These are just a few of the medical conditions that dogs can identify simply by using their sense of smell. Just by being in close proximity, dogs are able to detect all these conditions
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Bacterial infections, Diabetes, Sepsis, Lyme Disease, Epilepsy, Cancer, (skin, lung, breast and prostate), Stress, Acrophobia (fear of heights), Hypoglycaemia,(Low blood sugar), Tuberculosis, Parkinson’s disease, Schizophrenia, POTS, Anxiety, Liver disease, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Malaria, Viral infections including Covid19, Tuberculosis (TB), Celiac Disease, Fear, Narcolepsy, Multiple sclerosis(MS), Addison’s disease and Psudomonos infections, Non epileptic attack Disorder, Depression and the list is rising almost monthly. So next time your best friend shows excessive interest while you are sitting down, they may not be looking for crumbs or titbits!!
The extraordinary canines from the Dog Medical Detection Dogs (UK), a charity formed in 2008, are now at the forefront of the recognition and diagnosis of more diseases and have now embarked on another first. They are now in the process of being able to detect bowel cancer. They are provided with a small amount of urine, and initial trials show promising results.
I have suggested this before, but in the future, a visit to the doctor may well be a different experience. Imagine walking past a line of dogs in the same way as we do at airports, and the nurse then merely directs you to the appropriate doctor.
In the towns of Worcester, Irene, Robertson and Rawsonville, Cape Town, South Africa, they still talk of a legendary dog who performed a feat believed to be unrivalled even today, 100 years later.
Sauer was a Doberman Pinscher police dog born in 1917 at the South African police dog school. He didn’t impress initially, and failure beckoned because he was considered to be too jittery. This all changed when he was introduced to Detective Sergeant Herbert Kruger. Early in his career, he followed a track that was 132 hours old, meaning it was over five days old.
In 1925, he was called upon to follow the trail of a cattle rustler and tracked the suspect over a distance of around 100 miles across the hot, merciless desert known as the Great Karoo. For my English readers, this translates to a dog following a scent continually from Brighton on the South coast to Bath in Somerset. In the USA, this is more than the distance between El Paso, Texas, and Little Rock, Arkansas. The track was successful, and the suspect was arrested. This is still considered a world record, which is unlikely to ever be broken. particularly considering the advances in technology in helicopters and heat-seeking equipment.
When it comes to drug detection dogs, to date, the most successful in UK history is Megan the Springer Spaniel. Even the most inventive smugglers failed to confuse her. Moulding 20 kilos of cocaine into ceramic plates and disguising the drug inside candles were among the attempts to confuse Megan, but along with the rest, they met with total failure. By the time of her retirement, she had found drugs to the value of over £30,000,000. (30million pounds.)
With a record of over 100 cocaine discoveries, her record is unlikely to be broken any time soon. Her incredible haul included 229 kilos (485 lbs) of this drug. To put this into perspective, a bag of sugar in a UK supermarket weighs 1 kilogram. (2.2 lbs). This means that Megan found the cocaine equivalent of 229 bags of sugar. One can only imagine how many addicts and/or deaths would have resulted if that stuff had hit the streets.
K9 Diesel was waiting to be euthanised. He was in a shelter in Detroit. He had 48 hours to live. He was considered to be untrainable, and there was absolutely no chance of rehoming him. He was a scruffy, unimposing German Shepherd Cross. By chance, a recruiter from the US military visited the shelter in search of canines suitable for training as explosive detection dogs. She took one look and saw all the traits that made Diesel so undesirable for rehoming were the very behaviours that would make him a potential military recruit.
His start was not the best; he was difficult, suspicious, with trust issues and needed experienced handlers to control him, but when it came down to bomb detection, he excelled. The very behaviour that made him almost too dangerous to be in a civilian home made him a top detection dog. Within a year, he had qualified and was eventually sent to Kandahar, Afghanistan, where in his career he discovered 30 bombs, every one a potential death sentence for the soldiers. Diesel became known as “The Nose of Kandahar” as the troops watched and waited for Diesel to signal that an IED was ahead. These devices were so tricky to find as they could be hidden deep underground, in discarded machinery, or even in rubble. Not a single soldier was lost during Diesel’s tour of duty. He now lives in retirement with his military handler, but he still checks his backyard every day!!
Just in case anyone thinks that every dog is trainable, with the exception of a brain-damaged one, please be aware that yes, technically all dogs are trainable; however, certain dogs can never be trusted in a domestic environment. Further more even some retired military canines need an experienced handler and can never be sent to a home that brings them into contact with confrontational situations.
“A dog has kindliness in his heart and dignity in his demeanour. The finest qualities that anyone can have.”
Kay Francis
With subtitle or not?