Is there any evidence of dogs being able to smell some illnesses like cancer?

Question

My dog hides from my step dad - who has a tumor in his liver, but he's doing well. My mam was saying she (the dog) can smell the tumor, so she must be right.

Answer 1

The Kennel Club is looking into this, and may have an information stand at Discover Dogs.  

One big problem is that dogs are excellent at detecting different scents - but it is costly and difficult to train the human handlers to understand what dogs are indicating!

Verite R

Answer 2

Yes, dog have a  sense of smell that is more powerful than humanbeing .I saw a documentary in which the dog kept sniffing the owner;s mole, which turned out to be a cancer.The scent of the disease make them anxious and upset them. Dogs are being trained  to find out the cancer in patients.

Answer 3

They have been doing research on this by training dogs to see if they can detect cancer by smell. Some types of dogs seem to have a better 'nose' than others. While research indicates that dogs can pick up some cancer smells .. the problem is how to use this information to help cancer patients. Not all pet dogs respond in the same way, so at the moment the information is interesting but no one knows how to apply it.

Study Shows Dogs Able To Smell Cancer

http://wbztv.com/health/skin.cancer.smel...

Answer 4

Yes there certainly is. I suspect dogs can smell or detect certain types of cancers. I have heard of a number of cases and in my particular instance our dog acted quite differently with myself, months before I was diagnosed with having cancer. I didn't realise it then but looking back he was more clingy, in that he would constantly be by my side and stay close to me even when my wife was in the room, whom he would nearly always gravitate to in favour of myself prior to my cancer.

So I suspect cancer does have an odour and dogs have an ability to sense this type of ailment. In fact, I have read that dogs were being used to smell / detect cancer in certain patients. The following article may be of interest;

Answer 5

I'm sure they can sense illnesses. When my exs Mum had cancer we took her to visit some relatives,(while she was visiting us) they had a dog who didn't like anyone in the house and would sit and growl for ages, but as soon as we got there,  the dog sat with his head on exs Mums lap, licked her hand and kept nuzzling her and whining and putting his paw on her hand and lap.It was totally out of character for the dog to do this, and we all said he could sense she was ill!!

Answer 6

There is no real evidence that dogs can smell diseases on a person, the factors involved are too complex, i.e. what exactly is a dog reacting to when it comes to certain stimuli such as scent.  dogs do have a keen sense of smell but real evidence of dogs detecting disease is iffy at best.  Personally, I would prefer to be diagnosed by a qualified oncologist.  Even if is eventually shown that dogs can "smell" cancer I am not sure what good that is going to do.  Is the dog going to treat you for cancer as well?  If not I don't see the importance of this issue.

Answer 7

Yes I have seen a documentary about that, the dog got it right 90% of the time. It was no surprise to me because everything has a smell and dogs are gonna smell it if it's there