A new study has found that dogs are not good at sniffing out lung cancer in actual screening situations. But their poor performance was not because of their canine sense of smell, but rather several other factors.   

In a study published in the Journal of Breath Research, scientists have found that although dogs have an uncanny ability to sniff out certain medical conditions, lung cancer is not one of them. Six highly-trained sniffer dogs were put to the test, and the results were surprisingly bad. Observations from the scientists suggest that factors - specifically boredom and distraction - caused the canines to lose focus and make mistakes.

Like Us on Facebook

Despite the results of the study, there is still a growing evidence that dogs can aid in medical practice. In a previous experiment led by the Director of Emory's Center for Neuropolicy Gregory Berns, the team found that dogs can sense even the slightest changes in the human body. There have been cases where dogs were able to detect low blood sugar levels and warn diabetic pet owners of an impending hypoglycemia attack.

Researchers have also discovered that dogs can sniff out certain cancers such as breast and urological cancers. But due to inadequate research, scientists were not able to broaden the scope to cover other cancers - at least until now.

Although the result of the new study was unpromising, Klaus Hackner, co-author of the study, believes that it was a learning experience. He told Gizmodo that "one important reason for the inferior results might be that a true double blind situation puts a lot of stress on the animals and their handlers."

The study notes that there are limitations when it comes to using dogs in such complex and demanding tasks. But Hackner believes that further research might change the results one day.