Posted on 04/05/2020 3:00:21 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Man’s best friend could soon become a lifeline to citizens threatened by the spread of the coronavirus.
A charity, which has previously trained dogs to detect malaria, believes canines might be able to use their powerful sense of smell to detect the disease.
U.K.- based Medical Detection Dogs is working with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Durham University in the collaboration, and, if successful, the animals could be used to identify travelers infected with the virus who are entering a country. They would also be able to be deployed in other public spaces to identify individuals who may be unaware they might be spreading the disease.
For years the charity has been researching the science behind dogs’ sense of smell and believes dogs may be able to detect this latest threat to the world’s health. It has successfully trained dogs to spot diseases such as cancer, Parkinson’s and bacterial infections. They are also able to detect subtle changes in the temperature of the skin, so could potentially tell if someone has a fever.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
How long does it take a trained dog to be retrained to alert to a different odor?
I hope to God that dogs can’t catch this virus. I know they have said they can’t, but what if they’re wrong?
_____________
DITTO
And they might not be able to.
Like,who cares?
breathing?
Probably not long at all.
Several of my Dobe’s relatives do scent work competition and once the dog initially understands the command ‘seek’ means find anything that smells like whatever sample was offered to it, it goes pretty quickly.
You really learn a lot about your fellow FReepers on these threads.
Leni
If you want to fall for this hysteria,you’re welcome to go for it6.
Thanks.
From watching cop shows as a kid I know blood hounds do that, but had no idea about GSDs, Dobermans, Labs, or Goldens.
With no training at all [because why would I?] my Dobe detects pregnant women, even down to a mere 3 weeks.
I assume it’s because he loves kids and knows there might be one in there.
It’s weird.
He checks out every woman that gets close enough to sniff.
So you find out out some women are pregnant before they do? I assume you don’t tell them?
Sounds like Laz.
A Doberman holds the Guiness World Record for tracking.
https://nationalpurebreddogday.com/record-for-the-best-tracking-dog-his-breed-may-surprise-you/
Hope the dogs go sniff Bill Gate’s rear end.
LOL!
The first one was the girl who works in my supermarket.
After going bananas over a herd of pregnant women in Hobby Lobby, he then examined her, aggressively.
I apologized for his crazy behavior and told her about the HL ladies and she gasped.
She had *just* found out she was 3 weeks pregnant.
I gave her a little stuffed Doberman toy for her baby and she is always fussing over the dog, still.
The funniest is when he sniffs older women and I tell them why.
They look horrified until he signals they’re “empty”.
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