Medical Detection Dog Names

Introduction

Dogs have a much more advanced sense of smell than humans do, and humans have been utilizing the olfactory capabilities of canines for hundreds, possibly thousands of years. They are much better at sniffing out game trails, detecting illegal substances, and locating missing people and pets by scent, and we have used these skills to our advantage. In more recent decades, we have discovered that they are also able to detect certain illnesses and imbalances in our systems as well, such as imbalances in blood sugar levels, impending seizures, and in some cases, even certain types of cancer. These medical detection dogs play an important role in human health from service dogs for the diabetic to dogs that are employed by hospitals to check blood and urine samples for indications of disease.

Medical Detection Dog Names in Pop Culture

Featured Famous Medical Detection Dog

Daisy

While man has employed dogs for many jobs due to their olfactory abilities, utilizing their skill for the purpose of detecting illness is a fairly new concept. The first dog that was officially trained to detect hypoglycemia was in 2003 in California, and since that time many people have been paired with dogs trained to detect when their human's blood sugars go abnormally high or abnormally low. A few years later researchers were beginning to suggest that perhaps the dogs would be able to detect other disorders and diseases as well, maybe even certain types of cancer.

Dr. Claire Guest began training dogs to detect the specific odors of cancers, including breast cancer, and founded the Medical Detection Dogs in England. Her own dog, Daisy, was one of the first canines that were trained to detect the chemicals in the patient’s urine, or on their skin or breath, that can indicate that cancer has developed. Dr. Guest originally started training Daisy as a pup in her dining room, and that effort ended up saving her life when Daisy detected a tumor in her owner’s chest. When Daisy began pawing at Dr. Guests chest, the dog’s behavior alarmed her, so she decided to get it checked out professionally. Medical professionals confirmed, there was a tumor deep in the tissues, so deeply that it would have been quite large by the time that it was detectable by touch and it is likely it would have spread. The tumor was removed along with her lymph nodes, and after five weeks of radiotherapy, she declared free of cancer.

Daisy went on to evaluate over six thousand five hundred samples and detected cancer in around five hundred and fifty of them, an achievement for which she was awarded the Blue Cross Medal when she was ten years old. She retired from professional sniffing shortly after that to her home in the countryside near Buckingham, but before retirement, she helped in the training of a team of twelve other dogs. The dogs that work at the Medical Detection Dogs center now are trained to detect diseases and disorders, not only breast cancer, but also bladder, colorectal, and prostate cancers as well as Parkinson’s disease, malaria, and certain types of harmful bacteria. Along with the detection dogs that worked at the center, Medical Detection Dogs also has twenty-five medical assistance dogs who spend their lives with patients with severe illnesses in order to warn them of danger.

Medical Detection Dog Name Considerations

There are many ways to choose a name for a new canine companion; some people may select a name based on the dog's physical appearance or personality while others will choose names from books, movies, or plays that they found particularly memorable. If you are responsible for naming a dog that is slated to be trained as a medical detection dog, their prospective job can provide another source of inspiration. There are several names that mean healer such as Asa, Galena, Paion, and Pipaluk, as well as names that describe specific aspects of the job, like Bowden or Hermia, both being names that mean messenger.

Some people might even choose a name like Spike, Mia, Penny, or Uma, in honor of one of the personal pets that saved their human companion's life by alerting their owners to the presence of cancer. The dogs that detect diseases are still pioneers in their field, so honoring a medical pioneer that came before them is another great option. Human pioneers such as Alexander Flemming, the father of antibiotics, or Marie Curie, the first person to use radioactivity against cancer, are good name choices. Canine pioneers such as Armstrong, the first dog trained to detect hypoglycemia, or Tinker, the first dog to be registered in England as a diabetes alert dog can be considered, too.

Male Medical Detection Dog Names

Votes	Name	Vote
1	Felix A Latin name that means happy or lucky
1	Lancet The first known suggestion of using dogs to detect cancer was published in 1989 in a medical journal known as the Lancet
1	Osias A name that means salvation in Greek
1	Paion A Greek name meaning healer
1	Radar Radar technology is often used to find things
1	Spike A Bearded Collie who became a seizure alert dog for his owner without any prior training
1	Tracker Medical detection dogs track disease in the body
0	Alexander Alexander Flemming is the pioneering doctor who became known as the father of antibiotics, due to his experimentation with penicillin
0	Angelico An Italian name that means angel
0	Armstrong The first dog trained to detect hypoglycemia
0	Asa A name that is used in several cultures that means healer
0	Barry Barry is a Celtic name that means marksman
0	Bowden A name from England that means messenger
0	Edward Edward Jenner was the first doctor to attempt vaccination, by successfully using cowpox to vaccinate against smallpox
0	Hickey An Irish name that means healer
0	Hippocrates The father of western medicine was considered a pioneer as he was one of the first to posit that illness had a physical cause rather than displeasure from the gods
0	James James Blundell was one of the first physicians to successfully perform blood transfusions
0	Joseph Joseph Lister was one of the first physicians to realize that surgeons were transferring illnesses by not washing their hands between surgeries
0	Kashif A Muslim and Arabic name that means revealer or discoverer
0	Levente A Hungarian name meaning governor or guide
0	Maddox An English surname that means little lucky one or little good one
0	Malachi An Israeli name that means messenger
0	Max A household pet who detected their owner’s breast cancer, prompting the owner to seek medical treatment
0	Milagro A name from Spain that means miracle
0	Norris A French name that means caretaker or nurse
-1	Nuncio A name from Latin-America that means messenger
-1	Onni A Finnish name that means luck
-1	Qenaz A Hebrew name that means hunter
-1	Scanner Scanners are sometimes used to find hidden problems in the body
-1	Tabib Turkish name that means doctor

Female Medical Detection Dog Names

Votes	Name	Vote
1	Angel Angels are heavenly messengers
1	Daisy Well-known cancer detection dog Daisy detected over 550 cases of cancer, including that of her owner
1	Hope Medical detection dogs often provide hope for their patients
1	Lucky Diseases are often caught earlier by medical detection dogs than with other equipment, a lucky thing indeed
1	Mia A household pet that detected the breast cancer of her owner and prompted her to get medical help
1	Penny An untrained Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that detected the breast cancer of her owner and prompted her to get medical help
1	Sugar Dogs are able to detect when blood sugars are too high or too low for people with diabetes
1	Tinker The first dog to be registered as a diabetes alert dog in Britain
-1	Aneila An Italian name meaning heavenly messenger
-1	Ayah An Arabic name that means miracle
-1	Bjorg An Icelandic name that means salvation
-1	Destiny An English name which refers to fate and fortune
-1	Felice An Italian name derived from the name Felix, meaning happy or lucky
-1	Florence Florence Nightingale was a pioneering nurse who was able to prove that improving sanitation and cleanliness helped survival rates
-1	Galena A Greek name that means healer
-1	Hermia A Greek name meaning messenger
-1	Hui-Fang A Chinese name that means kind and sweet smelling
-1	Jane Jane Sharp was the author of the book The Midwives Book, published in 1671, which gave women in medicine more credibility, and was a massive bestseller
-1	Laser Medical detection dogs should have laser focus when on the job
-1	Margaret Margaret Bulkeley posed as a man in order to become a military surgeon; she was one of the first to perform a cesarean section and had the highest recovery rate of any medic in the Crimean War
-1	Marie Marie Curie was one of the first to use radioactivity to fight cancer
-1	Marvel A French name meaning miracle
-1	Maxima A Latin American name that means miracle worker
-1	Pipaluk A name from Greenland that means healer
-1	Saihu A dog that detected poisoned meat in southern China and prevented the people there from eating it
-1	Tethys A Greek name that means grandmother and healer
-1	Treasure Medical detection dogs are truly treasures for those who need them
-1	Uma A dog who began alerting her owner to impending seizures, and was then trained to become an official service dog
-1	Wijida A Muslim and African name that means finder or excited
-1	Yoshioka Yoshioka Yayoi was a medical pioneer who started the Tokyo Women’s Medical Clinic twelve years before it became legal for women to practice medicine in Japan