Exploring a New Way to Support Early UTI Awareness

Reliant Medical Alert Dogs is currently training specialized scent-detection dogs to identify odor changes associated with urinary tract infections, also known as UTIs.

This program is being developed with a focus on nursing homes, assisted living communities, other senior care settings, and rehabilitation centers where UTIs can be difficult for both patients and caregivers to detect. Frequently this delay leads to a patient becoming mentally altered, experiencing systemic changes, or becoming septic. Our goal is to create a noninvasive support tool that will help care teams know when further testing or medical follow-up is needed.

As of summer 2026, the UTI Detection Dog program is in training and development. Our dogs are not diagnosing UTIs. They are learning to recognize scent patterns associated with confirmed UTI-positive urine samples and bacterial cultures.

Why UTI Detection Matters in Senior Care

UTIs are a common occurrence and concern among older adults. In nursing home residents, symptoms are not always obvious and may appear differently or subtle. A resident may seem more confused, tired, uncomfortable, or unlike themselves before anyone realizes a UTI could be involved. A clean catch urine sample can be difficult to acquire.

Because of this, earlier awareness can make a meaningful difference. Reliant’s long-term goal is to support care teams with an additional screening resource that may quickly identify when a resident needs closer attention or clinical testing.

What Are UTI Detection Dogs?

UTI Detection Dogs are specially trained dogs that use their powerful sense of smell to detect scent changes in urine samples.

The dogs are trained using carefully collected samples with confirmed culture results. This helps the dogs learn the difference between infected samples and clear samples.

This is how the process works.

Noninvasive: Dogs can screen collected urine samples and/or passively screen patients and residents.

Private: Samples can be handled using anonymous or coded labeling systems.

Supportive: Dog alerts are not medical diagnoses. They are meant to support proactive awareness and encourage appropriate medical follow-up.

Research-based training: Dogs are trained through repetition by scent imprinting and pairing with careful sample handling and exposure.

How the Training Works

Our dogs are being trained to recognize the scent profile of UTI-positive urine samples. Each sample used in training helps build the dog’s ability to distinguish between target samples and non-target samples.

The process includes:

• Collecting urine samples

• Transporting, storing, and handling samples

• Culturing and incubating samples

• Identifying the type of infection in the samples

• Teaching dogs to alert to target scents

• Training with both positive and control samples

• Tracking and documenting each dog’s progress over time

This ensures that each dog learns to identify the specific scent patterns that are associated with infection.

Still in Training

Reliant’s UTI Detection Dog program is not currently being offered as a diagnostic service. The dogs are still in training, and their work is being developed as a future support tool for care environments.

Any dog alert, once the program is active, would need to be followed by the appropriate medical testing and procedures. A detection dog is not a replacement for a doctor, laboratory test, urine culture, or medical opinion.

Our Long-Term Goal

Our vision is to bring UTI Detection Dogs into nursing home settings as an added layer of support for resident wellness.

By helping identify possible concerns earlier, these dogs could support:

• Earlier awareness of potential UTIs

• Better communication between care teams and families

• More proactive resident monitoring

• Additional support for busy nursing home staff

• A compassionate, innovative approach to senior care

Learning More

Reliant Medical Alert Dogs is currently building this program through training, sample collection, and collaboration with local healthcare partners.

For questions about the UTI Detection Dog program, nursing home partnerships, or how scent-detection training works, please contact our team.