Dogs sniffing coronavirus

www.bbc.com...

One possibility is that they could be used at points of entry into the country, such as airports, to detect potential carriers of the virus. The dogs could also be used at testing centres, as another form of screening alongside swab tests.


More than 10 years of research gathered by Medical Detection Dogs has shown the dogs can be trained to sniff out the odour of disease at the equivalent dilution of one teaspoon of sugar in two Olympic-sized swimming pools of water.

Claire Guest, the charity's co-founder and chief executive, said she was "sure our dogs will be able to find the odour of Covid-19".

God I love dogs!
This would be so much better than any test.
I read in a different article they could detect carriers not showing symptoms yet.
Dog can already detect things like Parkinsons so why not Covid-19?.
Maybe we aren't utilizing mans best friend enough!

a reply to: JAGStorm
www.livescience.com...

Dogs that can pinpoint the scent of COVID-19 could identify infection in people who are asymptomatic,

This is awesome.
Animals are the best thing in this whole world. Dogs for detection, Llamas for antibodies (www.theguardian.com...)... just so amazing.

Being a Fireman we took part in a cancer study with dogs. I think they are out of Canada.
They used us (firemen) because we have such a high rate of cancer.
They hit on a lot of guys that got scans and found cancer. I got hit by the dogs 3 times but so far I haven’t had anything pop up. I did an Ivy Gene test as well and it didn’t turn up anything.
Dogs are pretty amazing animals.

a reply to: TexasTruth

I have a well above average sense of smell, I think they call us super smellers or something.
It is more of a curse.

A relative got Parkinson and I could smell it right away.

I had surgery a few years back and was only on a liquid diet for two weeks.
After that, I had the most heighten sense of smell. It was horrific. I could smell the chemicals in
foods. Gatorade was the worst, it smelled peppery. Outside the lilacs were blooming and the scent almost
made me vomit. I could not use most shampoos and soaps because I could smell the chemicals. Only Burts Bees was tolerable.
After eating solid foods, the hypersensitivity went away.

Using a dog to tip off a person that they may have a life threatening disease is great. Under such circumstances false positive aren't a big deal; Dog tags you and you go get screened for a more definitive diagnosis. If the dog is wrong no harm, you wasted a few hours at the Doctors ... you can't even call it a waist because at least now you know you don't have the disease.


But using a dog as gatekeeper to entry into important parts of your life (example: your place of business) and false positive become much more problematic.

Not to mention corruption or just plain inexperience on the part of the dogs handler. There are plenty of studies abound with LOE dogs being used incorrectly or worse being made to tag suspicious individuals.

a reply to: DanDanDat

But using a dog as gatekeeper to entry into important parts of your life (example: your place of business) and false positive become much more problematic.

Maybe dogs would be used as a first line of defense, but lab tests could be used to verify.
It is inconvenient yes, but it beats the alternative such as mask for everyone on an airplane.

I thought the problem everyone had is that we are all being pinpointed as asymptomatic. This method (if successful)
would identify possible asymptomatic & symptomatic people.

a reply to: DanDanDat
Good post. This and it should be clear to everyone that they can not expect a happy friendly bark. These dogs get trained and the dogs take it seriously. A lot of people will be in for a surprise if they look forward to that moment in glee.

I grew up around dogs and was fortunate enough to have a companion like that and we trained together. So I know both sides of dogs, regardless how cute or well their owner thinks they only then know their dog the second they work with it on all levels. This dog would have died for me or a family member, had nerves of steel and would be gentle around toddlers even minding not to throw them over or do any harm.

But if anyone had attacked me or the family, this side of the dog, most never see. "Civil K9 level" trained. I still mourn her perishing, we had a true bond. It's always also least 50/50 the owners fault if the dog is dangerous.

I bet you and most people around dogs know that but I drifted off and maybe someone finds it interesting.

a reply to: Shibari

Good post. This and it should be clear to everyone that they can not expect a happy friendly bark.

We're not talking therapy dogs here, we are talking working dogs similar to drug sniffing dogs.
The whole point of my post was that I think it would be great if a group of working dogs could identify
possible asymptomatic people in a crowd quickly.

a reply to: JAGStorm
The whole point of my post was that I think a lot of people will be in for a surprise. Those that only know lapdogs. The person I wrote to already spoke about this.

Since I agree with the person I wrote too, you should be able to use context and understand that I think it would be great if a group of working aka trained dogs could help out with things like that.

How you got therapy dogs out of this is also a mystery to me, since I was talking about these dogs getting trained in the first few sentences. Your response puzzles me a bit since I wrote to a different person though. Of course you can always dictate the topic in your own thread.

Just saying.

a reply to: Shibari

I think there was a misunderstanding, it seems to me you both agree..

She brought up the therapy dog in support of your comment that these would be "working dogs" and totally different in mannerisms..

Respectfully,
~meathead

a reply to: Mike Stivic

Yup, sometimes things don't translate well online

originally posted by: DanDanDat
you can't even call it a waist because at least now you know you don't have the disease.

Except this isn't a disease, it is a virus, that can result in developing certain respiratory problems like SARS.

The vast majority (80+%) have zero symptoms - so they do not have 'a disease', any more than someone exposed to influenza A but has no symptoms has the flu.

Sorry, but I don't want some dog to be t he cause of me being detained by the flu police.

I AM SICK AND TIRED OF THIS #. # YOUR NEW NORMAL.

Idk, I see a much darker scene in which a good old boy type in a campaign hat says: “So, either one of you got the Corona? I can call for the dog, but if he hits I’m gonna have to shut this whole restaurant down...”

Great... train a dog to sit 'on cue'... "Sorry sir, this K9 unit has detected Coronavirus on you, and the dog is an "expert specialist" so can not be questioned, you will now be taken for mandatory vaccination".

"Please ignore all the false positives the dogs give to receive a treat, we have deemed that acceptable variance, and deny the need for independent review".

ETA: Look into drug unit training. Dog sniffing is not an effective or acceptable technique, is cruel, and it has a huge error margin... it takes constant retraining, and the dogs can "slip" easily. A lot become ineffective as time goes on (stress, confusion, etc), and they constantly have to let them "succeed" by planting the target smell, the need for this increases over time and the shifts in reward profiles reduce efficacy.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Could kitten huffing be similarly utilized instead of dog sniffing?