Diagnostic Doggies

Tonight on 60 Minutes they did a story on dogs sniffing out cancer in humans. Yep. You read that correctly. They said that dog's noses are 2000 times more sensitive than human noses, and that is why they can "sense" things so much more quickly than we can (actually sometimes we never have a clue). They are actually smelling things that we didn't even know had a smell, like cancer cells.

Now take my little dog Charlie. (Not really, I don't mean to literally TAKE him) (and actually, he has several names depending on who is talking to him: "Puppy," "Scooby," "Little Dude," "Marshall," or "Charlie." Believe it or not, he comes no matter what you call him! He really is amazing!)

Sorry, I digress.

When Charlie is asleep in the bedroom and a stray dog walks by across the street on the other side of the house, he wakes up, growls, runs to the door, and starts barking at the dog that he does not even see! So it would not surprise me that a dog could sense through smell when people have illnesses. A dog would know when something isn't right, and I would think that a disease, especially an invasive one like cancer, would not smell good. Just like when a person has the flu or some other cruddy illness, you know that "sickroom" smell? Imagine how that would smell to a dog!

A dog is always sniffing, whether in an obvious way (around the floor, the food in your hand, your guests' crotches, etc.) or not so obviously. I notice even when Charlie is just standing around, his little nose is just going to town, with head turned up slightly so as to take in more of the surrounding smells.

When your dog sniffs you, that's okay, according to the show. The time to worry is when the dog's reaction to you suddenly changes. If he acts fretful, whiney, and uncomfortable when near you, especially if you are his "special person," you may have a problem. He is worried about you, so you better worry too. Go see the doctor.