Perhaps Dogs are a Man’s Best Friend

At our monthly pensioners meeting we had a fascinating talk about the charity Medical Detection Dogs. Carol who gave the talk, with the aid of slides and short films illustrated the work of the charity which does research into why dogs can recognise the early stages of some diseases.  We were all disappointed that she did not bring any dogs with her but as Carol explained the trained dogs don’t usually have direct contact with humans.

As we all know dogs have a highly developed sense of smell. It is this ability that is put to use in identifying whether someone has the early stages of cancer, usually through urine samples. This is possible because the early stages of cancer give off an odour which the dogs can be trained to identify. The charity are working on the possibility of producing a machine/electronics that can replicate what the dogs can do which could then be put general use as a screening process, rather like the well-established Brest Screening Programme. So far a lot of work has been done to help with the detection of Prostate Cancer where the current method of screening, via blood PS levels, can throw up a high level of false alarms. Amazingly this research does not get public financial research despite the possibility of major savings if such diagnostics a reality.

Another aspect of the Charity which many will be more familiar with is their work with Medical Alert Assistance Dogs. These are the clever chaps who can help, for example, someone with Type 1 diabetes know when they are about to experience a dangerous low blood sugar level, nearly always before the owner has any idea what is happening.  Apparently some of these dogs, with their owners, were featured at Crufts this year.   

For anyone wanting to find out more about this charity their website details are:- http://medicaldetectiondogs.org.uk/index.html  Be warned that this website has seriously cute pictures of dogs!!!