Abbey the Bed Bug Dog: news report
By nobugsonme on Mar 17, 2007 in Abbey, Bed Bug Dogs, Bill Whitstine, Doug Summers, bed bug detection, bed bugs, bedbugs, florida
Doug Summers of Mold Dog Environmental, who is a reader of the blog as well as a bed bug dog professional, sent us a clip from the news in Tampa, in which he’s interviewed about his bed bug dog Abbey, the training process, etc. Most interesting is the footage of Abbey being put through her training. Bill Whitstine runs the training service in Florida which is certifying bed bug dogs that then work in other places.
Abbey is an adorable beagle and it looks like she’s doing good work. Check it out on YouTube!
I haven’t used their dogs, but I like what they’ve said on the blog about their training process.
An important thing to remember about bed bug dogs is that this is a new industry and the quality of bed bug dogs and the companies that use them may vary widely. Ask questions, when you are thinking of hiring one, about where and how they were trained, whether they detect only live bed bugs and eggs, or if they detect everything including dead bugs and debris (because avoiding this has to be part of training, or you’ll get “false positives”–bed bugs detecting bugs when all you have are cast skins). Effectiveness studies would be good to see.
As with all bed bug-related services (the new gold rush), ask questions, get references. Caveat emptor!
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nobugsonme | Aug 8, 2007 | Reply
We’re told that this NYC-area firm also has one of Bill Whitstone’s bed bug dogs. Anyone used them?
http://x-tremetermite.com/