It often seems that our pups have a sixth sense when it comes to anything affecting us, and indeed most dogs are very in tuned to our needs. You may be wondering, however, how much of this “sixth sense” is science based and whether or not Fido can actually detect disease.
As most of us know, dogs depend heavily on their sense of smell to interact with and understand their world. They possess nearly 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses which is 40 times greater than the number in human noses. What’s more dog’s olfactory bulb, the place in the brain where information about odor molecules is transmitted, is about 30 times bigger than ours relative to the overall size of their brain. Yes, we’re talking about some powerful schnozzles, and that is why dogs are routinely used to detect drugs, bombs, and other illegal contraband.
Now you may be wondering how this canine superpower may be used to sniff out disease or, in other words does cancer, diabetes or viruses have a smell detectable by dogs? Generally, illnesses do cause chemical and hormonal changes that affect a person’s odor. These changes are often too subtle for the human nose to detect but can be sensed by trained medical detection dogs. For example, in trials dogs have been trained to identify cancer in humans even at an early stage, and diabetic alert dogs have been trained to sense when a patient’s blood sugar has either spiked too high or dropped too low. Most recently, scientists have trained g dogs to sniff out the corona virus, with Finland becoming the first country to put corona sniffer dogs in an airport. The accuracy rates for these pups were similar to the rates of standard PCR tests.
So, does this mean that your little fur ball can tell you if you are seriously ill? For the most part, the answer to this question is no. Although, your dog potentially has the same ability as the above-mentioned super sniffers, they must be trained and taught to distinguish between certain odors and patterns to sniff out diseases such as cancer, detect seizures and alert owners to shifts in blood sugar. These are not skills untrained dogs generally have, and even with this high level of training, cancer detection dogs, for example, have an accuracy rate of around forty percent. Although this is impressive in terms of sniff tests, it is clearly not a reliable way to identify serious illness.
On the other hand, however, Muffin can sense some molecular changes in you when you have the flu, for example, and can sense the change in your mood and vitality. These changes in your behavior along with the subtle changes in your odor are what makes your pup gentler and more caring when you are ill, as many pet parents have noticed. Ultimately, it is the strength of your bond that allows your pup to sense your wellbeing. In a strong pup-human relationship, any changes in your routine, smell and mood will be noticed by your four-legged physician.
