15 years of Dogs Saving Lives

Medical Detection Dogs uses the amazing power of the dog’s nose to detect human diseases. Our research is based on the dog’s ability to detect minute odour traces created by diseases.

I used to train cancer detection dogs in my dining room, that’s where Daisy started her training as a pup. Medical Alert Assistance Dog Programme Manager, Simone used to get samples from the bottom drawer of the freezer for preparation and come through the kitchen with a tray. Back then neither Simone or I knew where it might lead, but not many people came to dinner.

The charity has come a long way since those days. Read more below from some of the people involved in Medical Detection Dogs, our history and how it all began in 2008 and ways that you can help us celebrate in this special 15th Anniversary year.

I hope that we can count on your ongoing support for the future.

Dr Claire Guest OBE,
Co-Founder, CEO and Chief Scientific Officer

The First 15 Years

As HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, our Patron, said in the tenth anniversary brochure

Mario Testino ©

Click on the + to hear from some of the people who have helped us along the way

Charity Co-Founder John Church believed dogs could detect Cancer

I am immensely proud of the team that has consistently given their best to ensure that we achieve our objectives successfully. Highlights for me have always been meeting people, particularly those with metabolic and allergic problems, whose lives have been transformed by a dog trained by us.

One of my key contributions to the dog training was being privileged to put together the team for the ‘Cancer Detection’ proof of principle study which was, not only so successful but presented so well in the British Medical Journal, in 2004. Another highlight was the first International Biodetection Conference held in my alma mater, Emmanuel College Cambridge, in September 2015.

We lead the world in this extraordinary venture, and there are great prospects for the future.

John Guest - President

When you start off a new venture there is inevitably a feeling of uncertainty as to what the future holds. This was particularly so with Medical Detection Dogs because our venture was to be totally ground breaking. But we felt we had common sense on our side and It was obvious to us that not to research whether dogs could reliably sniff cancer to a high degree of accuracy was to leave a massive stone unturned in the search for a better means of diagnosis.

However, we had much to learn. Having a great idea is one thing but turning it into a practical proposition is quite another. Research is a rigorous and long drawn out activity and real practical results take an enormous amount of time to achieve. Also research is a highly competitive area. Not everyone welcomes you on the scene particularly if they are themselves struggling. But most of all you have to learn that although there are charity funds available the competition for those funds is vast. For years Medical Detection Dogs was struggling and struggling hard.

You will not be surprised therefore to learn that reaching the 10 year anniversary of what is now, a strong and effective charity, causes me great pleasure and indeed to heave a big sigh of relief! We are regarded as world leaders in the field and world involvement is high. We have created a virtual whirlwind of activity with very strong media interest. We are making great progress and if we are fortunate in obtaining generous donations can progress even more.

As for my involvement I am one of several who got the charity off the ground and I am delighted that I managed to help get the charity over a few hurdles. The rewards are sweet – the greatest feeling is the satisfaction of having helped a massively worthy cause.

Pam Jones – First Volunteer and currently Puppy Socialising Support

When I first read about the charity in 2008, (at that time named Cancer and Bio Detection dogs), I was fascinated. It combined my loves of dogs and science and I went to help at our first location in Westcott, a very cold building where we were until December 2010. We were a very small team then and all mucked in to help, we even had meetings in my dining room! We had little money, everything was donated and our leaflets were printed on next door’s photocopier, Claire even had to limit how long the heating could be put on for. It has been a great privilege to be part of the charity from the beginning and this anniversary is a credit to all the people along the way, too many to mention, that have believed in and contributed to the charity’s growth and work.

Cherry – First Client to be partnered with a Diabetes Alert Dog

In 2008, Dr Claire Guest worked with my wife and I to train Zeta to become my Diabetes Alert Dog. We were the first partnership for Medical Detection Dogs and Zeta was by my side for over eight years keeping me safe daily. Sadly Zeta passed away in late 2015 and the charity have supported me in training Fizz, a successor Medial Alert Assistance Dog. Having the first Diabetes Alert Dog changed my life and it is wonderful to see that the charity have assisted so many other individuals in need, reaching the impressive milestone of having 100 Assistance Dog Partnerships. It is also amazing to see some of the additional health conditions that the charity are now successfully training dogs to assist with and I hope that in the next 10 years many more people will benefit from these four-legged lifesavers.