Dogs and Allergies

Allergies are becoming more and more common in the human population in industrialized countries, and the same is sadly true for our four legged companions. Dogs can just like us develop allergies to pollen, dust mites and even certain protein sources in food, among many other things. While there are no certain answers to why there's such an increase in allergy prevalence, at least more and more effective treatments for allergies are found.

Symptoms to look for in your dog if you suspect it might be allergic. 

Picture borrowed from http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=75

Just like in humans, where antihistamines and cortisone can be used to alleviate the symptoms of allergy, it doesn't remove the allergy itself. The only way to get rid of the allergy, or at least make the individual less sensitive to a certain allergen (substance that can cause an allergic reaction) is a process called hyposensibilization. That used to imply going to the doctor, or veterinarian in the case of dogs, to get an injection of the substance you/the dog were allergic to with certain intervals (usually every 14 days). This is often both time consuming and quite often unsuccessful in treating the allergy in question. Not to mention the fact that some people and dogs (yes dogs too) are actually scared of needles. What is worse, some extra sensitive individuals can actually get a very severe allergic reaction to the injection. Thankfully a new method of hyposensibilization for dogs  have been found and was presented this summer: Oral drops. They are simply dropped under the tongue twice a day. It has show to be comparable to injections in effectiveness but without the risk of strong allergic reactions. In some cases where allergy shots haven't worked, the oral drops did, so it appears to have a different mode of action. The treatment still has to be supervised by a veterinarian, but it is a good alternative to allergy shots. The drops also apparently taste good, so the dog won't mind taking them. Which I can tell you from personal experience is a very good thing.. I've seldom been as exhausted and sweaty at work as after I've tried to medicate a dog with pills it doesn't want..

I for one hope that more research will be done in this area for the sake of allergic people and dogs alike. Hopefully some time in the future we will find a treatment for allergy that is both more effective and safe. But maybe we should start in the other end, to find out why we and our dogs get allergic in the first place.

Source: 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120724144429.htm

The dog's exceptional smelling ability helps researchers

The dogs sense of smell is ranging from one hundred thousand to one million times more sensitive than ours, this together with the ease with which they cooperate with us humans make them the perfect tool, or as I prefer to view it, coworker, for the scientists doing everything from medical research to wildlife population estimations and everything in between.

When most people hear about dogs used in science or for scientific purposes, they think of beagles in a lab that has tubes inserted in different places and get injected with different chemicals. The role of the dog in science has evolved however, and we find more and more uses for our four-legged companions, mostly in ways that doesn't harm them one bit, but rather harness the awesome capacities hidden inside the nose and central nervous system of the dog; its sens of smell.
Unlike the human brain where a large part is concerned with dealing with interpretation of visual input, the dogs brain is dominated by its olfactory cortex, that is the area of the brain concerned with the sense of smell. In a way you could say that they see the world through smells, or at least experience it through smells. The olfactory bulb (where the receptors for smell are located) of the dog is forty times bigger than that of a human.
Due to this and their will to cooperate with humans on an unprecedented level in the animal kingdom, dogs are now used in many fields of research, from detecting cancer to locating owls and even finding killer whales! (Click on the links below to read more about it.) There seems to be no limits to what dogs can detect with their noses, the limiting factor is the human imagination.

"Is that a whale I smell?" A picture from one of the walks with the Siberian huskies this summer, Vida tried to smell things under water..

Sources:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14557224

http://www.bendbulletin.com/article/20120902/NEWS0107/209020364/

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120815174906.htm