In a study conducted by the charitable organization Medical Detection Dogs and the Universities of Bristol and Manchester have shown that dogs can detect Parkinson’s Disease (PD). This is a wonderful breakthrough since there is no early test for PD and symptoms can start up to 20 years before there are visible signs and a confirmed diagnosis.

The dogs can detect an odor that people give off if they have PD with an accuracy rate of 80%. This gives medical teams a quick, accurate, non-invasive way to determine if a person has PD.

Again, dogs are a benefit to the health and well-being of people.

Journal Reference:

Nicola Rooney, Drupad K Trivedi, Eleanor Sinclair, Caitlin Walton-Doyle, Monty Silverdale, Perdita Barran, Tilo Kunath, Steve Morant, Mark Somerville, Jayde Smith, Julie Jones-Diette, Jenny Corish, Joy Milne, Claire Guest. Trained dogs can detect the odor of Parkinson’s disease. Journal of Parkinson’s Disease, 2025; DOI: 10.1177/1877718X251342485

Cite

University of Bristol. “Dogs can detect Parkinson’s years before symptoms—with 98% accuracy.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 16 July 2025. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/07/250716000846.htm>.