Bedbug sniffing dogs? You bet!!!
UGH!!!! Bedbugs!!! What can be more disgusting than laying down to relax in your hotel room only to be woken up by the bite of nasty critters in your bed, or worse yet, to wake up in the morning covered with mini welts from the bites of these menacing insects?! There is an explosion of bedbug infestation in New York City where the Department of Housing Preservation and Development had almost 7000 complaints of bedbugs in hotels and furnished apartments just in the past year!!! Over 2008 building owners were issued summonses for the infestation problem in their establishments.
But, there is no need to fear as Radar and Taz(both shelter rescue dogs) are part of a team of bedbug sniffing dogs that are hoping to rid the city of these pesky bugs. These dogs, Radar, a beagle and Taz an Australian kelpie were trained with techniqes similar to training bomb sniffing dogs. Carl Massicott is the owner of Advanced K9 Detectives and he currently has six dogs working in various city hotels and apartments to sniff out the culprits and two additional dogs are now in training for this increasingly important task.
What makes the use of dogs in this task such a good idea? According to Massicott, “A dog’s nose is cutting-edge technology,” Massicott said. “Our animals are 100% honest, and trained to work for food and love instead of profits.” Massicott’s firm does not handle extermination of the bedbugs, but they will come back to insure that a complete job of ridding the building of these pests has been accomplished. Massicott says they have confidentiality contracts with their customers, so that word of the insects and the bugs themselves don’t spread!!! There are many high end hotels in the city that have utilized Advanced K9 Detectives’ services. But he won’t share that info with you…remember, its confidential!!
These dogs are quick too. They can identify a room with bedbug infestation within two minutes by either barking or swatting with their paws and their reward—- a tasty treat!!
Each dog lives with their trainer and are kept very busy. Massicott says he can’t keep up with the demand. Many international travelers bring bedbugs with them from foreign countries. They may live in or on the clothes of these travelers and love the hotel mattress and pillow enviroment to grow and multiply. Female bedbugs can lay 200 eggs a year and those eggs can be moved and transported to create the insect explosion that New York City is experiencing right now. The eggs will hatch and continually shed their skin, biting humans while they sleep for their nourishment!!! Again…ugh!!!!
Perhaps with dogs like Radar and his pals, these bugs can be permanently destroyed, but I have a feeling they will truly be working for a long time to come!!!
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