Essay On Service Dogs

There are dogs able to sniff out cancer cells, ones who can sense changes in the blood sugar levels of there masters and family members . The talents of these special animals are matched by those of tens of thousands of remarkable canines — dogs trained to sense disease and seizures, to assist the physically and emotionally disabled, and to provide comfort, affection, and therapy to their human companions.

Medical Research

Some dogs are trained to detect the unique odor of bladder cancer cells in urine samples, but researchers have found that dogs can also nose out other forms of cancer. At the Sensory Research Institute at Florida State University in Tallahassee, scientists have trained dogs to detect the odor of skin melanomas and prostate cancer. In 2006, researchers at the Pine Street Foundation in Northern California reported that they had taught dogs to pinpoint patients with lung cancer (with 97 percent accuracy) and breast cancer (with 88 percent accuracy)-simply by sniffing their breath. The researchers are now training

There are also hearing dogs, trained to assist deaf people and to alert them to sounds such as smoke alarms, doorbells, and crying babies; mobility assist dogs, which pull wheelchairs and provide help to the physically impaired; and walker dogs, which help provide balance when walking to individuals suffering from movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and spasms. In addition, dogs have been trained to assist persons with psychiatric conditions such as bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, autism, schizophrenia, and anxiety disorder. These dogs learn to recognize changes in their owner’s behavior or environment that indicate paranoia, panic attacks, hallucinations, or potentially harmful repetitive actions, for example, and may remind them to take