Frankie the German shepherd has “examined” 34 patients for thyroid cancer so far, and has had an 88 percent success rate with his diagnoses.

A team at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences trained Frankie to detect differences in urine samples belonging to patients both with and without thyroid cancer. Their hope is that they can use the skills of canine companions to develop a more efficient way to detect the early stages of cancer. The team of scientists presented the findings of their study with Frankie at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society.

The thyroid controls metabolism by producing hormones from a gland located in the neck. Thyroid cancer is usually diagnosed by analyzing hormone levels in the blood or from cells extracted with a needle. The idea for training dogs to sniff out cancer sprouted from the fact that tumors “release organic compounds into the body,” according to the study. Because a dog’s sense of smell is so much more developed than that of humans, the researchers wondered if they could be trained to detect the smell from those tiny levels of organic compounds in urine.

In Frankie’s case, at least, it seems he can. He correctly identified the presence of cancer in 30 out of 34 patient samples. If signs of a tumor were present, he would lie down; if the test was negative, he would turn away. Although this particular study focused on thyroid cancer, the same approach has also been successfully tried on bowel and lung cancer patients.

Scientists hope that, once they learn a little more about just how dogs are able to sniff out minute levels of cancerous compounds in human samples, they will be able to streamline the process and develop a sort of “electronic nose” that would be able to function in the same way. Before they are able to do this, however, they need to understand more about the mechanism that lies behind dogs’ olfactory skills.

“The capability of dogs to smell minute amounts is unbelievable. The medical community over the next few years is going to have a great appreciation [for them],” said Dr. Donald Bodenner, chief of endocrine oncology at UAMS.