Sierra, a Siberian husky, sniffed out her owner Stephanie Herfel’s cancer three times in three years.

Stephanie Herfel was experiencing pain in her lower stomach when her new Siberian husky smelled her abdomen and ran and hid in a closet. When she went to the doctor’s, they said it was an ovarian cyst.

Later, Sierra was acting oddly again, so her owner decided to get another doctor’s opinion. It turns out that it was actually ovarian cancer. The cancer was then treated.

This was not the end, however. Sierra was acting oddly again in 2015 and 2016. Herfel was then diagnosed with liver cancer in 2015 and later cancer in her pelvis in 2016.

“I owe my life to that dog. She’s really been a godsend to me. She has never been wrong,” said Stephanie Herfel.

Sierra also reacted the same when her owner’s friend came over that also had cancer.

There are more dogs like Sierra. Many dogs can sense illness in humans. In fact many dogs can be trained to do just that. It’s called canine cancer detection. Dogs that have this training can detect stage three or four cancer in the person’s urine and breath.  

Stephanie is now the executive director of the Wisconsin Ovarian Cancer Alliance and she and her dog are thriving together in their Wisconsin home.