'Dog Noses Can Save Lives': Alabama Women Will Train Dogs to Smell Cancer

ABC3340 ^ | MELANIE YUILL

[nickcarraway]

We've heard countless stories of how dogs have sniffed out danger and saved lives. Now two Alabama women will train dogs to sniff out cancer.

The two women, Cindy Roberts and Dr. Laurie Malone, recently spent time in California learning the necessary science and training methods. Roberts has a background in dog training and Dr. Malone in research. They believe their combined experience will be perfect for training dogs and adding to the evidence and research for the cancer detection field.

ABC33/40 caught up with the women at the Barking at the Moon Festival in Fultondale Sunday. Dozens of dogs were at the festival dressed in costume. Roberts and Malone said any one of them could be trained to smell cancer.

"There's no doubt that a dog's nose that is sharper than a human's nose is perfect for this," said Roberts.

The women are now certified medical scent detection dog trainers. They said they are just two out of eight people in the nation who will be receiving the certification right now.

To teach the dogs they'll present them with cancer samples. They could be blood or plasma. "We train the dogs to sniff on those then we slowly add in scents from healthy people, people with benign tumors and the dogs learn to associate the cancer smell with the positive samples," said Roberts.

Training dogs to detect cancer is personal for Roberts. "I lost my mom to lung cancer. She had breast cancer and within about two years developed lung cancer. She was diagnosed on a Tuesday and passed away on the following Monday... I knew this was something I had to become involved with so other people would hopefully have a chance to have more time with their loved ones than we had."

Roberts and Dr. Malone said canines can detect cancer earlier and more accurately than machines so they're excited to start training dogs in Alabama.

The women said they will start by training their own dogs to detect cancer then will open up the training to other dogs. They said it takes between six and nine months to train a dog to smell cancer.

Click here to learn more about the training.

[5by5]

Don’t forget that cats and dogs are also predators. Being able to smell the sick and weak can really help them improve their hunting success.

Even after becoming domesticated, they probably still “know” who’s sick.

[goodnesswins]

Whoa...

[Varda]

Dogs can sense all sorts of ills. A friend had a Belgian which could detect seizures well before anyone else could. She was a therapy dog and did this in a hospital once. Laid down in front of a patient in a wheel chair and wouldn’t move. The patient went into a grand mal and fortunately the nurses were right there.