Letters from readers:

I NEED some help. I'm writing a research paper for a college class about dogs sniffing cancer and I wanted to reference the article on your site by John Newell. My teacher will not let me use this as a source unless I have a date when it was written, submitted or placed on the site. Can you give me a date for this? - Joan

Hello Joan,
This article was put on the website in July 2002. It would have been first written an estimated month or so before then. However, the article does mention as an example an article in the Lancet that appeared a couple of years previously about two instances of cancer sniffing dogs, so it does not seem to be a new phenomenon. I cannot get it any more accurately than that, but since the article I have had two letters wanting to find such a dog for diagnosis purposes (one of the letters was actually answered, but about a year later and by that time the original letter writer had shifted) and one rescue dog owner/trainer who wanted to know how to get herself and her dog trained for such diagnosis work. I am afraid I was not very helpful and could do not much more than point the correspondents in the direction of the most prominent service dog training organisations.

I recommend that you try the university websites as you often find that professors and tutors are very willing to share information on their research (especially the USA ones) - just look for the ones that have veterinary or animal behaviour departments. It seems that occasionally dogs that are untrained 'naturals' appear and usually such dogs are experts with one specific condition. However, to train such dogs they obviously must be in an environment where they will be in contact with people or animals suffering from the condition they are being trained to detect. Good luck with your study - it is a fascinating subject and one I hope to find out more about for one of this year's issues. - Ed