The Mystery of Dogs Who Sense Diseases - Unsolved Mysteries

Dogs Who Sense Diseases

Do dogs have the power to detect when their owners are ill?

Shadow, a dog that can sense diseases

Nancy Best has a dog named Mia

CASE DETAILS

Mia sniffed out Nancy’s breast cancer

Dogs have been domesticated for thousands of years and many breeds are prized for their keen sense of smell. Whether finding someone who’s lost, tracking a fugitive, or sniffing out explosives, the strength and accuracy of a dog’s nose is legendary. Marty Becker D.V.M., co-author of “The Healing Power of Pets”, is an expert on the subject:

“If you were to take a gigantic football stadium that NFL teams play in and fill the entire stadium with yellow tennis balls, and had one white tennis ball, dogs can smell the one white tennis ball in that entire stadium.”

Using this powerful sense of smell, is it possible a dog can actually diagnose life-threatening illness? Several dog owners have found persuasive evidence that dogs can save lives in mysterious ways.

Darlene Werremeyer’s dog Shadow saved her life

Nancy Best of Garberville, California, seemed to have it all. She was the mother of three healthy children and owned a successful coffee shop called The Java Joint. In fact, business was going so well, that she had recently opened a second store. Despite Nancy’s hectic lifestyle, her yellow lab, Mia, was always near-by. Nancy had gotten Mia as a puppy:

“Mia was the first dog that ran up to me. At the time, I didn’t know if I wanted a boy or a girl. Until she came up to me and I fell in love with her instantly.”

Nancy’s mornings were spent running the coffee house. But at about 1:00 P.M. each afternoon, Nancy set aside time just for herself and Mia. Then one afternoon, out of the blue, Nancy noticed that Mia was acting strangely:

“She came up and started sniffing and licking at my breast. And because she was eight months pregnant, I thought maybe she was kind of wigging out, so I didn’t pay any attention to it. I just went and told her to lay down.”

Shadow could detect low blood sugar

But Mia was persistent. The following evening, as Nancy was struggling to fall asleep, Mia began tugging at Nancy’s bedcovers:

“She started biting my shirt away like a dog bites fleas, little tiny nibbles and was trying to pull my shirt away from my body. I was starting to get upset with her.”

Desperate for her much-needed sleep, Nancy banished Mia to the backyard. The following day, during Nancy’s afternoon break, Mia did the same thing. Nancy couldn’t believe it:

“Mia jumped up on my lap while I was sitting up and dove with her nose into my chest. And the force of the pressure of her nose made me rub it because it hurt. And, when I rubbed it is when I felt the lump. I had had a negative breast exam by a physician just four months prior. There was no cancer in my family. I was 39, not old enough for a routine mammogram. So I was thinking this couldn’t be cancer, but the lump felt very odd. It was quite large.”

Medical tests found Nancy had a cancerous tumor in her breast. A lumpectomy confirmed the worst: she had a stage two invasive ductile carcinoma, a very aggressive form of breast cancer. Marty Becker found out about how she discovered the lump and started to do a little research:

“When I first heard about Nancy Best’s case, I talked to an oncologist at the Mayo Clinic about it. And one of the things that we surmised there was that there was a certain smell that was being secreted. The type of tumor that she had in her breast may have had a certain kind of an odor. You have to remember, this kind of breed of dog is actually used for hunting. They have a very sensitive nose.”

Nancy had a partial mastectomy. Months of chemotherapy and radiation therapy followed. Since 2000, Nancy has been cancer-free. She thanks her dog Mia for potentially saving her life:

“The doctor believes that had this cancer not been detected at this time, within six months it could have entered my lymph nodes and I would have died.”

If it’s possible for a dog to sniff out cancer, are there even more profound life-saving powers a pet can offer? Darlene Werremeyer of Spokane, Washington, thinks so. She believes her dog, Shadow, is a prime example:

“He was the best medicine that I could’ve ever taken. If it was in a pill form, he’d be a miracle drug.” 

After Darlene was diagnosed with diabetes in 1991, she had a series of medical setbacks.  While recovering from open-heart surgery, she suffered a stroke. For a while, she lost her ability to speak.  After several years of therapy, Darlene recovered her speech but had a problem with stuttering. At a family reunion, the anxiety of being in a crowd made that stutter even worse. Darlene Werremeyer:

“I was so nervous. I couldn’t talk again. And this little schnauzer named Maggie came up to me and started licking my hand. I started petting her. She got in my lap. And I noticed as long as I petted her, I could talk so much easier. It was phenomenal.

So phenomenal that as soon as she returned home, Darlene had to tell her neurologist:

“He said ‘Yeah, I know about dogs. I know how they can help. There have been lots of studies done.’ So he wrote a written prescription for a dog.”

So on doctor’s orders, Darlene adopted a schnauzer of her own, which she named Shadow. The bond between Darlene and Shadow quickly grew and Darlene’s speech improved. Dr. Carol Wysham, MD, was Darlene’s physician:

“We don’t fully understand why dogs have such an effect on people. But in Darlene’s case, she felt very calmed by the dog. Perhaps paying attention to the animal, petting and the sensory effects of that, could be actually just putting her more into a meditative trance.”

Soon after adopting Shadow, Darlene learned what an extraordinary animal he really was.
One afternoon, Darlene laid down for a nap and quickly dozed off. But Shadow was alarmed by something and would not allow her to sleep:

“He started pawing at me. He wouldn’t leave me alone. I sat up and the room just spun.” 

Uncertain why Shadow was upset, Darlene checked the glucose level of her blood; it was dangerously low. If a diabetic’s blood sugar level drops too far, it can trigger unconsciousness or even a coma. Dr. Wysham:

“Shadow has helped Darlene in many different ways. Not only in her safety as far as being able to detect the low blood sugar, but also in her general life. Darlene now is able to walk without a cane. She is able to function and do the things that she wants to do on a daily basis.”

Darlene Werremeyer and Nancy Best have no doubt that they are alive because of the mysterious powers of their dogs. Marty Becker is equally amazed by the abilities of man’s best friend:

“The ability of these dogs to detect a seizure or detect cancer is probably equal parts their incredible sense of smell, their incredible ability to read body language, and then, also, what I call not just a sixth sense, but a ‘sick sense’. That’s that ability to know when something’s just not quite right. And then, the ability to draw near to help them. We should not be so amazed that pets are able to do this; we should be amazed by the amount of things that we don’t yet know they’re able to do.”

Watch this case now on Amazon Prime in season twelve with Robert Stack and in season seven with Dennis Farina. Also available on YouTube with Dennis Farina. Various seasons available now on Hulu.

5 Comments

  1. Lesley

    I got this virus I had no idea I had and it lasted years. I was dx from 6 yrs -13 yrs with AML. I thought it was treated and never would return. It came back at age 37 as a AML with Auto Immune Disease. My 1 year old Black Schnauzer starting biting and acting weird with me prior to this happening to me. He would be more protective always jumping on me to reassure me he was there and always sniffing at me and my private areas and my licking excessively at my skin. He would bite me which lead to bruises coming all over my body. I decided to check it out so I went to the Dr and right away the blood work came back really bad and I had to go to a Hematologist/Oncologist and she told me that I had AML with AutoImmune Disease and that she has to act on this quick. He still is acting like this with me my dog and it hurts because I am in pain sometimes and I he is a pup and a bit rambunctious and I have to yell at him and I get so mad with him because he won’t stop nipping at me what can I do.

    Reply

  2. Arthur Bernstein

    I’ve have several Yorkies since 1977. But two of them were very extraordinary. Romeo was self-trained. This was proven when I placed ten fries on the edge of a table and told him to take them off in the order they were put there. He did. Romeo died young (4 years old) from undiagnosed viral encephalitis. He was replaced by Paris, a silver Yorkie, in 2001. In April 2003 I was hospitalized with something I later found was POA, caused by mold spores. After six weeks (one week in a coma), I returned home with instructions from my doctor that I was not to stand up too fast without physical assistance. I foolishly rose from my bed too quickly. I started to black out with my head aimed at the TV. Paris, two years old and only five pounds, rushed forward, grabbed my pants and pulled me back onto the bed. At the time, I weighed 165 pounds…and yet Paris pulled me back and saved my life. We remained inseparable until his death in August 2014 of kidney failure. He was 3 months shy of his 14th birthday. To this day, I still miss having him near me. Today, I have a rescue dog…a Yorkie…who sees to it that I exercise and eat properly every day. I’m 63 with high blood pressure and possibly Type 2 diabetes. My dog sees to it that I take my medicine daily and eat correctly as well as exercise for an hour each day, whether I want to or not. She reminds me by constantly barking at me and running from me to the counter, back and forth, until I take my medicine. My little babies are all life-savers and I love every one of them.

    Reply

  3. Amy Gourley

    I saw a story on Unsolved mysteries about a seizure dog who had helped a young lady with seizures after she was in a bad car accident.I have been looking for a seizure dog for a long time.I was wondering if you could help me.because they are very expensive and hard to get.do you think the people who train these dogs in the prison program could help me get a dog?thank you please write me back at gourleyamy@yahoo.com.thank you Amy

    Reply

  4. Martha Bennett

    in 2010 i started having strokes, and out of nowhere i developed type 2 diabetes and they found a hole in my heart, heart stopage and a pacemaker. well our daughter moved back home to help take care of me and she moved in with her blue nose pit/johnson bull dog mix. well this adorable dog Triue, knows when i am having a stroke, sugar issues and migraines. she will not leave my side and will walk right up next to me protecting me. or she will inform me if i need to call my dr. so i agree whole heartedly with this report

    Reply

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4.1 This Website may make available chat rooms, blogs, forums, message boards, and news groups. Please remember that any information that you disclose in these areas becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal information. Information disclosed by you or by others enters the public domain and may be freely used by any other persons or entities using the site.

ARTICLE 5. Information Sharing With Third Parties
5.1 From time to time we may enter into a special relationship with another company that is not owned by Cosgrove Meurer Productions, Inc. to provide additional features at this Website. These special relationships may include “powered by” partners, business partners, sponsors, and co-branded sites (referred to here as “co-branded pages”). These might include, for example, pages that share our name and that of another entity. You should look for a specific privacy statement on any such co-branded page. Any personal information that you provide when signing up at one of those co-branded pages may be shared with our third party partner. You should also check our partner’s website for information regarding its privacy policies.

5.2 Also, the nature of some features of our Website may require that we share personal information about you with persons or companies outside of Cosgrove Meurer Productions, Inc. For example, this may occur at a feature that enables you, via our Website, to ask questions of persons or entities that are not part of Cosgrove Meurer Productions, Inc. By responding to those features of the site, whether by email or direct entry of information on our Website, you are consenting to our transferring that information to such persons or entities.

5.3 With respect to specific registration modules, like contests, we may disclose personal information collected, and we may post a conspicuous statement on the registration module to the effect that we will be disclosing the information collected with third parties.

5.4 Finally, we may share any of the information collected from you with these other non- Cosgrove Meurer Productions, Inc companies in an aggregate basis. The aggregated information is not linked to any information that can identify you.

ARTICLE 6. IP Address and Log Files
6.1 We may use your IP address to administer our Website, to help diagnose problems with our server, to analyze trends, to track users’ webpage movements, to help identify you and your shopping cart, and to gather broad demographic information for aggregate use.

ARTICLE 7. Cookies
7.1 This Website may use a standard technology called a “cookie” to collect information about how you use the Website. Cookies reside on your computer and help our Website to recognize your computer’s browser as a previous visitor. This information allows us to customize delivery of information. For example, our Website may use cookies to save and remember registration information or preferences that you may have set while browsing the Website, to keep track of your shopping cart, to ensure you don’t see the same ad content repeatedly, to deliver content specific to your interests, and to save your password so you do not have to re-enter it each time you visit our site. We use cookies only to gather information as indicated in this policy.

7.2 In addition, on occasion our site may also set a “session cookie” which helps us administer the Website. The session cookie expires when you close your browser and does not retain any information about you after it expires.

7.3 Finally, we may also use an ad network provider to help present advertisements on this and other Cosgrove Meurer Productions, Inc. websites. This ad network provider, like other advertising service vendors, uses cookies, web beacons, or similar technologies on the hard drive of your computer to serve you advertisements tailored to interests you have shown by browsing on this and other sites you have visited, and to determine whether you have seen a particular advertisement before and to avoid sending you duplicate advertisements. In doing so, the provider collects non-personal data such as your browser type, your operating system, web pages visited, time of visits, content viewed, ads viewed, and other clickstream data. The use of cookies, web beacons, or similar technologies by these ad network providers is subject to their own privacy policies, not ours, and Cosgrove Meurer Productions, Inc. assumes no responsibility for the collection or use of such information.

ARTICLE 8. Banner Advertising
8.1 We have contracted with an ad-service to place banner advertising on our Website. All of the data provided and generated by the ad-server software remains in our possession. This feature of our Website may, on occasion, set “cookies” on your computer. Any information collected or stored by the ad-service or the cookies is treated in the same manner as other information described in this statement.

ARTICLE 9. Children’s Personal Information
9.1 Consistent with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act:

9.1.1 This site does NOT collect, use, or disclose personal information (including online contact information) of children under the age of thirteen (13).

9.1.2 In the event that a child under the age of 13 attempts to register on our site, we will NOT accept the registration and will delete information received from the child.

9.1.3 In the event that a child posts personal information in a public forum such as a chat room, we will attempt to delete that information once we become aware of it.

ARTICLE 10. Security of Your Personal Information
10.1 Cosgrove Meurer Productions, Inc. employs reasonable security measures consistent with standard industry practice, for information collected through this Website. We believe that we have adequate security measures in place in our physical facilities to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of the information we collect on our Website. We also use internal protections to limit access to users’ personal information to only those employees who need the information to perform a specific job.

ARTICLE 11. Sale or Merger
11.1 If this Website is sold to, or merges with, another company not owned by Cosgrove Meurer Productions, Inc., you should expect that some or all of the information collected from this Website may be transferred to the buyer/surviving company. If so, CMP will seek to obligate the acquiring company to use any personal information transferred by this Website in a manner consistent with this statement, but cannot guarantee that it will be able to impose that requirement or that the acquiring company will comply.

ARTICLE 12. Legal Process
12.1 You should be aware that Cosgrove Meurer Productions, Inc. may be required to disclose your personal information to the government or third parties under certain circumstances, such as in court or regulatory proceedings.

ARTICLE 13.  Contacting the Website

13.1        If you have any questions about this Privacy Statement, the practices of this Website, or your dealings with this Website, please contact us at: unsolved@unsolved.com.

ARTICLE 14.  general information

14.1        Choice of Law:  This Agreement and the Additional Terms shall be governed by, construed and enforced in accordance with the laws of the State of California , as it is applied to agreements entered into and to be performed entirely within such state, without regard to conflict of law principles.

14.2        Choice of Forum:  You agree that any cause of action you or Cosgrove Meurer Productions, Inc. brings to enforce this Agreement and/or the Additional Terms, or in connection with any matters related to this Website and/or the Privacy Statement, shall be submitted to arbitration in the County of Los Angeles, State of California, United States of America in accordance with the commercial rules and regulations of the American Arbitration Association then in effect (as amended herein), provided that said arbitration shall be heard before a single arbitrator, who shall be a retired judge, selected pursuant to such rules and regulations, and shall be conducted on an expedited basis and in confidence. The arbitrator’s decision shall be controlled by the terms and conditions of this agreement and any other agreements I may enter into with you, and shall be final and binding, and shall provide for each party to bear its own costs of arbitration and attorneys’ fees.  Each party expressly waives any right to a jury.  Judgment upon the award of the arbitrator may be entered or enforced in any court of competent jurisdiction. 

14.4        If any provision of this Agreement, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, is held invalid or for any reason unenforceable then such provision shall be deemed superseded by a valid, enforceable provision that matches, as closely as possible, the original provision, and the other provisions of this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect.  The failure of either party to insist upon strict performance of any provision of this Agreement shall not be construed as a waiver of any provision or right.  Unless expressly provided otherwise, this Agreement is the entire agreement between you and Cosgrove Meurer Productions, Inc. with respect to the use of this Website and shall not be modified except in writing, signed by an authorized representative of Cosgrove Meurer Productions, Inc.

ARTICLE 15.  European Union and Other Foreign Nations

15.1        This Website is governed by and operated in accordance with the laws of United States of America and is intended for enjoyment of residents of the United States.  Cosgrove Meurer Productions, Inc. makes no representation that this Website is governed by or operated in accordance with the laws of other nations.  By using this Website and submitting any personal information, visitors from outside of the United States acknowledge this Website is subject to U.S. law, consent to the transfer of personal data to the U.S., and waive any claims that may arise under their own national laws.