The Problem Dogs Solved That We Couldn't

Credits:
Narrator/Producer: Stephanie Sammann
Editor: David O'Sullivan

Imagery courtesy of Getty Images

References:

[cidercreekranch]

My spouse and I raised service dogs. The second dog we raised did not make it as a guide for a blind person and was transferred to the dog for diabetic organization. There he learned how to detect that a diabetic's blood sugar level was low and to alert the person and to not stop alerting until the person took action.

[_Mike.P]

My parents previous dog warned them when I had a seizure in the middle of the night while I was sleeping behind a closed door. This happened twice.
And this wasn’t even a trained dog, she was a former street dog we adopted.

[brucesg]

We have a Beagle-Jack Russel mix rescue named Rosy. Rosy is terrified of thunderstorm (and even rain). We call her our Weather Girl. She can take a quick sniff outside (and even inside) and will then run to her "safety space" (a dog bed under an end table). When this happens, we know there will be a rain or storm within a couple of hours. Today she predicted a storm front that was about 65 miles distance and moving our way! Anytime she does her "weather check" we always look at the weather radar app to see how close/far it is. Over the course of about 8 years, she has never been wrong!

[SnuffBee]

I'm currently training my dog to detect my migraines/VS snow flair ups based on my saliva (in cotton pads don't worry). I adopted him from a rescue (he sprinted out of his foster dad's control and knocked me over licking my face) and I noticed he started aggressively sniffing at my face whenever I had a flair up. He's having a hard time with general training, but I'm shocked at how keen he was right from meeting me at my own health. Dogs are amazing and I'm so glad he chose me.

[nathanmartin]

Gives a whole new meaning to lab tests

[drbettyschueler]

Cats, rats, and I'm sure other animals, can also detect illnesses. It was a cat who detected my breast cancer. It took two years to get a physician to order a mammogram, due to my age. By then, the cancer had spread throughout my body. So far, cats have notified me four times of cancer and where it is in my body. That has helped keep me alive, despite stage 4 cancer, for 29 years. Between cutting out new tumors, radiation, and chemo, I've been able to keep one step ahead of the cancer.

[echospaw]

I sometimes suffer seizures, and at times I can tell/feel when they're about to happen. But most of the time I don't. I have a sheepdog that I adopted as a small puppy, and we immediately developed a special bond as he was growing older. He would act out in a way toward me just before I started to show signs of having a seizure. How he does it, I don't know, but, he seems to be in tune with me in ways I never saw coming. Dogs are amazing creatures. 💜 U Echo!!

[cferracini]

There are planty of stories of dogs knowing their owner is pregnant way before she found out. They describe it as a change in the dog's behavour. Usually described as more affectionate, careful and protective

[jaredkennedy]

My wife's red heeler absolutely can read moods, and when anyone is getting stressed or emotional he'll run up and start licking them. My Swiss Shepherd has started doing the same for me, she was a rescue and has taken a long time to get comfortable with people.

[jesuschrist]

It’s impossible to watch this documentary without wanting to pet these dogs! 🐶

[benbevan]

Don't forget that some dog breeds like pugs and British bulldogs really can't smell that well and a comparison in x-rays shows why breeding for show is really sad.

[SusanHopkinson]

When I’m walking my very social dog she sometimes barks unexplainably at certain people. As I work with people on their health and can see how illness shows up on the face and body, I gradually realised that she was barking at people who are unhealthy and possibly quite ill, although still functioning day to day. They are often elderly and after 7 years of this I’m convinced that is what is happening. This video has given me a lot of reasons to believe my intuition - and most especially hers!

[tokas-kbrb]

In this one chance, in a limitless universe, on this tiny rock I’m glad to have experienced life with dogs. One of the most wholesome beings.

[itzybitzyspyder]

This is why they love sticking their head out the car window. They get an overwhelming cacophony of smells. Also why they live a fresh snow. They get a clean slate and they can dig for smells.

[eyelnne]

Once again confirming my belief that dogs are the greatest animals.

[treker]

Worth noting that good blinding is extremely important in these tests because dogs are so good at picking up cues from their human handlers. If the handler or someone else present knows which sample the dogs "should" identify, the dogs will pick up on signs in the people, not the sample.

[LadyCoyKoi]

I've lost count the number of times my dogs had told me to stop and go eat something, because I couldn't detect that my sugar levels are low until it was too late. When I had a dog, he/she reminded me to go eat, now I have to on my own just estimate that I need to eat something around 3-4 hrs in between snacks and meals. 💀 Far better life when there is a dog around. I am a firm believer that we have advanced civilizations due to three nonhuman animals... horses, cows and dogs. These domesticated beings made us humans get out and make things possible. It amazes me that they still inspire us humans to do more. 🥰

[sarahbeara]

My dogs knew I was pregnant before I did for both of my pregnancies. They would be super clingy and became extremely protective when we left the house. Now if they start acting a little off, I always wonder what’s going on

[PeterrAre]

Theres a Radiolab podcast episode where a woman realised the men at the alzheimers clinic all had a funny smell including her husband, but no one else could detect it. She had tests and could identify alzheimers samples and similar to the dog experience even picked out samples from the healthy trial group who later went on to develop the condition. The ability is very rare of course in humans!

[francesleader]

My dog, a Groenendahl Belgian Shepherd, could always guide me to our living vehicle but not necessarily via the route we had taken when we left it. I only had to say "Let's go home!" or "Where's the van?" and off he would go with me following along. This was especially useful when we went to festivals with massive carparks where we had left the van maybe days before! He found our cat when she was swept away by a fast flowing river. He was invincible at hide and seek.... there was no getting away from him! When he was 3 years old I became the local Dog Warden and my dog would always help me to find lost pooches very quickly, simply by sniffing the owner. I had to be very quick on my feet to keep up with him as he would be hot on the trail, especially if the dog was frightened or injured. We moved to a fruit farm on a mountain in Spain when he was 7 years old and he made friends with a neighbour's elderly dog. One day, he insisted we walk across country, anxiously rushing ahead of me. He found his friend, deceased in the undergrowth. As he aged and his sight began to fail, he depended on his sense of smell to find me among crowds of people on the beach where we lived. He died of old age a decade ago and I still miss him every day.