Ready to sniff out cancer trouble
HOGAN may only be 9 weeks old, but he has already sniffed out a rewarding job with great prospects and his future is sitting pretty.
He is one of a litter of five pups of a police detector dog, and has just been given to the K9 Medical Detection New Zealand (K9MD) unit in Mosgiel by New Zealand Police.
With a keen nose for adventure, Hogan is now embarking on a special mission to help save lives by detecting the early signs of cancer in urine samples.
Police dogs national coordinator Inspector Todd Southall said he thought he had seen it all during the course of his career in the police, but he was humbled by the work K9MD was doing when he visited the premises at Invermay recently.
‘‘It was a real eyeopener for me.
‘‘The fact that [K9MD] chief executive Pauline Blomfield was working with scientists and identifying the odour from the cancer cells for prostate and bowel cancer, and training the dogs to indicate on these, was absolutely incredible,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s not something we normally do, but gifting them a dog was the least we could do for their amazing work into cancer research and detection.’’
Mrs Blomfield said that, over time, the organisation had developed an excellent working relationship with government agencies using dogs for detection.
‘‘The New Zealand Police dog section works to protect and serve the community whilst K9MD work to care for the health and wellbeing of the community — so we have a natural connection.’’
K9MD has already trained two dogs — Levi and Frieda — to detect bowel cancer and prostate cancer, respectively, and Hogan will be among several other dogs being trained for similar work at the facility.
‘‘We’re creating a simple diagnostic urine test as a valueadded tool to be used within the health system for the early detection of cancer,’’ she said.
‘‘It's crucial that our medical detection dogs have a great temperament and a strong work ethic.’’
Hogan will spend his puppyhood under the watchful eye of K9MD puppy development trainer Lynette James.
The type of cancer he will be trained to detect is yet to be decided.