An eight-and-a-half-week-old puppy is about to embark on an extraordinary journey to track down cancer.
The puppy in question, whose name is not yet known, will go to K9 Medical Detection NZ; the organization that trains dogs to detect cancer early through scented scents.
Cromwell wife Jo Mckenzie-Mclean was diagnosed with colon cancer in January 2021.
“Unfortunately, my cancer wasn’t discovered sooner enough to stop its spread — I wish there had been a dog to sniff mine,” she said.
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She has a connection to the puppy, as it came from the litter of her dog Mac and her partner Michael Hartstonge.
“It’s heartening, given what I’m going through right now, to know that a puppy we helped create will be used to detect cancer early and save lives,” she said.
“It’s incredible how this organization can train puppies to detect cancer early and in a way we’re helping that fight.”
Mckenzie-Mclean said it made her and Hartstonge proud that two quality lines had come together to produce a puppy that meets the standard required for such a specialized role.
Delivered
Jo McKenzie-McLean and her partner Michael Hartstonge and their dog Mac.
Southland-based Flagstaff Kennel owners Claire and Lyle Penno were the breeders of the puppy and had donated the puppy to K9 Medical Detection NZ.
It was an important cause, because everyone knew someone who had or had cancer, Claire said.
“I thought … [Mac’s] lines would also complement our lines.
“We’ve had dogs searched and rescued from our lines, and the police,” she said.
The puppy’s sister even went to the Wellington Police Department on Thursday to get police training.
Robyn Edie / Stuff
The puppy will be baptized on Friday.
K9 Medical Detection NZ founder and chief executive Pauline Blomfield said when she learned about the puppy’s connection to Mckenzie-Mclean it was astonishing and emotional at the same time.
“…that the link should be so close, especially for the work we’re doing with colon cancer,” she said.
With 71 people getting cancer every day in Aotearoa, it embodies how everyone was touched by the disease, Blomfield said.
“This little puppy will join our team as one of our rescuers,” she said.
The agency had five medical sniffer dogs. The puppy and two other dogs would be added to the team later in the year.