Boomer that diorama is beautiful. I love how the dog is just trotting allong and al the Germans are in various states of reaction. Which one is Manny? 
SF, the Zvezda dogs do indeed have the tilt stick on top. Look closely at each dog on this pic here. I thought they might be too thick when I saw them at first. I figured it would be more like the tilt rod on the AT mines I once trained upon. But after reading up on these dogs, the little stick looks right.
I do want to do a diorama, but since these handlers are in the padded winter uniforms with the felt boots, a winter scene like somewhere near the German advance finally being halted in the snows outside Moscow in late 1941 is what I have in mind.
But that spring scene of the lone dog is wow!