The use of medical detection dogs to indicate the presence of human disease has increased significantly over recent years. Research into biodetection dogs has found that they can detect the volatile organic compounds associated with an increasing number of diseases, including cancer, Parkinson’s disease and COVID-19. While a growing number of people around the world rely on medical alert assistant dogs to detect bodily changes associated with health conditions, such as diabetes and epilepsy.
Yet despite this growing body of scientific evidence supporting the use of biodetection and medical alert assistance dogs, very little research has investigated the traits associated with high performance in these dogs. For this reason, UK researchers conducted a survey into the traits that are most important in successful medical detection dogs, in order to compare between the two types.
The study included 62 professionals working with medical detection dogs from 16 countries who completed a survey. The survey contained 40 traits which participants rated in importance for dog selection. They also rated the ideal level of each trait, as well as the level shown by a dog they had recently worked with—39 medical alert assistance dogs and 23 biodetection dogs.
The results revealed that the top five most important traits for medical detection dogs were as follows:
- Level of motivation when working (4.66/5)
- Health (4.6/5)
- Ability to learn from being rewarded (4.57/5)
- Concentration (4.57/5)
- Acuity of sense of smell (4.5/5)
The importance of some traits was found to differ for medical alert assistance dogs and biodetection dogs. The traits, ‘level of attachment to human partner’, ‘confidence in different environments’, and ‘travel ability’, were more important for medical alert assistance dogs. Whereas ‘acuity of sense of smell’, ‘tendency to be distracted when working’, and ‘ability to solve problems when working’, were shown to be more important for biodetection dogs.
The ideal levels of traits were also found to differ between medical alert assistance dogs and biodetection dogs. For example, biodetection dogs were rated as needing higher levels of ‘tendency to search by smell alone’, but lower levels of ‘attachment to human partner’. Key differences were also reported when a dog that handlers had recently worked with was compared to the ideal levels of traits, with higher levels of ‘general excitability’ and ‘tendency to be distracted when working’ than desirable.
The differences in desirable traits for both types of medical detection dogs are underpinned by differences in their roles. In biodetection, dogs are required to work independently to discriminate between samples based on their scent alone. Whilst assistance dogs need to be able to bond closely with their human partner and adapt to a wide range of situations in order to fit with their human partners’ life. For this reason, traits such as confidence in different environments and attachment to human partner were seen as being more desirable.
The results highlight the fact that medical detection dogs are not a homogenous group, but instead cover a range of working dogs which have differences in desirable traits. These findings have implications for medical detection dogs, including how they are selected and trained. By outlining and selecting for dogs that have desirable traits and targeting training to address where they fall short, training programs could improve their efficiency and effectiveness.
In addition to an increase in demand for medical detection dogs, their uses in healthcare will also continue to grow. In the future, biodetection dogs could facilitate the diagnosis of conditions which are often diagnosed late or misdiagnosed —such as Alzheimer’s disease, chronic fatigue syndrome and Lyme disease. By identifying the presence of disease before the onset of irreversible symptoms, medical detection dogs could revolutionise the management of these conditions.
However, as the medical detection dog role continues to evolve, so too will the traits associated with high performance. An area where this is currently starting to happen is the divergence of assistance dogs for people with physical health conditions from those with mental health conditions. For this reason, ongoing evaluation and adaptation is needed to refine the selection and training of medical detection dogs for these different roles.
The study highlights the distinct traits and levels of traits needed to achieve high performance in biodetection dogs and medical alert assistance dogs. Whilst dogs from both populations share important traits, such as motivation, the specific traits required depended on their specialization. Overall, biodetection dogs were required to work more independently and possess more problem-solving abilities, whilst medical alert assistance dogs needed to be more adaptable and develop a strong bond with their handler. Moving forward, selection and training based on traits specific to a dog’s future role can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of medical detection programs.
Article by Dr. Carla J Hart: https://linktr.ee/carlajadehart
Related Content
- Pandemic or pandemonium? Creating standards for medical detection dogs – Presented by Dr Cynthia Otto
- What is the future of Biological Detection Canines? – Presented by Heather Junqueira & Ken Furton
- Training with Varying Odor Concentrations: Implications for Odor Detection Thresholds in Canines – Presented by Mallory DeChant
- Preliminary Accuracy of COVID-19 odor detection by canines – Presented by Kenneth G. Furton
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