Last week I wrote about detection dogs being used by the police. Dogs can detect individual scents even when the scents are combined or masked by other odours and they can do this even when the scent is only one part per million.
While most of us have seen or heard about dogs that sniff out bombs and drugs, have you heard about the Bed Bug Detection dogs? These are specially trained to identify the scent of bedbugs (Pissoo / oris/ khatmal).
With the increase in global travel and shared living accommodations, bed bugs have become a nuisance. America has gone on a war alert against bedbugs. In June a Joint Bed Bug Task Force was created in Washington and the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (like our Environment and Forest Ministry) held a bed bug summit in April 2009 to address the problem of bed bugs and how to eradicate them.
Hundreds of pest management companies have been traditionally killing bedbugs in homes and hotels with pesticides which are equally dangerous to humans. But with the increased focus on green pest management, the latest warriors’ tools to be employed are dogs. Dogs are a safer alternative to general pesticide use. If they can find out exactly where bed bugs are located, they can minimize the area that needs to be sprayed. Dogs detect bed bugs through all life cycle phases from eggs to nymphs to adults. These dogs are so sensitive they can smell a single egg or a single bug.
Bed bug detection dogs are new. A 2008 report by the University of Kentucky Department of Entomology endorsed bed bug detection dogs by stating that the “reliability of the dogs has been impressive provided they are properly trained.” Bedbugs impact the housing, hospitality, furniture rental, health care, assisted living industries. Bed bugs are turning up in fancy hotels, hospitals, dorm rooms, private houses, and crowded apartment buildings. And they're not restricted to the bedroom, although that's where they commonly reside. They can live in furniture, under loosened wallpaper, and a variety of other places. Bed bug detection is complicated by the fact that the insects can hide almost anywhere, figuring out the bed bugs is not easy. They hide in dark crevices during the day and usually come out at night. Bedbugs are extremely mobile; they can travel through apartment walls, pipes and wiring. It can take hours to inspect a home because bed bugs are so tiny and elusive. Bedbug detection dogs solve this problem because they are small and agile, finding bugs in places humans cannot, such as wall voids, crevices and furniture gaps. In New York city alone, Bedbug complaints doubled between 2006 and 2008, to just over 11,000 in 2011. People buying or renting apartments in New York look for bedbugs first. News reports about retail stores and movie theatres battling the tiny, blood-sucking insects have caused some New Yorkers to panic. New York ’s Mayor has a Bedbug Advisory Board.
The International Forensic Detection Canine Association based in the US, estimates over 200 dogs in the field and estimates that the need for bed bug dogs far outweighs the supply. Bill Whitstine was the first trainer to train and certify bed bug detection dogs in the United States and has an estimated 150 dogs internationally. Now agencies like the Florida-based J&K Canine Academy have sprung up. This one has trained 60 dogs to detect bed bugs over the past three years and currently has a waiting list. Bedbug Finders in Connecticut just has two, a terrier and a Basenji and both are booked for months ahead. New York’s The Bedbug Inspectors started six months ago has one dog, a small mixed breed rescued from a pound. Action Pest Control in New Jersey has doubled its revenues since creating a bed bug unit in 2007. The company owns three dogs, all mixed species (or what we call Indian or stray dogs). Advanced K9 Detectives has beagles. The National Entomology Scent Detection Canine Association sprang up in 2006 to give accreditation to properly trained dogs. The latest member of the Milwaukee Housing Authority's environmental services department is Gracie, a small Jack Russell terrier. Her job is to sniff out bed bugs in the city's public housing units. Dogs like Gracie are increasingly being used in private homes, hotels, and other businesses because they take minutes to find what would normally take a human days.
The dogs are not trained against fleas, just bedbugs. They are mild mannered and well behaved and when they smell a bedbug - on a pipe near the ceiling, or in a book on a shelf, suitcases and even telephone books and bedside Bibles- they don’t lap it up; they simply sit down and wait for a doggy treat. They go to schools too, and have picked up the scent in gym bags and children’s books.
The dogs are trained to sniff for bedbugs the way other dogs are trained to sniff for bombs, drugs or missing people. Their owners typically work as subcontractors to pest-control companies or directly for landlords and homeowners. They do the detection. Other people do the treatment. Training takes about 4 months and a trained dog sells for up to $ 10,000.
The world is full of opportunity. Any Indian dog can be trained far faster than a pedigreed one. Why not try your hand at it.
Maneka Gandhi
To join the animal welfare movement contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
While most of us have seen or heard about dogs that sniff out bombs and drugs, have you heard about the Bed Bug Detection dogs? These are specially trained to identify the scent of bedbugs (Pissoo / oris/ khatmal).
With the increase in global travel and shared living accommodations, bed bugs have become a nuisance. America has gone on a war alert against bedbugs. In June a Joint Bed Bug Task Force was created in Washington and the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (like our Environment and Forest Ministry) held a bed bug summit in April 2009 to address the problem of bed bugs and how to eradicate them.
Hundreds of pest management companies have been traditionally killing bedbugs in homes and hotels with pesticides which are equally dangerous to humans. But with the increased focus on green pest management, the latest warriors’ tools to be employed are dogs. Dogs are a safer alternative to general pesticide use. If they can find out exactly where bed bugs are located, they can minimize the area that needs to be sprayed. Dogs detect bed bugs through all life cycle phases from eggs to nymphs to adults. These dogs are so sensitive they can smell a single egg or a single bug.
Bed bug detection dogs are new. A 2008 report by the University of Kentucky Department of Entomology endorsed bed bug detection dogs by stating that the “reliability of the dogs has been impressive provided they are properly trained.” Bedbugs impact the housing, hospitality, furniture rental, health care, assisted living industries. Bed bugs are turning up in fancy hotels, hospitals, dorm rooms, private houses, and crowded apartment buildings. And they're not restricted to the bedroom, although that's where they commonly reside. They can live in furniture, under loosened wallpaper, and a variety of other places. Bed bug detection is complicated by the fact that the insects can hide almost anywhere, figuring out the bed bugs is not easy. They hide in dark crevices during the day and usually come out at night. Bedbugs are extremely mobile; they can travel through apartment walls, pipes and wiring. It can take hours to inspect a home because bed bugs are so tiny and elusive. Bedbug detection dogs solve this problem because they are small and agile, finding bugs in places humans cannot, such as wall voids, crevices and furniture gaps. In New York city alone, Bedbug complaints doubled between 2006 and 2008, to just over 11,000 in 2011. People buying or renting apartments in New York look for bedbugs first. News reports about retail stores and movie theatres battling the tiny, blood-sucking insects have caused some New Yorkers to panic. New York ’s Mayor has a Bedbug Advisory Board.
The International Forensic Detection Canine Association based in the US, estimates over 200 dogs in the field and estimates that the need for bed bug dogs far outweighs the supply. Bill Whitstine was the first trainer to train and certify bed bug detection dogs in the United States and has an estimated 150 dogs internationally. Now agencies like the Florida-based J&K Canine Academy have sprung up. This one has trained 60 dogs to detect bed bugs over the past three years and currently has a waiting list. Bedbug Finders in Connecticut just has two, a terrier and a Basenji and both are booked for months ahead. New York’s The Bedbug Inspectors started six months ago has one dog, a small mixed breed rescued from a pound. Action Pest Control in New Jersey has doubled its revenues since creating a bed bug unit in 2007. The company owns three dogs, all mixed species (or what we call Indian or stray dogs). Advanced K9 Detectives has beagles. The National Entomology Scent Detection Canine Association sprang up in 2006 to give accreditation to properly trained dogs. The latest member of the Milwaukee Housing Authority's environmental services department is Gracie, a small Jack Russell terrier. Her job is to sniff out bed bugs in the city's public housing units. Dogs like Gracie are increasingly being used in private homes, hotels, and other businesses because they take minutes to find what would normally take a human days.
The dogs are not trained against fleas, just bedbugs. They are mild mannered and well behaved and when they smell a bedbug - on a pipe near the ceiling, or in a book on a shelf, suitcases and even telephone books and bedside Bibles- they don’t lap it up; they simply sit down and wait for a doggy treat. They go to schools too, and have picked up the scent in gym bags and children’s books.
The dogs are trained to sniff for bedbugs the way other dogs are trained to sniff for bombs, drugs or missing people. Their owners typically work as subcontractors to pest-control companies or directly for landlords and homeowners. They do the detection. Other people do the treatment. Training takes about 4 months and a trained dog sells for up to $ 10,000.
The world is full of opportunity. Any Indian dog can be trained far faster than a pedigreed one. Why not try your hand at it.
Maneka Gandhi
To join the animal welfare movement contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.