Vancouver Coastal Health’s bio-medical detection dogs: Canines 4 Care team in Parksville on Good Friday 2026.
Canines 4 Care (C4C) was founded in 2016 and became the first program in the world to operationalize canine scent detection for identifying bacterial reservoirs of Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) within health-care environments. C. difficile is the leading cause of acute infectious diarrhea in hospitals and long-term care facilities across North America. More than 60% of cases are acquired within health-care settings. The C4C program is designed to reduce C. difficile transmission by strengthening environmental surveillance, increasing staff engagement, improving infection prevention practices, and minimizing environmental contamination. Canine teams can detect bacterial reservoirs in locations that are frequently missed during standard environmental audits. These screenings provide a rapid, non-invasive method for assessing health-care environments for C. difficile. Currently, no other testing modality offers the same combination of precision, speed, and accuracy. The Canines 4 Care team is led by a multidisciplinary group that includes medical professionals, canine detection specialists, environmental services staff, and infection prevention and control practitioners—along with our highly trained dogs. At present, five dogs (three English Springer Spaniels and two English Cocker Spaniels) are trained to detect C. difficile, while one Labrador Retriever serves as a generalist, trained to detect a broad range of fecal pathogens.
Thank you to the Parksville Community centre for letting these highly skilled dogs and handlers train in a fun new training location organized by local Dog Trainer, Ann Gunderson and her assistant Jackie Blois. Ann Gunderson teaches privately in Parksville and Jackie runs Nose Work Classes at the Parksville Community Centre.