
Medical Detection Dog: Nano Poses for a Photo [Image owned by Yasmine/Stuart]
A Nut Detection Dog?
When you think about a sniffer dog, you might think of a dog using its sense of smell to detect crime evidence, drugs and even bombs. I bet you don’t think about a nut detection dog. But for sufferers who have very serious allergies, a detection dog would prove very valuable. I’d never heard of one though, until recently.
Yasmine, a woman who lives with her partner Stuart in Worcester, works in IT Infrastructure support, where she is part of a team looking after 11 offices in Asia, Europe and the United States. She has an allergy to peanuts, walnuts and cashew nuts, and has gone into anaphylactic shock several times after eating nuts by accident.
Her allergy is perhaps the most serious kind, where she does not need to physically eat a nut to have an allergic reaction, but can also react when she touches them. When she is exposed to them through smell she will have a mild reaction such as swollen eyes and itchy skin.
She said: “It seems the more reactions I have the stronger they get. When it first started 7 years ago I could stop it by taking antihistamine, but now the reaction is very fast and I always get very confused. Lately I’ve had a few reactions, and one resulted in a hospital visit. In the last 7 years I’ve had about 18 severe reactions and about 30 mild ones.”
Her allergy affects her daily practices: “If I’m at home or in the office I have routines, which makes life easier. I can cook my own food and bring lunch boxes to work. If I do go out for a meal I try to eat at the same places where they know and understand my allergies. If I meet friends for coffee in town I only have drinks.”
When Yasmine was forced to go to hospital during business trips, a colleague suggested she look into what could be done to help her. She researched immunisation processes, but was told by the allergy clinic it was not possible at the time, as the process was at least 8 years from being on the market.
Training a Medical Detection Dog
Yasmine was determined to find a solution. She said: “No one at work forced me to travel, but I felt, for personal reasons, I did not want to change my job or stop travelling as that would be the first step towards restricting my life.
“A few months after that, I saw a programme about someone who trained a peanut detection dog in the United States. It got me thinking that I have a dog, so why not try it? It took a lot of phone calls to various dog training groups around Europe until someone told me about Medical Detection Dogs. I sent in an application form and got called for a meeting where they agreed to help me train Nano.”

Nano During his Training [Image owned by Yasmine/Stuart]
Nano, a black toy poodle, is Yasmine’s dog of about 3 years. She decided to get a poodle because she is also allergic to fur animals.
Nano’s training is the pilot scheme for nut allergies of Medical Detection Dogs – a UK-based charity which trains dogs to help people with life-threatening health conditions. The charity is funded by donations, and relies upon their volunteers to do the fundraising for them. They have previously trained dogs to help their owners manage diabetes type 1 and narcolepsy.
Regarding the training, Yasmine said: “First, Nano is being taught to detect whole nuts, and then smaller and smaller pieces as well as nut oils. When this has been achieved he will start detecting nuts and nut traces in food.
“He is doing very well so far. He is able to detect nut traces and nut oil on different surfaces such as tables, door handles, keyboards and phones, and the next step is detecting these substances in foods.”
Looking to the Future
How does Yasmine hope the scheme will change her life? “For me, this is about getting back my independence. At the moment there are so many situations that I will avoid such as going to dinner with friends. Going to stay with friends and family would mean they have to ensure food and surroundings are kept nut free. If Nano does pass his training it will allow me to do things like these again.

Nano Sniffing a Bookcase [Image owned by Yasmine/Stuart]
“At work, for example, when I go to someone’s desk to help with their computer, I will of course use their keyboard. This is just one area where Nano can help by checking there are no nut traces on the keyboard, mouse and desk. If I attend a business dinner or I do go out with my friends, he can double check the food for me, as well as the place where I am sitting.
“Another very important scenario is aeroplanes. This is where I feel most vulnerable as I know if anything were to happen it will be hours before I can get medical attention. By having Nano with me he can check the row I will be sat on and also alert me to any traces of nuts.”
And what about the future? Yasmine believes nut detection dogs can become more commonplace in sufferers’ daily lives, and they can be a real and great help to people with allergies.
She added: “My wish is that Nano is the first dog, not the only dog, to be trained like this. I think as a parent of a child with a severe nut allergy this would be such a helpful tool. If an adult like myself finds life with an allergy difficult, it must be nearly impossible for a parent to check everything.”
I completely agree with this sentiment. My own allergy is worrying enough, but I have never had an allergic reaction without eating a nut. For people with allergies as serious as Yasmine’s, this is a constant worry and threat. But a nut detection dog would make life so much easier for sufferers, and perhaps more importantly, it would ensure their lives are not fully restricted by their allergy.
I would like to thank Yasmine for allowing me to interview her, and for sharing her story with me. She is writing a blog about Nano’s training, and I would encourage you to read it, because Nano’s training is so interesting and remarkable. You can find it at nanothenutdetectiondog.wordpress.com. I would also like to thank Medical Detection Dogs for allowing Yasmine to talk to me about the scheme.