Detection dogs can be found at national borders, airports, and even public schools. These dogs are commonly used for finding weapons or drugs. However, dogs are now being trained to detect Coronavirus (Covid-19) odor.
Dogs have fantastic noses, they have up to 300 million smell receptors, about 50 times more than humans do. This allows dogs to detect small concentrations of scent that humans cannot. Studies suggest that they have trained dogs to detect covid-19 by human sweat, urine, or saliva in sterile containers, and to sit or paw the floor when they detect signs of the virus. Detection dogs are not only being used for national borders, airports, or public schools.

The Miami Heat basketball team appears to be using covid-19 detection dogs as well. These dogs are being used because the Miami Heat is planning to open the American Airlines arena to fans for the first time this season. The detection dogs have been used on Miami Heat staff members since last year. Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021, will be the first time they are used to detect covid-19 on more than 1,000 people entering the arena. If the dogs detect someone with covid-19 they are trained to sit down.

K9 P.I Incorporate has shown consistent rates of accuracy over 90% and with false indication rates of less than 4%. They say the training process takes between 4-12 weeks. However, the training process depends on the dogs’ level of experience upon entering the training program.

University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) is training eight dogs through “odor imprinting.” Odor imprinting is when you train a dog to recognize a target odor. The Penn Vet dogs are soon exposed to positive covid-19 tests with saliva and urine samples in a laboratory. After the dogs learn and recognize the odor, researchers record the dogs’ skills to identify between positive covid-19 positive and negative tests.

Dr. Cynthia Otto, the Lead Researcher for Penn Vet told The Baltimore Sun in September that a lot of systems want covid-19 detection dogs. Otto says, “Everybody wants a dog, and nobody wants to for the science that goes into it.”

While the results are promising, more examinations are needed. If more dogs can be trained to detect covid-19 worldwide, we could possibly get back to doing the things we love.