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Is sweat from a different cause – such as exercise, anxiety or illness – chemically unique? Can dogs tell the difference?
Claire Guest,
Medical Detection Dogs, Milton Keynes, UK
In short, yes. Sweat is mostly composed of water, but it also plays a role in the excretion of toxins and waste products from the body.
These substances can be hormones, minerals or volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced as a . They can vary from person to person and depend on the cause of perspiration.
For dogs, which possess up to 300 million olfactory receptors, sniffing out the difference can…
