When the charity Medical Detection Dogs first started out, it focussed on training dogs to detect that someone was suffering from cancer. Since then, the charity has discovered that dogs can be trained to assist with the detection and management of a large range of medical conditions and so the training has been extended accordingly. In this video, Claire Guest tells us how the dogs are trained.

All the training is reward based. Claire explains which rewards tend to work best and why and how the dog is taught to signal an alert in a way that makes it obvious that this is what it is trying to communicate.

One aspect that needs careful management is to try to ensure that the dog only gives an alert to the right person in the right environment.