Artie, a three-year-old Miniature Cavapoo from Wadsley, Sheffield, has been awarded Pets at Home’s National Pet Day award after remarkably detecting her owner Suzanne’s stage two breast cancer.

Suzanne explains, “She was frantically licking and nuzzling into me, which at the time I didn’t think much of. It was only after a routine mammogram revealed I had Stage 2 breast cancer that I looked back and realised she must have sensed something was wrong. I went on to have surgery, radiotherapy, and I’m currently on a five-year course of anti-cancer medication. My tiny Artie, who’s by my side 24/7, noticed something I couldn’t—and in hindsight, I truly believe she was trying to tell me. She’s been my little lifesaver.”

Suzanne has had Artie for just over two years and since adopting her, the two have been inseparable. Artie has been a constant companion for Suzanne, but she didn’t know just how important her pet would become one day. Suzanne calls Artie her hero after this potentially life-saving effort.

We know dogs have an extraordinary sense of smell, and using dogs for medical detection has huge potential. Charity Medical Detection Dogs specialises in this area and is progressing academic research in this space. Their current projects are exploring whether dogs can identify the smell of bowel cancer from urine samples, an experimental field that could help make early diagnosis less invasive and more accessible.

While Artie isn’t one of their newest recruits and their dogs are bred especially for their expert scent finding skills, this heartwarming story shows just how powerful a dog’s nose can be. 

Amy Angus of Pets Foundation, the charity established by Pets at Home, comments on Artie’s win, “At The Pets Foundation, we understand that our pets are so much more than companions. Dogs have incredible skills, outside of being our best friends and supporting assistance charities is a key part of what we do at the Foundation. We’ve been working with the Medical Detection Dogs as one of our Assistance Dog Grant recipients for three years, supporting them with funding for their incredible work.

Our pets are capable of amazing things, and Artie is a testament to this. We’re so proud to support organisations honing the incredible talent of dogs, and to celebrate the amazing abilities of dogs like Artie.”