New uses for dogs are being discovered all the time. Dr Claire Guest is CEO of Medical Detection Dogs, she says "although the dog has a fluffy coat and a waggy tail, he is in fact a highly sophisticated bio-sensor. You know, evolution has given him this highly sensitive nose, going down to parts per trillion."

It's this incredible ability that has led to the UK's National Health Service assessing whether dogs can be used to detect early stage prostate cancer - vital for improving survival rates.

The dogs - usually from the gundog breed, such as labradors and springer spaniels - are taught to detect a sample of urine from a patient with prostate cancer.

It's also managed to train dogs to detect changes in blood glucose levels in people suffering from type 1 diabetes. One patient, who has one of these medical alert assistance dogs, told the BBC that "in the three and a half years we've been together, he has alerted and potentially saved my life 3,500 times. And he does it all for a dog biscuit."

To save a life for a dog biscuit seems a small price to pay so maybe I should have more admiration and respect for our four-legged friends – maybe cats aren't so smart!

词汇表 a dog person 喜欢狗的人

aggressive 好斗的、霸道的

life-saving 能挽救生命的

give them a second chance 给它们第二次机会，比喻重新考虑

pooch （非正式）狗

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