Hetty is a member of the bowel cancer bio-detection team. (Image: Jonathan Buckmaster) It takes less than a second for fox-red Labrador Hetty to decide whether a urine sample came from a patient with bowel cancer. Moving swiftly down the line, she dismisses the first three after a brief sniff but stands to attention at the fourth.
Trainer Mark announces her indication and research coordinator Steve confirms that this sample came from a patient at Hull NHS Trust with advanced stage four bowel cancer. A clicker sounds for positive reinforcement and Hetty receives a tasty treat. The six-year-old super-sniffer is among the latest class of talented pooches being taught to identify the odour of diseases by Medical Detection Dogs.
The Daily Express visited the charity’s Milton Keynes base to witness its fascinating work. A dog’s sense of smell is up to a million times more powerful than a human’s, allowing them to detect a teaspoon of sugar in two Olympic-sized swimming pools. Hetty belongs to a six-strong team learning to identify the scent of bowel cancer.
Their efforts will initially confirm whether or not it can be accurately detected in human urine. READ MORE: 'I ignored these symptoms and was hit with a devastating cancer diagnosis' Hetty quickly sniffs each sample until she finds one that smells like cancer. (Image: Jonathan Buckmaster) If it can, data collected during their training could provide crucial insights into the compounds the dogs are smelling - which in turn.