For some time the power of dogs to detect certain scents has aided policing. Passing through airports subjects us to dogs who can detect narcotics - and these days we may encounter a police dog at the door of a nightclub or going through the gate to a sporting event.
It seems that dogs can be trained to detect certain illnesses and the Japanese have been successful in training a dog to detect colorectal cancer - with an amazing degree of accuracy.
Various forms of cancer create chemicals that can be detected on the person's breath - and from a stool sample. The accuracy of blind tests has been 95% for breath tests and 98% for stools - which delivers a new diagnostic tool to the medical profession.
More work needs to be done to enhance the number of diseases that can be detected in this way - and dog training facilities are urgently needed. The day may come when we can forget an invasive colonscopic examination.
Just visit your doctor and have a few minutes with his dog. A quick sniff of your breath - and a quick sniff of your bum - and the dog then delivers the good news or the bad news.
It could be as simple as that !
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