It's a condition that's currently without an early diagnostic test, but there's a surprising—and furry—hint of hope for the future.
An estimated 68 million American households include a dog, according to 2025 data from the American Pet Products Association, meaning there are millions of furry friends providing daily sources of joy through cuddles, tail wags, and long walks that get us walking, too. Dogs can also be good for our health as they reduce stress levels.
Now, new research has found another superpower among our pups for their apparent ability to detect an increasingly common neurological disease…through scent.
A progressive neurological disorder that affects movement, balance, and coordination, Parkinson’s disease is the second-most-common neurological disorder behind Alzheimer’s, according to the Parkinson’s Foundation. Currently, 1.1 million Americans are estimated to be living with Parkinson’s, while some experts say 90,000 new U.S. cases are diagnosed each year. But, says one member of a groundbreaking research team: “There is currently no early test for Parkinson’s disease, and symptoms may start up to 20 years before they become visible and persistent, leading to a confirmed diagnosis.”
So, in a July 2025 study published in The Journal of Parkinson’s Disease, biology and chemistry researchers at the Universities of Bristol and Manchester in the United Kingdom, in collaboration with the charity Medical Detection Dogs, trained two dogs over a year’s time to sniff out Parkinson’s using their powerful sense of smell. In doing so, the team confirmed that people with early Parkinson’s present with an odor that is undetectable to humans, but can be identified by the animals on sebum swabs collected from the patients’ skin—as they explain: “One early non-motor symptom is seborrheic dermatitis: excessive sebum (a waxy, oily biofluid) excreted from the sebaceous glands in patients with [Parkinson’s disease].” Changes to sebum, they added, could serve as an early indicator for the disease.
The dogs—a golden retriever named Bumper and a black Labrador named Peanut—were trained using more than 200 odor samples from individuals with confirmed Parkinson’s disease, as well as control samples from individuals who did not have the disease. The dogs were presented with the swabs and rewarded for correctly identifying Parkinson’s disease-positive samples, while correctly ignoring negative samples.
The dogs showed sensitivity of up to 80%, and specificity of up to 98%. This means that if the dogs were presented with 100 swabs from people who had Parkinson’s, they were able to correctly identify 80 of them as positive. Presented with 100 swabs from people who do not have Parkinson’s, the dogs correctly identified 98—resulting in only two false positives. They noted that when the dogs weren’t in perfect agreement, that may have been a result of their “personality variations or subtle differences in training.” Scientifically, the researchers said they were still “extremely proud” of Bumper and Peanut’s accuracy in detection—even among participants who also had other health conditions.
The researchers commented: “[…W]hile we do not envisage dogs being diagnostic, they could potentially, with refinements, help to validate methods of clinical utility.” So while doctors will continue to use more proven means of diagnosis—biomarkers, clinical evaluation, medical history, and ruling out other possible causes—dogs could someday play a greater role in reaching an answer sooner. One researcher stated this could lead to early intervention, emphasizing that this is “key” to slowing disease progression and, importantly, improving quality of life.
For daily wellness updates, subscribe to The Healthy by Reader’s Digest newsletter and follow The Healthy on Facebook and Instagram. Keep reading:
- New Research: Living Near This Amenity Might Increase Parkinson’s Risk
- 7 Early Parkinson’s Disease Symptoms Besides Tremors
- The 5 Best Supplements To Fight Dementia and Preserve Your Brain, From a Doctor of Regenerative Medicine
- How High Is Your Alzheimer’s Risk? Doctors Say This 3-Minute Test May Reveal Your Chances of Dementia and Stroke
