Service dogs, specially trained for assisting people who experience stress, panic attacks, PTSD, and anxiety can detect psychological alterations. Read to find out how.
How do dogs identify stress?
Stress is a part of our day-to-day lives and research reveals that humans produce a distinct odor. A study by the Public Library of Science reveals dogs can differentiate between non-stressful and stressful situations based on odor.
“This study has proven that in people, when they have a stress response, their odor profile changes,” stated Clara Wilson. Wilson is a Ph.D. student at Queen’s University and an author of the study. This finding is helpful in service dog training and crucial for supporting people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
More on the study
The research defines stress as a “physiological and psychological response to a challenging situation (i.e., a stressor) which is exacerbated when an individual does not feel confident in their ability to overcome the stressor”. It is categorized as negative when a person does not have measures to overcome it. However, it s “positive” when a person has access to methods that help in overcoming it. Negative stress is also accompanied by high blood pressure and heart rate.
Dogs were trained to detect stress samples with behavior alteration when they were presented with the participant’s smell. Additionally, there were two samples without sweat and breath. The next phase measures the dog’s performance based on the sample. Dogs were able to identify stress samples with an accuracy of 93.75 percent. Odor control measures ensured the dogs were not relying on external cues. “the medical alert assistance dogs are being trained to alert people with complex health conditions when they are in danger of having a potentially life-threatening medical event by detecting changes in their odor,” stated Claire Guest. Guest is the Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of Charity Medical Detection Dogs.