Dogs help in fight against cancer!

I recall watching a show in which animal rights campaigners didn't like the use of dogs for such treatment and testing. Although the lab was making good progress and wasn't doing anything Illegal. The show was a good in sight to this, which your discussion is touching on. Kudos! ~Joey

Well I am glad that the humans and dogs can once again continue to be mutually benefical for each other. What I think even more fascinating is that dogs can often smell cancer before it is detectable. We had a similar experience with my black dog, he went down to Maryland to visit his grandparents (puppy raisers). They had an older female dog, he kept following her and licking her foot. The day after we left, they took their dog to the hospital. SHe had a little tiny bump between her toes...it was cancer.

It is a new twist on cancer research. Although I can't bear to think of a dog or cat getting cancer, I guess this is a better alternative to experiemnting on humans. But, since cancer has grown as a desease by astronomical proportions the last 100 years, I would like to see more done to figure out the causes and how to play the prevention game. The fight against cancer sounds like it is a disease that has come from outer space rather than the real causes which are man made or caused. How do you justify fighting something that could be prevented in the first place? It is like I have smoked cigs for 30 years, knew the possibilities of getting cancer, and now that I have it, I have to fight like heck to save myself. See what I am saying? This is not always the case, because I have had a five year old step-daughter die from Lukemia...so how or why she got so sick is a real mystery.

I think that's a good development. Humans have always first researched on animals and have applied the results on Humans after due consideration. Mice are the popular choice, because of their size, ease of availability and probably nuisance value. But, if instead of injecting them, we get dogs already infected then it is great. Also, dogs systems a bit more complex than rats and hence the transition to humans could be faster. Cheers! Ram

this is a new twist in research. good thing that they won't have to inflict anything to the animals in order for them to develop tumor cells. animals have been used for research for a long time and it is much better if they are going to use specimens which are quite related to humans in order to have more accurate results.