‘JUST WAITING FOR THAT PHONE CALL’: DOG TRAINING SERVICE READY TO TRAIN CANINES TO DETECT COVID-19

Dogs are already being used to detect certain cancers, low blood sugar, and oncoming seizures, and are now being trained overseas to smell Covid-19. But could this happen in New Zealand?

Yes, says Pauline Blomfield, founder and CEO of K9 Medical Detection NZ that was established in Dunedin three years ago.

For the past two years the charitable trust has trained dogs to detect various types of cancer, most recently Levi von Heisenberg, a German shepherd who can detect bowel cancer in urine samples.

The protocols and methodologies set-up for cancer detection could be transferred to virus detection, including Covid-19, Blomfield said.

“We work on the theory that if something has an odour, we can train a dog to detect it. Obviously we are talking about a very infectious virus, so there are [precautions] we would need to adhere to.”

Blomfield confirmed K9 Medical Detection NZ had been in talks with agencies and private enterprises about training Covid-19 detection dogs.

This comes as others who work in K9 detection overseas have increasingly shared information about the best way to go about training canines for Covid-19 detection.

“We are just waiting for funding,” said Blomfield.

She described a fully trained dog as a “diagnostic tool on four legs” able to clear long lines of people with speed and accuracy.

Training such as this would involve teaching the dog to detect Covid-19 in people who were asymptomatic, and will take “months and months”.

That is because there are two stages to training dogs: The clinical setting and then operationally.

These dogs would also have to have the relevant certification before they could work with the public, Blomfield said.

While training dogs was expensive, it worked out to be a relatively cheap tool if it could help prevent further lockdowns.

“You have to have the trainers and quality working dogs. That is an issue in New Zealand because we are very small, but it is not insurmountable.”

Dogs have a unique smelling ability, and are used to sniff out explosives, find missing people, or detect illegal goods and drugs being smuggled across the border.

A German shepherd like Levi has about 225 million scent receptors, compared to humans who have about 5 million.

The equivalent for a human to smell like Levi would be to detect the scent of a single teaspoon of sugar in two Olympic-sized swimming pools of water.

Blomfield said the dogs trained at the charity’s Mosgiel-based facility would likely continue to be used specifically for cancer detection given the high rates of cancer deaths in New Zealand.

However, if New Zealand wanted to use dogs to help detect Covid-19, it could follow overseas examples where specialist working dogs, such as dogs used in explosives detection, are retrained.

Blomfield said K9 Medical Detection NZ worked with German shepherds and a springer spaniel that all came from a genetic working-line background.

“They wake up in the morning and want to do something. They are great employees. You just need to ensure they are well-fed and they sleep well, and they just want to work for you.”

Showing a video of Levi successfully detecting samples in their lab, and being rewarded with a treat, Blomfield added: “We won’t work for free, so why should they?”

A pilot program involving dogs being used to screen passengers for Covid-19, has recently begun at Miami International, one of the United States’ busiest airports.

Last month, the Washington Post reported that if the dog signaled it detected the odour of the virus on a passenger, they would be asked to take a rapid Coronavirus test.

“We are following this very closely,” Blomfield said.

And it seems so is the New Zealand Customs service.

A spokeswoman confirmed some specialists from the service, which operates detector-dog teams at airports and ports across the country as well as at the International Mail Centre in Auckland, met with K9 Medical Detection NZ last year.

“We are still in contact with them, and we continue to monitor developments on this topic both here and overseas,” she said.

Blomfield cautioned that if New Zealand wanted to replicate something similar, it would take time.

“I’m just waiting for that phone call, but you do not want to rush this.”