Give Bill a call, if you want more information.

If you click on the dog avatar associated with my name on the forum it will link you to our website.

They have different philosophies — and I assume different methods — but both appear to be capable of producing bed bug k9s and training handlers who do good work. I suggest you contact them both directly as they may have advice re: how glutted a particular market may be.

I agree with all of the points that you raised in your comment about K9 teams & certification organizations. NESDCA does appear to function primarily as a marketing organization for J&K K9 teams.

However, if you are going to hold yourself out as an expert to the public, you really should consider running your comments through a spell check program before you post them.

I realize that sounds harsh, but I mean it in a friendly way.

bedbugdogexpert

The dogs appear to be less than perfect but my experience in watching a termite dog work – they are exponentially better than humans alone and as was mentioned above much faster. NESDCA should bring this method to better use by consumers and provide a greater confidence level. It is not an inexpensive proposition for the business owner to provide this service. It requires or should require time to learn the procedure, then the cost and maintenance of the dog or dogs, and periodic recertification etc…
In the field of medicine we require and expect this type of dedication and certification. Eventually, this increased standard will bring better and faster results for consumers. But it will probably mean many smaller operators will be out of certain aspects of pest control unless they subcontract for the use of such dogs. I applaud these pioneers and many more will do so also if bedbugs and other pests become the problem many predict they will be in the future.

Richard,

I hate to do this, but I must respectfully disagree with you on some points. In regards to claims of 90%+ accuracy, the certification standards developed by NESDCA REQUIRE at a minimum, a 90% accuracy rate. To date there are several dogs that have certified meeting that accuracy standard. It is true that the market has been flooded with dogs trained to a much lower standard, and it is very difficult for the end consumer to tell the difference by simply looking at a dog or talking to a handler which dog is which. It may be those dogs that your are referring to. That goes to the very core of why NESDCA was formed. Will every dog perform well above that 90% mark every inspection? The simple answer is no. But even if a dog meets the minimum standard of 90%, you are looking at a tool at least twice as effective as a human inspector alone. And several orders of magnitude faster.

buggeroff, as an aside, I believe it is Customs dogs that are REQUIRED by their standards to be 100% accurate. So it certainly can be done. It is expensive, and time consuming, and huge numbers of dogs wash out. That is the difference between 90%, 95%, and 100%… it an almost exponential growth in cost vs. return. What any particular task requires is determining where the point of diminishing returns reaches the point of “good enough”. If it a dog that is dealing with a life or death situation, I want that 100% dog a bunch more than I do a 90% dog. If it is termites or bedbugs, honestly, 90% is probably a very reasonable expectation.

As to the multiple dogs with multiple handlers… I agree there is a very real need for 2 dogs. I see no reason you need multiple handlers. The truth is, even with 1 dog you could in theory work out a decent protocol to deal with the threat of a false alert.. something along the lines of barring visual evidence at the location of the hit, returning on a different day and just working that area. But this increases the labor cost by a huge factor. The biggest cost in any inspection or treatment practice is not really the dog. It is the handler and the associated labor cost. With two dogs and 1 handler, you reduce that labor cost (at an increase in fixed cost), and still can get the confirmation on the hit. I guess this debate on 1 or 2 handlers could fall under the category of getting a certainty factor of 98% instead of 90-95%.. but at a 100% increase in the cost.

From a marketability standpoint, there is no way hotels would pay the added cost, and while the very wealthy residential customer could foot the bill, most of the discussions I see on this forum are on how to get costs of treatment and inspections down to the level of affordable for most.

Richard, I very much respect your opinion, even if I differ from it on this topic. You certainly also hold many people’s respect for your ethical standards. I certainly look forward to seeing you in Las Vegas in a few weeks.