Rushden Photo Gallery

Medical Sniffer Dogs - 2 July 2015

with thanks to John Dingemans 

We had a very interesting presentation of the incredible work that medical dogs are doing now. Not only that but the massive potential to carry the lessons learned from the work on diabetes to other diseases. Brittain leads the world in this area which perhaps is not surprising as we have a long standing love and understanding of our canine friends. We were also pleased to see Sarah Lever coming all the way from Wales.  

Village Link's talk on Medical Detection Dogs required extra chairs for the people who had come to find out more about this fascinating medical advance. Geoff Lambert, the speaker introduced us to Buddy, a retired medical dog and warned us that he would probably be checking our breath afterwards for sugar overload from the biscuits, that was if he didn't eat them first. We were amazed at how these dogs can be used. At present they are a major support for children with type 1 diabetes and also for people with narcolepsy. Mongrels are used and it costs £11,000 to train a dog. They are dedicated to the detection of human disease through canine olfaction. A dog's sense of smell is estimated to be 100,00 times more sensitive than a human's. They are trained by learning to recognise glasses of water and their contents but owners have also said that dogs are aware when they have illnesses such as cancer and work is continuing along these lines including bladder, bowel, prostate and breast. They are now legally allowed in schools and in Holland stand at hospital entrances to sniff out C Difficil. If the dog sits down you are a carrier! Other diseases recognised are Addison's and TB. If you would like to learn more visit their website or write to geofflambert2@ntlworld.com  

with thanks to John Dingemans