Essential
- Two dogs were drawn up to locate people suffering from Parkinson’s disease thanks to their smell.
- They showed sensitivity up to 80 % and specificity up to 98 % during tests.
- This discovery could help develop an early diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.
Dogs have a smell up to 100,000 times more powerful than that of humans. And their superpower does not only allow them to locate victims or lost people, discover drugs or find truffles. By relying on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced by the body, they are also capable of feeling if a person with health problems like certain cancers, diabetes or COVVI-19. Parkinson’s disease can now be added to the list.
During a study by the University of Bristol, two dogs – a Golden Retriever and a black Labrador, managed to detect progressive neurodegenerative pathology. These works were presented in the journal The Journal of Parkinson’s DiseaseJuly 14, 2025.
Parkinson disease: Bumper and Peanut were very little during the tests
The two dogs, named Bumper and Peanut, followed several weeks of training. Their trainers had more than 200 olfactory samples from patients with Parkinson’s disease and healthy people. They were rewarded each time they indicated the positive levy correctly and ignored the negative.
During double -blind detection tests, where only a computer knew where the samples of sick people were, the Golden Retriever and the Labrador showed sensitivity (capacity to correctly identify samples belonging to the patients of Parkinson) going up to 80 % and a specificity (capacity to correctly identify the samples of healthy people) going up to 98 %.
Parkinson: dogs could help locate early disease
“The dogs of this study obtained high sensitivity and specificity and showed the existence of an olfactory signature specific to patients with the disease”explains Nicola Rooney, an associate professor at the Bristol Veterinary School at the University of Bristol and the main author. For her, erect animals could “Help developing a quick, non -invasive and profitable method to identify patients with Parkinson’s disease”.
A particularly interesting diagnostic track since there is currently no early test for Parkinson’s disease. “Early diagnosis is essential because subsequent treatment could slow the progression of the disease and reduce the intensity of symptoms“, Recalls Claire Guest, CEO and scientific director of Medical Detection Dogs (association which formed dogs), before adding” nWe are extremely proud to say that once again, dogs can detect diseases with great precision. “