Labor Day: Celebrating Working Dogs and Cats at Work

Celebrating Labor Day, I suggest we also celebrate dogs and even cats who work with us and for us, often to accomplish what we cannot. Here are ten examples and perhaps for some of these you’ll say, “I didn’t know that.”

1) Before her death to ovarian cancer, journalist and pet book author Darlene Arden set up the Ovarian Cancer Symptom Awareness Darlene Arden Veterinary Outreach Program to support funds to teach dogs to sniff for ovarian cancer. Her seed money and additional contributions from Ovarian Cancer Symptom Awareness proved to make a difference, At Penn Vet Working Dog Center directed by Dr. Cynthia Otto, dogs have been trained to sniff for this cancer, and in the early stages of the disease! This is huge, and far, far better than current diagnostics which can’t diagnose early stage ovarian cancer.

Once the components of the cancer are identified, based on what dogs are sniffing, the results may well lead to an early screening blood test for ovarian cancer. If that happens, its not too far a jump to accomplish blood screening test for other cancers which otherwise typically can’t be diagnosed until it may be too late to treat successfully.

Dr. Otto (and others) at Penn have trained dogs to detect all sorts of explosives, as well as the (CoV-2) coronavirus which causes COVID-19 and most recently to detect, invasive lanternflies.

2) Ewww – who wants bedbugs? Can you believe that hotels and even large indoor theater venues employ bedbug detecting dogs. And some of those dogs are even certified as “professionals” by the National Entomology Scent Detection Canine Association or NESDCA, formed by Pest Control Professionals to ensure the highest standards for Entomology Scent Detection Canines are upheld. There are even two official bed bug detection training facilities. Dogs are trained to sniff out bedbugs, termites and/or rodents. A part of the mission is to educate consumers about the benefits of using properly trained entomology scent detection dog teams in the process of locating, and eradicating the buggers as explained in this video. Bedbugs are increasingly a problem where people live in settings ranging from hotels (even posh hotels) to nursing homes.

3) When scientists seek to know more about specific wildlife species, finding their feces is important to offer clues about what they eat and about their general health, and more. However, how do you possibly do this with marine mammals? It’s fascinating how a dog’s nose makes it possible to locate killer whale poo.

4) Proof positive that dogs can sniff out just about anything. a Springer Spaniel is employed with a Vancouver hospital to find the presence of C-difficile (or C-dif), a bacterium which can make people extremely ill, and in some cases even cause death particularly among populations at risk like in nursing homes or hospitals where the bacterium appears most often and spreads fast. So, catching C-dif as early as possible can save lives and prevent serious illness which it often causes.

5) Italian lifeguards are famous for saving lives Italy turn out some of the most successful lifeguard teams with the most saves on the planet. The unique teams have six legs; two from the human and four more from a dog. These dogs are actually quite efficient.

6) Diabetic alert dogs detect for diabetic spikes and crashes, and know when an individual needs juice or raisins, for example – and can even be trained to get the person those raisins. They can do their jobs when sound asleep; they can wake up when detecting an abnormality even at 3 a.m. There are several national organizations which support training for diabetic alert dogs; one is the Ron and Vicki Santo Diabetic Alert Dog Foundations. Vicki Santo tells the story.

7) Working cat programs are now all over the country, with Tree House Humane Society in Chicago likely organizing the first. The idea is to locate community cats (who are unsocialized and not appropriate to be an indoor pet). Those individuals are spay/neutered and then put to work where rat problems exist. Cats at work sometimes personally terminate cats or just by their mere presence encourage rat relocation, all in an environmentally friendly manner.

8) Perhaps the most taken for granted working dogs are the increasingly important military workings dogs, who save human. Since World War I these dogs have been employed, saving countless thousands of soldier lives. Long before email, there was canine mail where small and brave dogs would carry messages across battlefields. That job is no longer necessary. But sniffing out landmines to guarding soldiers remain some of their functions. The other benefit soldiers enjoy is simply have dogs around which can improve moral.

9) Apparently, it’s not all too tough to teach your own dog to find locate your cell phone. The Minnesota Bureau of Clinical Apprehension is using dogs to find electronics that bad guys use. The dogs are taught to sniff out a chemical found in every electronic device. These trained canine in Minnesota and elsewhere are sniffing out evidence that allows law enforcement to arrest the bad guys.

10) Don’t even try to commit arson – there may be a dog who will find you and at least find the material used to start a fire. This example is from a small Fire Department in Texas. These dogs are more commonly (but not widely known) used all over the country. Torch works alongside Deputy Fire Marshal Stringer and the Fire Marshal’s Office to help investigate fire scenes by detecting accelerant odors that may be present after a fire. Torch and most of his colleagues across the U.S. is trained to identify 14 different odors.