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Every day I read informative and inspiring stories about dogs, even some amusing or plain wacky stories. So I'm going to post just a few of them here on our Healthy Happy Dogs website for moments when you'd like to read either a short informative article, or an inspiring story that'll very likely bring tears to your eyes! Please check back from time to time, as this area will be updated whenever I find new stories to add. And don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter Healthy Happy Dogs, and get your Special Free Report: How to Improve the Health of Your Dog Within 30 Days - Maybe Even Lengthen Your Dog's Life: Is there a doctor — or dog — in the house?
Canine sense of smell could help diagnose disease
Scientists are training dogs in the hopes that they may one day be able to reliably diagnose certain forms of cancer by smell, and help doctors catch these diseases earlier than conventional diagnostic tools currently allow. Already dogs are used to warn of epileptic seizures, low blood sugar and heart attacks, although whether they are detecting changes in smell or physical behavior is still unknown. And, while they may not be able to perform CPR or operate a cardiac defibrillator (at least not yet), some canines do know how to call 911. 'This isn't anything magic' LATEST NEWS MORE For instance, diabetes was once diagnosed by the smell or taste of a patient’s urine. Certain infections in burn victims can be detected by the smell of a patient’s skin, and bad breath is often a sign of gum disease. Recent small-scale studies of dogs’ ability to detect the chemical markers of cancer, specifically melanoma, have shown promising results. The phenomenon was first briefly reported in 1989 in the British journal The Lancet and, since then, preliminary evidence has slowly been accumulating that suggests dogs may indeed be able to differentiate between healthy skin cells and cancerous ones. A sophisticated sense of smell Part of what makes a dog's sense of smell so sophisticated is its ability to smell multiple layers of chemicals, says Myers. Dogs don't detect a single chemical but a combination of them. "If (they were identifying) just a single chemical, medicine might have picked up on it. The dog may be doing something a little better," says Myers. Surprisingly enough, no breed has a monopoly in the olfactory department; most studies have involved a number of different kinds of dogs. “There’s this mythology behind the bloodhound, but I’ve tested a miniature poodle that had a sense of smell that was as good as the bloodhound’s,” says Myers. “There’s enormous variability within the breed and on an individual level.” The biggest challenge for scientists lies in designing experiments that can accurately determine dogs’ success rate in detecting disease and whether or not they perform better than existing diagnostic methods. Implementing rigorous controls has been a major obstacle, as has been finding adequate numbers of willing patients and doctors. Correctly training the dogs themselves has also posed a difficulty for researchers. “You’re asking the dog to discriminate something by smell without knowing what the smell is,” says Dr. Jim Walker, director of the Sensory Research Institute at Florida State University, whose research on training dogs to detect melanoma will be published in Applied Animal Behaviour Science. While it’s unlikely a canine will be joining the cast of ER anytime soon, researchers say if dogs do turn out to possess an ability to accurately detect disease, they could make a significant contribution to public health. “It’s going to be very useful for large-scale screening of populations,” says Myers. “And it’s certainly going to be effective in third-world countries that don’t have the resources to do sophisticated (laboratory) tests.” 'He's given me my life' Leigh Meyer, of Huntersville, N.C., has suffered from severe epilepsy since she was 17. Now 35, Meyer credits her ability to live independently and take care of her four daughters to her seizure alert dog Cyrano. “He’s given me my life,” says Meyer. “He’s offered me a chance to have a little bit of normalcy.” A giant schnauzer who spends most of his time as a docile couch potato, Cyrano’s mood changes abruptly about 30 minutes before the onset of Meyer's seizures. Suddenly he becomes nervous and antsy, and begins pawing at Meyer and leaning on her. This signal gives her time to stop whatever she’s doing, move away from her children and prepare. Once the seizure starts, Cyrano stands next to her until the episode is over, usually from two to four minutes. Because Meyer’s seizures are often very violent — she has broken several fingers, both collar bones and her feet during convulsions — she relies on Cyrano to keep her children out of the way. And, if a seizure occurs in a public location, she has taught him to herd the children to prevent them from wandering off. Little research has been done to unravel the mystery behind dogs' ability to warn of a seizure or other medical crisis, but most observers believe it is based on canines' keen observational skills, sense of smell, or a combination of both. "There would have to be some type of chemical change or physiological change in the body," says Sharon Hermansen, executive director of Canine Seizure Assist Society of North Carolina, and Cyrano's trainer. "People can't tell when (a seizure) is coming on, so there's something the dogs are doing that we can't figure out." Each pooch chooses its own signals And yes, dogs have even been trained to call 911 on their own in the event of a medical emergency. Given that most telephones aren't made for use by large furry paws, trainers have had to use more dog-friendly devices, such as step lights and pull cords, says Joan Bussard, founder of Amazing Tails Inc., a service and alert dog training program based in Oxford, Pa. The most difficult part of training alert dogs is not teaching them to warn of a medical crisis — they can either do this on their own or they can't — but training owners to recognize their pet's signals, says Bussard. "Sometimes it's very clear and other times it's very subtle. You have to play a guessing game," says Bussard. "When they learn to talk, we'll be in good shape." Dog Displays Strength, Intelligence On The Job It's almost 7 a.m. -- breakfast time in the Deroche home. Melissa Deroche, 28, is just about ready to go to work -- and so is her best friend, Bear. The 2-year-old yellow labrador retriever is more than just a pet, though. He plays a very critical role in Melissa's life -- one that is a partnership of unconditional love and of ultimate trust. Melissa is blind and Bear is her guide dog. Just as Melissa has a job to do every day, so does Bear. Every morning, they go to work like so many other people around town. But, unlike so many other people, Melissa depends on Bear to get her safely to and from work. "I gained a greater sense of confidence in my traveling skills with the dog," Deroche said. The journey starts at their home near Gentilly. Before it's over, they will have taken two city buses across town, negotiated their way through rush-hour traffic and kept each other out of harm's way. "He takes on such a responsibility in both of our lives in terms of working, watching for traffic as we're crossing the street or stopping at the curbs, getting around obstacles that would normally be problematic," Deroche said. Melissa and Bear work as a team. When she gives the command, he knows to obey. "He's real important and one of the most important things in my life," Deroche said. "He's just the center of my work, because his world is around mine and mine around his. Because we rely on one another. Because he has his responsibilities to me and I have mine to him." As they arrive at work, Deroche, who is a mental health counselor, settles in for the day as Bear settles down for a nap. His job is done for now, until it's time to go. "The thing is, they work for praise," Deroche said. "They work for praise. That is the main thing that needs to be in their life all the time is the praise for what they do, because that's what keeps them going." Melissa and Bear are graduates of the nonprofit organization Guiding Eyes for the Blind. The group depends on volunteer families to raise the puppies, who then turn them back over to Guiding Eyes for training. It costs $30,000 to breed, raise and train each dog that is matched with a blind partner.
Baby's best friend: Alert pooch saves infant May 17, Posted: 3:09 PM EDT (1909 GMT) (CNN) -- A family's faithful companion, Bullet the aging golden retriever, turned out to be a hero when he seemed to know Pamela Sica's baby was gasping for breath. He went to summon Sica and she took him seriously. Doctors discovered the baby had pneumonia in both lungs. Sica appeared on CNN early Friday to talk to anchor Jack Cafferty about the dog's life-saving feat and her baby's miraculous recovery. CAFFERTY: Pam, welcome. It's nice to have you on the program. Tell us how Bullet was acting that fateful morning when, as we said, he saved your son's life. What did he do to alert you? SICA: I was in the kitchen making the bottle. He (Bullet) was in the bedroom with my son. (My husband) went into the shower. Bullet was still lying down. And I guess when the baby was making the sounds, he came running down the hallway into the kitchen. Then I finally went into the bedroom, and that's where I found my son. And he had his head back, and he was gasping for air. With that, he was turning a shade of red too, like, purple to blue. And I screamed for my husband. He came out of the shower. And with that, he turned the baby upside down, he thought that I fed him. So he thought he was choking. So he hit him a couple of times on the back. And it didn't do anything, and he turned him around and started to rub his chest and do CPR. I called 911. They were there within minutes, and the EMS was here. And by then, with Troy still doing CPR, the baby came around, and from there, the paramedics and the ambulance took him to Brookhaven Hospital, where they stabilized him. And then he went into another episode where they stabilized him. CAFFERTY: Did you have any idea the baby had pneumonia at this point? You didn't know, did you? CAFFERTY: Yes, right, sleep apnea? SICA: Yes, I had no idea what it was. Nobody really knew until they brought him into Stony Brook Hospital, where they later did some tests and found out that he had double pneumonia and ASD, a hole in his heart. CAFFERTY: Are you convinced the dog saved the child's life? You said your husband's in the shower, you were in the kitchen, and the baby stopped breathing. Had it not been for Bullet, are you convinced you could have lost the child right then? SICA: Yes, I am. Because I would have been dilly-dallying, putting stuff in the dishwasher. CAFFERTY: Sure, it's 4:30 in the morning. You're doing your chores and stuff. There's no way you're going to hear the baby stop breathing or start having trouble, right? What was it, do you suppose, about the dog that made him do this? I mean, there are mysteries surrounding animals that I guess none of us are able to explain completely. But they know things that we simply don't know, don't they? SICA: Yes. He knew it was his baby. He knew it belonged to me, and he was protecting his baby. CAFFERTY: Take us back a few years. I mentioned the dog was lucky to be alive. A few years ago, the veterinarian discovered a tumor on Bullet's liver, and you had to borrow a bunch of money to have the dog operated on. Tell me a little about that and the fact that some people thought you were crazy to spend this kind of money to save a dog's life. SICA: We took him for his regular checkup, and the vet found that he had an irregular heartbeat. From there, they ran tests and they did blood work. And they found that his liver enzymes were elevated from there. And from there, they did a sonogram, and they found like a pea-sized tumor in the liver. But they were afraid to operate just then, because they didn't know if his heart could take the anesthesia. So we waited until September, and by then, they did another ultrasound, and the tumor grew to the size of a softball. And they told me that it's a situation where you have to decide because he is you know 12- or 13-years-old -- I forgot at the time -- you have to make that decision, and I didn't know what to do. I said he's been a part of my life for all these years, and there's no way I was going just to let him go. CAFFERTY: So you borrowed the $5,000, got the surgery done. I can't tell you what a story it is. I have got dogs and cats in my house. I've had them all my life. I have feelings for animals that exceed the ones I have for a lot of the people I've encountered along the way. A story like this just affirms that I'm right. Anything he wants. SICA: He did anyway. He was my first baby, right? CAFFERTY: Yes, really.
NEW YORK Preparing to walk on to the green carpet for the Westminster dog show, Pete Davis could barely keep from shedding a tear. "It's very emotional," the New York police officer said Monday night. "We're very appreciative of the recognition." On a day when the favored Kerry blue terrier got a nice cheer, the K-9 heroes drew the biggest ovation at Madison Square Garden, the kind usually reserved for star athletes. Often called a beauty pageant for canines, America's most prestigious dog show broke tradition and paid tribute to 20 German shepherds and retrievers that normally would not make it to the event. The search and rescue dogs were honored for their tireless work at the World Trade Center and Pentagon following Sept. 11. "We were pretty nervous," admitted Lt. Daniel Donadio, head of the New York Police Department's canine unit. "We'd rather face gunmen than the crowd." There was no need to worry. The 10,000 spectators stood and cheered throughout the 15-minute ceremony in the center ring, which included actress Glenn Close singing "God Bless America." The dogs with their handlers who had come from all over the country were introduced one by one. As they walked out, public-address announcer Michael LaFave detailed their efforts in New York and Washington, along with places such as Nairobi. Officer Bobby Schnelle came with Atlas, the first canine on the scene at the World Trade Center disaster. Davis brought Appollo, who was singled out last year for the American Kennel Club's Ace award for law enforcement. Appollo was supposed to be honored on Sept. 11. Instead, he was called to duty and became engulfed in flames while walking on debris after the towers collapsed. The shepherd, nearly 10 years old, survived and kept working throughout the day. Officer Suzanne McCrosson had to watch from a backstage aisle. Even though her German shepherd, Charlie, worked at the World Trade Center that day, McCrosson is now seven months pregnant and assigned to desk duty. McCrosson said she watched a replay of last year's Westminster show with Charlie during the weekend. Asked whether she thought her 3-year-old canine could win best-in-show, she was emphatic. "Yes, he would! He's so handsome!" she said. Near the end of the tribute, the USA Network, the Pedigree company and Westminster presented a check for $275,000 to Mike Tuttle, the president of National Association for Search and Rescue. A Kerry blue named Mick also enjoyed a big day. The 512-year-old terrier, born in England and now the No. 1-ranked show dog in America, needed only nine minutes to win the best-of-breed ribbon. Hours later, the dog with the blue-silver coat and black beard breezed to win best-of-group. The big prize, the best-in-show trophy, was to be awarded Tuesday night. "There's always apprehension," Mick's handler-agent, Bill McFadden, said after the morning victory. "The dog can perform badly or the judge can perform badly." "This is like 'Survivor.' If you get to this point, it gets easier. The ring gets bigger," he said. Mick, known officially as Torum's Scarf Michael, was never in any danger. During the 2001 season, he won the terrier group in 137 of the 138 shows he entered, and was picked as top dog 87 times. Among the other contenders will be a 612-year-old standard schnauzer named Charisma Jailhouse Rock. The dog commonly called Rocky won the working group Monday night for the second straight year. He and Mick were the only dogs to repeat as best-of-group winners. An affenpinscher named Yarrow's Super Nova won the toy group and a miniature poodle named Surrey Spice Girl won the non-sporting group. Three more group winners will be picked Tuesday night, leaving seven contestants for best-in-show. There were more than 2,500 dogs all champions entered and they represented the 159 breeds and varieties recognized by the AKC. While only one St. Bernard showed up, 41 Irish setters were entered. No one left the Garden feeling any better than Donadio. "I'm very proud of my people and my dogs," he said.
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