First Time Ever in Japan – a Cancer-Sniffing Dog!

St. Sugar, Cancer Sniffing Dog Training Center
Mr. SATOH Yuji and Marine

On the seashore at Shirahama, Chiba prefecture, a soothing sea breeze is blowing in. On the beach is an amazing dog that has the ability to sniff out the smell of human cancer. The dog’s name is Marine, a 5-year-old female black Labrador Retriever. Marine looks like a normal dog, but why can she discover cancer? Her cancer sniffing ability is attracting attention from the medical community as she has the ability to play a significant role in future cancer treatment.

Marine was trained as a search and rescue dog. She received attention from the media and appeared on TV demonstrating her ability to sniff out dead bodies that had been lying on the ocean floor or decomposing in the forest. Marine’s abilities, however, are not limited.

Marine was trained at St. Sugar, Cancer Sniffing Dog Training Center, which is located near the beach at Shirahama. When training takes place, the loud barking of some 40 dogs can be heard from the Center. These dogs are being trained on a daily basis to become welfare dogs such as cancer-sniffing dogs, and to be actively integrated into human society.

SATOH Yuji, a head trainer at the Center, recalled what a hospital director once told him: “Cancer has a special smell.” Satoh realized that Marine’s sniffing ability was far greater than that of other Labrador Retrievers. It made him think that perhaps Marine could sniff out things that had been digested in human bodies, and might even be able to discover the presence of illnesses.

Satoh began training Marine to become a “cancer-sniffing dog.” In the training process, Satoh would have Marine sniff meats, vegetables, fruit and many other objects, especially things with less obvious smells such as cucumbers, which are very difficult to identify by smell. Then Satoh would hide the same objects in the same quantities under rocks along the coast and make Marine search for them. A dog’s ability to concentrate during training is about 15 minutes at a time. Taking frequent breaks, Satoh continued to train the dogs.

Then, Satoh captured the breath of a cancer patient, and made Marine sniff it. Sitting on the floor quietly, Marine sniffed it. Under Satoh’s direction, Marine sniffed five boxes containing five different breath samples. Only one bag contained a breath sample from the cancer patient.

Now, Marine will sniff out and stop at a completely sealed bag containing a breath sample from a cancer patient with a success rate of almost 100%. Among the 40 dogs in training, there are only two that are on a fast-track special training course to become cancer-sniffing dogs like Marine: Shell and Pearl. Even among dogs of the same Labrador Retriever breed, depending on their different DNA, some have the ability to sniff out diseases, and others do not.

Satoh was once a dog breeder. He has worked with about 1,000 dogs in the past and says, “I deal with them feeling that they are the best partners. The trust between dogs and people is the most important thing.” According to Satoh, if the owners of the dogs are not good people, the dogs do not grow up to become good dogs. He also claims, “Dogs like humans. They are important animals that are friendly and coexist with us. Dogs are great observers of humans.”

Satoh’s dog training might sound simple, but it is actually hard work. Satoh recalls, “At first, I could not collect breath samples of cancer patients. I tried and went around explaining what we do to more than 30 hospitals, but they all declined to provide us with sample breaths stating that they cannot disclose personal information.” Satoh, however, went on to train the dogs for this innovative new development.

Satoh never makes training manuals for the dogs. He keeps training the dogs as he plays around with them, and he enjoys spending time with the canines. He says, “When there are 10 dogs, there are 10 different characters. Their actions vary every day. The dogs never act according to what is written in manuals. It is us, humans, who need to change our thinking and react flexibly according to changes in the dogs.”

Now, a company called Seems Inc., which develops sensor devices to discover breast cancer, has started collaborating with the Center to produce a sensor that imitates Marine’s olfactory senses. If their test operations succeed, the results will surely bring a ray of hope to the medical industry.

Seems Inc.
www.seems-inc.com/

St. Sugar
www.stsugar.com

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