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Trained dogs may be able to detect Covid-19 more effectively than nasal swab PCR tests, the Guardian reports, citing new research.

A study published on Wednesday by the peer-reviewed Plos One journal found that canines were able to better detect the presence of Covid than PCR antigenic tests in both symptomatic and asymptomatic people.

In the study, trained dogs were able to detect Covid in 97% of symptomatic cases and nearly 100% of asymptomatic cases.

“The dog doesn’t lie,” Dominique Grandjean, a professor at the Alfort National Veterinary School in France and a study author, told Science News, noting that different errors can occur with PCR tests.

The study featured 335 participants from Covid screening centers in Paris. Of the participants, 109 were positive with Covid, including 31 who were asymptomatic.

The detection dogs, provided by French fire stations and the United Arab Emirates, received three to six weeks of training, depending on if a dog was previously trained for odor detection.

The dogs sniffed samples of human sweat placed in an olfaction cone. If a dog detected Covid, it sat down in front of the cone.

Ultimately, the trained dogs were more sensitive to positive cases. Nasal PCR tests were better able to better detect negative cases.

In two false positive cases, dogs falsely identified other coronavirus respiratory illness strains that were not Covid.

While there have been previous studies on the capability of dogs to detect Covid, this is believed to be the first to compare the accuracy of dogs to antigenic tests.