and also low blood glucose levels medical science is using dogs strong sense of smell to immense benefits i feel sorry for the stray dogs who survive on garbage and leftover food there are several ngos dedicated to taking care of the stray animals but they face a herculean task it is difficult to take care of human beings in this country so where will dogs stand a chance imust confess that i am slightly scared of petting stray dogs because of the fear of rabies i have seen several cases of rabies in my career it is unnerving to see the patient die of hydrophobia fear of water rabies is usually fatal and if my memory serves me right there is only one case of survival in medical literature even the pet dogs can be a problem as they defecate on the roads and footpaths in other parts of the world you will see people walking their pets carrying an apparatus to pick up the excreta im a regular walker and i can predict the exact spot on the pavement where dog poop would be lying now let us talk about the benefits of having pets especially dogs and let me assure you there are several benefits pets help lower blood pressure reduce anxiety and boost their owners immunity humans relax in the company of their pets and taking them for walks provides good exercise which in turn boosts immunity a recent research has said that pet owners have lower risk of contracting allergies and asthma and babies exposed to pets develop stronger immune systems those suffering from dementia have fewer anxiety attacks if they have a pet it has also come to light that having a pet can elevate the levels of serotonin and dopamine in blood which helps people remain happy and calmer those suffering from heart ailments survive longer if they have pets around compared to those who dont dogs have a massively strong sense of smell and the recent articles about medical science benefitting from the dogs ability to smell are amazing one such study tells us that dogs can tell if a person has prostate cancer by smelling his urine this paper was presented at the american urological associations meeting recently the researchers trained a pair of german shepherd dogs to detect cancer of the prostate by smelling the urine and the two dogs zoe and liu correctly identified 99 per cent of the prostate cancer urine samples the researchers have said that using dogs to diagnose the disease could provide an alternative to the current system of blood test for prostatespecific antigen which can give false results in men who do not have prostate cancer another study published in the uk medical journal the lancet in 1989 states that dogs can smell melanoma the lions foundation of canada dog guides have trained dogs to detect a drop in sugar levels in human beings these dogs are called glucose alert dogs who alert the