Many different breeds of dogs are used for their incredible senses, commonly around the police force or FBI, but now, this is beginning to shift.
In the mountains of the Czech Republic, two individuals are putting their animals to the test. With the Covid-19 taking over the world, dog trainers are starting to test if dogs are, in fact, able to detect signs of the virus among people. These trainers are working on their own time, trying to see if a specific human scent can be related to Covid-19.
If successful, these trainers believe that the same method should be able to work with other diseases and illnesses as well. If they are able to detect a huge number of issues that can arise in people over time, then there will be many instant benefits. One trainer, Vlachova, says that the first study to confirm that dogs were able to detect tissues attacked by a virus, occurred in the United States around a decade ago. The only issue that can arise by using this method is the changing nature of this virus, making it non-sniffable for animals.
Amidst the pandemic, dogs were then brought to the Helsinki airport, in hopes of discovering if dogs could sniff out early traces of the virus. Reports were shown that the dogs detected close to 100% of the individuals that did carry traces of the virus. Trainers say that if more countries got on board with this method, additional research could be obtained.