Rottweiler 'sniffs out' owner's cancer.

A man from north Oxfordshire has credited his pet Rottweiler with sniffing out his skin cancer.
Chris Tuffrey, from Banbury, had a mole on his chest for 15 years but "put his head in the sand" and ignored it.
But he said thanks to his dog Beamish "nuzzling and licking" him and trying to lift his arm near the mole, he went to a doctor to get it checked out.
Within a two weeks, melanoma was confirmed by the hospital and the cancerous mole was removed. Mr Tuffrey said when Beamish began nuzzling him he thought, "what's wrong with me".
When he visited his doctor in Deddington and was immediately referred to Oxford's Churchill Hospital.
Within a fortnight, melanoma was confirmed and the cancerous mole was removed.
Mr Tuffrey's case is not unique. Scientists have found in trials, dogs have detected cancers in the urine of patients despite medical tests giving negative results.
Mr Tuffrey considers Beamish a very special friend.
''He's absolutely brilliant," he said.
"He's a very laid back dog, and I shall be grateful to him for the rest of my life.''

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/7739865.stm

what a great story

I new when dougie was ill it was cancer, our rottie cash at the time wouldnt leave him alone. The doctors kept saying everything was fine,. but the dog was being so wierd about it all, I just new it was cancer

This type of story appears every so often that I'm amazed no serious and 'in depth' research has been done to verify the dogs ability to sniff out trouble.

I know it would take a lot of dogs and a lot of people but much more money has been spent on drugs which ultimately came to nothing and if more dogs were tested for this ability it would surely help in the initial diagnosis.

It would sure help the dog owning community and could help many people who have had a negative response from their GP

Im sure there are dogs trained to sniff out skin cancer now, will need to look for a link for you losos... they are very good at picking up on surface cancer, or close to surface cancer... its the quickest test poss.... lol

would seem that dogs can now detect deep cancers by smelling a persons breath.... I stand corrected..

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/01/0112_060112_dog_cancer.html

I know they have been doing the surface cancers for some time though

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4515651.stm

Great story Colin,cheers for sharing.I watched a program on tv about dogs sniffing for cancer was very interesting ,xxxxxxxx

Thanks for that Colin. And thanks for the links Shona I knew a wee bit about surface cancers but not about the deeper ones. I find this kind of thing really amazing, especially when like Beamish or Cash it's just a pet dog that detects illnesses and not a dog that has been "trained"

having done a large amount of scent work, I can vouch for just how amazing the canine olfactory system is,

I will be doing more tracking work with vinnie over the next few months, hes a natural., I also have dogs working class C obed at the training club so regularly have to do scent discrimination at the club, will try to get a vid then next time we do it..

Thanks for those links, seems that it is being taken seriously now which is good.

One of my tutors has been working very closely with Middlesex University in this very field. She has managed to produce scientific evidence to suggest that dogs do have the ability to sniff out cancer, specifically bladder and bowel cancer. Whilst in the grand scheme of things, this is all very early days, results are very positive.