Can Dogs Smell Cancer?

Therefore, another fascinating characteristic for dogs is their ability to smell.  Dogs have a hyper capacity to track a scent. No environment for this behavior is expressed more abundantly than while on open walks. This behavioral instinct is not by accident.  The instinct for dogs to sniff is natural; however, it is also an expression of the species basic need.  For dogs, I believe, this comes down to created purpose.

Incredible studies indicate that man’s best friend can sniff out cancer. New research out of Italy has found that dogs can actually detect prostate cancer with an astounding 98% accuracy rate. That is more accurate than some of the most advanced lab procedures and screening tests.

Dogs have been shown throughout history with search and rescue, bomb detection, and now with cancer, tremendous results. There is certainly not enough research, but the research that is out there is promising. So, the research concludes, if dogs are able to correlate smells to cancer then it must be true. Especially, if dogs are detecting it; smells associated with disease has been going on since the beginning, dating back to Chinese medicine. There are certain smells associated with specific diseases. We understand this with diabetes, other diseases, including later stage cancers, there is an odor that is detectable by humans in latter stages (Dina Zaphiris: Malibu’s Dog Trainer to the Stars).

The fact that there is an odor attached to the latter stages of cancer may provide researchers with further direction on how to attack cancer and may be even illuminate cancer. The fact that the largest Urology departments in the country are talking about this study is remarkable. It may be an indication, that we who are in cancer research need to think about cancer differently and start taking a closer look at these volatile compounds, for instance in how we conduct screening tests (Dr. Marty Makary; Prof of Public Health at Johns Hopkins).

Using positive stimulation where dogs are trained to lay down when detecting the disease has had a 40% - 90% accuracy rate. A specific combination of odors, dogs have sniffed out diseases such as breast cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, colon & bladder cancer, diet, smoking, alcohol and melanoma have already being utilized in the medical, search & rescue, and law enforcement industries.

Thinking creatively entails bolstering our understanding that dogs have five times the number of sensory cells in their noses than humans may be an indication that researchers should consider airborne  particles in urine samples and/or Breathalyzer tests (Dr. Marty Makary; Prof of Public Health at Johns Hopkins).

We can discover cancer in the most bazaar ways.

Where false positives in screening tests are concerned, dogs have shown to not only have tremendous olfactory sensitivity, but specificity; which is incredible. This means, not only can dogs tell us that cancer is present with a higher percentage of accuracy, but dogs can even tell us when cancer is not present. 

Research dogs are trained to ignore healthy samples; they are also trained to ignore disease controls.  Other diseases that may have common odors with cancer, therefore, not only are the research dogs highly scientifically trained, but – across the board, they are giving researchers low false positives. These screening tests are completely non-invasive. We can train dogs to detect on urine samples, breath samples, and simple plasma samples.  These are again, non-invasive, low cost, highly accurate methods for early detection and screening for most cancers that don’t have screening methods today (Dina Zaphiris: Malibu’s Dog Trainer to the Stars).

The Doctors

The scientific fact is that dogs are helping us detect cancers before they can become too serious to be treated within an individual. Which I declare, is one additional reason to love All Good Dogs.

I welcome any thoughts you may have on this topic.