Canines contribute so much to their human’s daily lives!
From service and therapy dogs to search and rescue dogs,
there are also medical detection or bio-detection dogs.
Meet these incredible and potentially life-saving dogs!
What are Bio-Detection Dogs?
Bio-detection dogs fall under the category of Medical Detection Dogs along with Medical Alert Assistance Dogs. Both classes are highly trained to detect specific medical odors that may be still undetectable by today’s medical tests. Specifically:
- Medical Alert Assistance dogs detect small changes in a person’s natural scent.
- Bio-detection dogs detect odors of disease in biological samples including urine, breath, plasma, sweat and saliva tests.
Courtesy of MedicalDetectionDogs.org.uk
Why Bio-Detection Dogs?
It is a well-known fact that our beloved K9s are “odor aficionados!” Researchers estimate our dogs can smell 10,000 to 100,000 times better than our wimpy human sense of smell! Also, the part of the dog’s brain devoted to scent is approximately 7 times greater than our own!
All these factors enhance a dog’s scent ability to be able to process different strains of odor in just one scent!
This incredible sense of smell allows dogs to detect diseases even in the tiniest of amounts. For example, research done in England in 2014, indicated “dogs were capable of detecting tiny traces (around one part per trillion) … of the odors created by different diseases.”
Research has shown dogs can detect the equivalent of
one teaspoon of sugar in TWO Olympic-sized swimming pools!
Diseases Sniffed Out
There are a variety of diseases a dog can be trained to sniff and alert on. Diseases are detected through odors of disease and chemical components. Again, most of them can be detected by a trained canine before the disease can even be detected by today’s tests increasing the survival rate with early diagnosis and treatment. Detection can also come before any symptoms manifest.
Diseases that can be detected by bio-detection dogs include:
- Cancers
- Neurological diseases (including Parkinson’s)
- Bacterial infections
- Anti-microbial resistance and drug-resistant infections (or “superbugs”)
- Malaria
- And recently, COVID-19
Meet Karma, a Black Lab, Bio-Detection Dog in Training!
How these Dogs Detect Diseases
Cancer cells, unlike healthy cells, emit a very specific odor. Amazingly, bio-detection dogs can detect diseases far earlier than any current testing. According to the AKC, these dogs can smell cancers while they are still in the original site before even spreading to other areas of the body.
Even more remarkably, bio-detection dogs do not need to smell the cancerous growth itself because they can detect the cancerous smell via biological (or natural waste material, like the breath or urine).
Meet some other trained bio-detection dogs including
Stewie, Enloe and Osa performing life-saving
work against cancer and other diseases.
Meet the COVID-19 Detection Dogs
With the recent introduction of the coronavirus pandemic, groundbreaking work is being done to create the latest generation of bio-detection dogs who can sniff out the COVID virus in their next chapter of saving human lives.
Meet Norman and Storm the latest bio-detection dogs
Need Help in Creating a Well-Mannered Dog? We Offer Training for Every Dog!
East Valley K9 Services takes a flexible, open approach creating a custom program to meet the unique needs and goals of each client and their dog because every family is different and all dogs have their own personalities!
Call 480-382-0144 or send us an email to schedule.
Serving Chandler, Gilbert, Tempe and East Valley areas of Arizona.
Additional Reading:
AKC: Dogs Detecting Disease: Meet America’s Cancer-Sniffing Canines
Petful: COVID-19 Detection Dogs Enlisted in the Fight Against the Coronavirus
Medical Detection Dogs Website
Image Credits (Shown in Order of Appearance):
Courtesy of MedicalDetectionDogs.org.uk
