Vancouver Coastal Health has two new four-legged friends ready to start sniffing out some nasty, and potentially dangerous, germs.

The health authority, along with the Vancouver General Hospital and UBC Hospital Foundation, announced Friday the addition of two English springer spaniels puppies to the C. Difficile Canine Scent Detection Program.

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The three-month-old pups will be mentored by Angus and Dodger, who are the stars of the program. The canines are trained and certified to detect Clostridium difficile, which is also known as C. difficile, a superbug that attacks people whose immune systems are weakened by antibiotics.

The bug is an antibiotic-resistant bacterium that can cause symptoms ranging from mild diarrhea to life-threatening colonic inflammations. Although anyone can be affected, the germ is more commonly a problem in people with compromised immune symptoms.

Since 2016, the canine scent detection teams at VCH have searched hundreds of hospital areas for C. difficile. The team has also visited 30 Canadian health care facilities to share their infection prevention expertise.

“Our province is a safer place for patients and families thanks to Angus and Dodger’s special talents and keen sense of smell,” Adrian Dix, B.C. Minister of Health, said in a press release. “As their pack grows in numbers, these new pups will learn how to prevent the spread and infection of C. difficile in health care facilities and we are grateful for this innovative approach to protecting the public.”

The two new pups, a brother and sister duo, hail from Trenton, Utah. The female was named Traveller in honour of Ron Gaunt, a former police dog handler in the U.S., who was a leader in the sport of nose work. Ron was known as the “Travelling Man.”

Traveller’s brother, however, has yet to be named and VCH is hoping the public can help.

Vancouver Coastal Health staff has suggested more than 60 names. Judges narrowed the list down to four and are now opening it up to the public to vote for their favourite.

The four choices are:

Olaf – short for olfactory sense, which is what dogs use to help smell (it’s also the name of a certain snowman character from a popular Disney movie).

Clouseau – after Inspector Clouseau was a detective and looked for clues, which is what the new puppies will be doing when sniffing out C. difficile.

Finn – after Huck Finn was a curious explorer, just like this little puppy is.

Magnum – after fictional 1980s TV crime drama Magnum P.I., which starred Tom Selleck as private investigator Thomas Magnum

Visit www.vghfoundation.ca/vote to register your top pick. The winning name will be announced in early November.

- With files from Vicente Biancardi da Camara

@JessicaEKerr

jkerr@vancourier.com