The UK charity Medical Detection Dogs is marking a decade of dogged dedication to helping people in need, and Queen Elizabeth and Camilla, The Duchess of Cornwall joined in the celebration of the organizations crowning achievement at Buckingham Palace with a demonstration of a few of the dogs’ skills.
Held at The Royal Mews, the event showcased the life-saving work of Peanut, who showed how he can deduce Parkinson’s disease from sweat samples; and Kizzy, who was able to determine that cancer cells were in a urine sample.
In the last 5 years Diabetes Alert Dog, Magic, has detected dangerous changes in owner Claire’s blood sugar level over 4,500 times! pic.twitter.com/D3p2u8BLDt
— Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) June 6, 2018
According to the Daily Mail, the royal dog lovers also witnessed an unplanned presentation of canine cleverness when attendee Jodie Griffin, dealing with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, was alerted by her medical detection dog Nimbus to the fact that she was in danger of falling unconscious due to her condition. Proudly praising the efforts of the Labrador/Golden Retriever, Ms. Griffin confided to the Queen, “He’s my best friend.”
One of 90 charities with which she is involved, The Duchess of Cornwall took on the title of Medical Detection Dogs royal patron in 2014. (The organization also lists a number of animal-loving luminaries as ambassadors, including Downton Abbey star Lesley Nicol, Eastenders cast member Gill Wright and Anne Robinson of Weakest Link fame.) In thanks for her support, during the gathering the Duchess received a portrait of her two canine companions, Beth and Bluebell. Both Jack Russell Terriers were rescues adopted from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. A title previously held by Queen Elizabeth II for 60 years, the Duchess of Cornwall has been a royal patron of Battersea since 2017.
The Duchess is presented with a beautiful sketch of her two dogs, Beth & Bluebell – thank you @MedDetectDogs!
Beth & Bluebell were adopted from @Battersea_, of which HRH is Patron. pic.twitter.com/WiH0OyWhmp
— Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) June 6, 2018
Co-founded by Claire Guest, who years ago discovered that she had breast cancer due to the diligence of her own dog, Medical Detection Dogs trains canines (some of whom are from rescue organizations) for the vital work of identifying volatile substances associated with cancer cells in screening samples, as well as detecting odor changes which accompany a number of medical issues. (How does a dog’s nose know? A canine nose is equipped with approximately 300 million olfactory receptors! A person’s proboscis possesses only five million receptors.)
Photos courtesy Getty Images; Clarence House/Twitter
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