Pet dog kept scratching mole on husband’s ear for no reason. A dermatologist appointment revealed a stunning truth
A wife noticed his pet dog constantly scratching a mole on her husband's ear, a behavior that made the family curious and slightly concerned. The mole had been there for decades, dismissed by numerous doctors as harmless, yet the dog’s repeated attention didn’t go unnoticed. On November 14, 2025, a user shared the unusual story on Reddit, describing how this persistent canine habit led to a dermatologist visit and eventually an unexpected medical discovery.
As detailed by Reddit user u/StatisticianAble5721, the husband had a dark mole on his ear for at least 30 years, but no one paid much attention to it. General practitioners had been "noting and dismissing it over the years as just a mole.” Meanwhile, he had no history of skin cancer, despite decades of working outdoors. "70 years of working unprotected outdoors with not so much as a basal cell bump [sic]." Then, in the fall of 2020, the family welcomed Sam, a lively red-and-white Pembroke Corgi.
Sam quickly became devoted to his owner, spending hours playing on the sofa and launching himself at him in bursts of excitement. "Sam is and was very much husband's boy, and 'the boys' spent much quality time on the sofa together," the user mentioned. One night, a playful miscalculation caused Sam to nick the same mole on the ear while jumping from the sofa. The minor cut bled slightly, but the family didn’t think much of it. Soon after, the husband had his annual checkup, and the doctor, for reasons unknown, referred the mole to a dermatologist.
The dermatologist’s assessment stunned the family, with the mole being diagnosed as melanoma. Sam’s persistent attention to that spot had effectively drawn notice to something that might otherwise have gone unchecked. As the Reddit user reflected, “Dumb luck or animal instinct? I don’t know, but bless Sam’s heart.” The husband has since become more cautious about sun exposure, while Sam continues to be a cherished companion. A study published in Frontiers shows that dogs have the remarkable ability to sense various types of cancers in humans. Similar to other illnesses, cancers create distinct chemical markers in the body, often present in bodily fluids and tissues. These markers, produced by cancerous cells or healthy cells influenced by cancer, release unique scents. Dogs are able to detect these scents through a person's skin, breath, sweat, and compounds known as volatile organic compounds.
Dogs have often signaled medical problems to their owners long before any clear symptoms appeared. In a similar incident, a family revealed how their two dogs kept licking one specific spot on their father’s head for nearly two years. “We never really looked too deep into it." At first, it seemed like a quirky habit, but later doctors discovered a cancerous tumor precisely in that area of his brain. After treatment, the dogs never returned to licking that spot. “My dog has remained my dad’s most loyal, supportive best friend,” the family said as the father faced challenges from motor neuron disease.