Vancouver dogs trained to sniff out COVID-19

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Vancouver Coastal Health has a new weapon it hopes to unleash in the fight to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Dogs have been trained to identify the virus on infected people.

“If somebody walks into the room and we asked our dogs to search, our dogs wouldn’t bark but would definitely be sniffing at people and sit beside them, quietly and calmly,” said Teresa Zurberg, a canine scent detection specialist.

“That indicates to us that we have to take a closer look at this person and do some more testing.”

Yoki and Micro, pictured with trainer Lâle, are members of Vancouver Coastal Health’s canine scent detection team. (Courtesy: Vancouver Coastal Health)

Zurberg says microbiologists used patient samples to create “scent training aids.”

“Through a process in the lab, [they] were able to create benign training aides that contain true scents without any of the dangerous pathogens attached to it,” she explained.

Dogs have acute senses of smell, having more than 300 million olfactory receptors, compared to 400 in humans.

“Odour is to dogs as how colour is to humans,” Zuberg said, adding the pups are trained by positive reinforcement.

“We teach the dogs to associate finding the odour we’ve asked them to find with getting rewards. We choose dogs that are highly, highly driven for the reward of treats or toys. Every dog can sniff, but not every dog can work.”

Yoki is a member of Vancouver Coastal Health’s canine scent detection team. (Courtesy: Vancouver Coastal Health)

There are three dogs on the team, all of which underwent six months of training. Vancouver Coastal Health says they have a COVID-scent detection success rate of 93 per cent.

“One is a lab named Micro, that we’ve brought from the Netherlands. We have Finn, who’s an English springer spaniel from a hunting kennel in Utah. And our third dog, Yoki, was with the PADS program, but decided she didn’t want a career as a service dog and would rather have a career as a detection dog,” Zurberg explained.

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The pups are part of the health authority’s Canines for Care program, which has been in operation since 2016. Until now, the animals were mainly used to detect Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) to reduce exposure in hospitals.

Vancouver Coastal Health is in talks with Health Canada, as it figures out how to put the dogs COVID-19 detection skills to use. Zuberg imagines the canines could help bring back a sense of safety to people when they are going to places like the airport.

With files from The Canadian Press