COVID-Detecting Dogs?

I just read that some organizations are testing to see if dogs can be trained to sniff out COVID-19. If they can do it accurately, it would help a lot.

Fingers crossed it works. I think this has been mentioned on TV news programs (we don’t get TV), have you heard of it before?

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22 Responses to COVID-Detecting Dogs?

  1. tammy j says:

    I think this is the first I’ve heard of it. it sounds like they’re well on their way to being trained! and now we must see the accuracy of it.
    I worry about the dogs being over-used in the airports. definitely a whole different atmosphere than their quiet little labs with treats when they’re right!
    but the program does look very promising.
    after Zeke just plopping down on our walk and watching me and refusing to move when I had that ischemic stroke that time… I have never doubted their ability in almost anything! and he wasn’t even trained in anything special!

  2. Yes, had heard about it earlier on. But it also said that the dogs would end up dead…so I hope that whomever is working on the idea, has got that overturned…

    • Jean says:

      A bunch of different labs are doing it, and I haven’t read/heard about the dogs being killed at the end. It probably depends on who is doing it.

  3. I haven’t heard about it but I would wonder about the accuracy. Even testing from what I’ve heard has not been completely accurate

  4. I heard about it but the dogs can get Covid-19 too so I don’t know how practical it is. Guess they are pretty accurate.

    • Jean says:

      It’s certainly worth looking into as one form of screening. It’s quick and could possibly catch asymptomatic people.

  5. Ginny Hartzler says:

    We watch a lot of T.V., and have never heard of this! I know that dogs can now detect cancer and seizures.

  6. Madsnapper says:

    This is the first I’ve heard of it but dogs can sniff out other things I have a friend who has a dog that is a diabetes high sugar dog. Trained to sniff her and if your sugar gets really really high she lets her know. I had never heard of that either so I do hope that they will come up with something to figure out who has it and who doesn’t. I am thinking the reason we haven’t heard of this because anything that’s coming out of China Trump is making it go away

    • Jean says:

      Yes, we’re doing so poorly fighting COVID-19 in the U.S. because of our problems with testing. Fingers crossed they can get on top of that.

  7. Andrea says:

    But dogs can get COVID-19… so after taking a nice big wiff or two, of somebody who has it, then the dog most likely will get sick. Now that stinks! I say let the human have it (cos they didn’t wear a mask or something stupid like that) and leave the poor dogs alone. They’ve suffered at the hands of humans way more than they should have already. :-/

  8. Bruce Taylor says:

    Yes, I heard about it, too. From PBS’ Nova: they possess up to 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses, compared to about six million in us. And the part of a dog’s brain that is devoted to analyzing smells is, proportionally speaking, 40 times greater than ours.

  9. Rose says:

    I have heard about it, but it has been a while.

  10. nick says:

    This sounds very promising. As they say, dogs have an incredible sense of smell so if the virus does change your body smell, the dogs should be able to sniff it out quite easily. And as they also say, that means people who are asymptomatic but have the virus can be detected. Brilliant.

  11. Super idea, if it will work…

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