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Cancer Detection Dogs

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Man's best friends have always been known to provide their unique and highly trained skills in the service of mankind in the form of assistance dogs, therapy dogs, search and rescue, police dogs, guide dogs for the blind and vision impaired, signal and hearing dogs, bomb sniffing dogs, drug detection, guard dogs, scent detection, diabetic alert dogs, seizure alert dogs among many other services. But little is known about another beneficial service that many canines can learn and provide and that is cancer and bio detection.

Cancer cells release volatile substances that normal cells do not. These amazing dogs are specially trained to sniff and identify these substances from various samples. They are in training two or three days a week aiding researchers and scientists and working with universities and hospitals in the early detection and diagnosis of diseases, primarily cancer at the present, but possibly detection of other illnesses in the future as well.

Beyond their work, much like other working and service dogs, they live normal, happy lives with families.

Reported By Nan Talleno, KYW Newsradio

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