the highest skill bonus of the character.
 * Helltooth Harness Set (Set Bonus for 6 items): after casting Wall of Death, Zombie Dogs deal +17500% increased damage for 15 seconds.

Passives

 * Jungle Fortitude: Zombie Dogs (and the Witch Doctor) take 15% less damage.
 * Circle of Life: whenever an enemy dies within 20 yards of the Witch Doctor (increased by health / gold pickup radius), there is a 15% chance to summon an additional Zombie Dog.
 * Zombie Handler: increases maximum number of Zombie Dogs and amount summoned per cast by one, and increases the Witch Doctor's and their Life by 20%.
 * Fierce Loyalty: increases maximum number of Zombie Dogs and amount summoned per cast by one, and increases movement speed by 30% (15% in combat) if any pets are alive.
 * Tribal Rites: reduces cooldown by 25%.
 * Midnight Feast: increases maximum number of Zombie Dogs and amount summoned per cast by one, and increases their damage by 50%.

Development
Originally, Zombie dogs could be enchanted with Elemental Damage by using other skills (such as Locust Swarm or Firebomb) on them. Bashiok revealed in later posts that this effect has been removed, but was then replaced with similar runes.

Originally, the Zombie Dogs were called Mongrels.