Dogs have a huge and meaningful impact in the lives of humans. Dogs are always glad to see us which makes us feel good, wanted and needed. They encourage us to go outside and exercise by bringing us their leash or begging us to play with them. They nuzzle up against us when we’re feeling blue, and petting them keeps us calm and relaxed. Amazingly, dogs are not just wonderful as pets and friends –they are also good for our health. People with physical limitations and diseases in hospitals and homes all over the world; depend on service and therapy dogs for their health and well-being. Dogs have been trained to help out people living with visual, hearing or physical impairments as well as autism, diabetes and neurological disorders like PTSD.
Dogs’ unconditional love, eagerness to please, happy disposition, soft fur and loving eyes are enough to raise anyone’s spirits. Dogs can help retrieve objects, turn lights and appliances on or off. Some dogs can even predict seizures 10 to 20 minutes before they occur, giving the person with the seizure disorder an opportunity to move to a safe place, take preventive action whether it entails taking medication, moving to a safe place or calling for help.
How do dogs do this? Dog’s sense of smell is a million times keener that that of humans and dogs noses can pick up on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the air. VOCs are microscopic chemicals that are released by biologically. Dr. Lichtenfeld published a study in the British Journal of Medicine in 2004 in which dogs were trained to detect bladder-cancer in patient’s urine samples with a 41% success rate. Since then, dogs have been trained to recognize other cancers, including skin, lung, breast, prostate and colorectal cancers, by smelling patient’s breath, urine and stool with an 88-97% rate of success.
We should all be grateful for service dogs for the little and big things they do for us. From Sadie who brings her owner, Maggie, her Solar Shields every day at 2 p.m. to go for their daily walk to Shadow who has woken up Tom on several occasions to let him know his blood sugar is getting dangerously low.
As a big “thank you” to Sadie and all the other service dogs, Solar Shield will give you 30% off fits over sunglasses or clipons when you shop at www.solarshield.com Use code: BLOG30
http://www.animalplanet.com/pets/can-dogs-detect-human-health-problems/
http://pets.webmd.com/features/pets-amazing-abilities?page=2