Dog Sniffing – It’s Important

I was going to say something about New York City’s proposal to make organ donation automatic unless you opt out.

Then, I saw a TV news segment about a San Diego nurse who sings to coma patients, and thought heck, the organ donation thing can wait.

But then, I read an article in today’s morning newspaper about a French hospital that’s been testing a dog’s ability to sniff out prostate cancer.

I immediately shoved the two blog-subject contenders aside. They can grace my blog another day.

Researchers worked with a Belgian Malinois dog at Tenon Hospital in Paris. The dog was tested 66 times and passed 63 tests, sniffing urine and identifying men who had prostate cancer. That’s a 95.4% success rate after a year of training.

Well, you know how my mind works. And today it was wa-a-ay out in left field. The first thing I thought of was the way dogs greet each other – you know, dog sniffing. Then my thoughts wandered to men’s annual prostate examination (“Bend over, please”).

So, the next time you visit a friend’s house and his big ol’ dog rushes up to you and begins smelling your butt, let him. Maybe he’s just checking you out to see if you have prostate cancer.

Beats the doc’s finger any day of the week, and twice on Sunday.