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New bed bug dog in Vancouver; free bed bug k9 inspections!

nobugsonme — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 03:09:36 +0000

Orkin in Vancouver has just acquired a bed bug sniffing dog.

Vancouver, meet Frankie!

Frankie was rescued from a shelter and trained for 600 hours at Florida Canine Academy (run by Bill Whitstine).

An Orkin employee wrote to Bedbugger,

For a VERY limited time our company will be offering free inspections to those in the Vancouver area that fear they have bed bugs but professionals have not been able to turn up any evidence.

It is important to note that we will not be doing inspections for people that have not yet had any pest control professionals do an inspection first.

They will need to provide proof that the pest professionals are stating that they did not find evidence. We will also only be able to do this free of charge for a limited number of people.

Just to repeat, you must have already been told by a pest control operator that you do not have bed bugs, based on an inspection.

This will surely be a good offer for some in the area. Thanks to Orkin for sharing it with us.

If you’re in Vancouver and qualify, please call the Burnaby manager at (604) 434-6641 and tell them Bedbugger sent you.Similar Posts:

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Bed bugs on Today with Meredith Viera and Janice Lieberman, today

nobugsonme — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:46:20 +0000

The video below, from the the Today Show, focuses on the tenacity of bed bugs (giving the example of one family who spent $6000 on treatment and then had a dog come in because they still had bed bugs). What went wrong?

It contains some not quite precise information (Bill Whitstine of Florida Canine Academy is credited as Bill Whitestone). The show also cited the University of Florida bed bug k9 research, saying a recent study found “dogs were 98% accurate in finding bed bugs.”

Bed bug dogs can be an effective tool for detecting the presence of bed bugs. But the statement out of context is misleading to consumers new to the idea of bed bug detecting dogs, since it does not clarify that the training a dog receives and the handler it is working with probably make a big difference in terms of the dog’s effectiveness for the job. The site conditions are also relevant to the effectiveness of the dog, or so we have been told.

Nevertheless, we are always glad to see bed bugs in the news, because it helps raise awareness. Consumers need to be aware of how costly and difficult it can be to get rid of bed bugs.

Update (10 minutes later): Doug Summers, who is the bed bug dog handler featured (but not named) in the video, tells us the home had four vikane treatments. The family is probably being reinfested via some source. See Doug’s comments in the forums.Similar Posts:

Bed bug sniffing dog and handler to be featured on Animal Planet

nobugsonme — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:19:05 +0000

According to SunCoast Today, Animal Planet will feature bed bug k9 handler Mike Tache and his dog Tracer on “Dogs 101″ this Saturday (11/1/2008):

Tracer and his owner, Mike Tache, will demonstrate how dogs can be trained to sniff out bedbugs on a show called “Dogs 101.”

Mr. Tache operates his own business known as American K9 Private Investigators with his dogs, Tracer and Ace, a Siberian husky-beagle mix. Both dogs were rescued from an animal shelter in Kentucky and were trained to sniff out bedbugs in hotels, college dorms, private homes, schools and businesses. Their services have become much in demand.

According to the article, the team is based in New Bedford, Mass. and does a lot of work in Boston and Cape Cod.

Note: the Dogs 101 program guide does not indicate that Tracer will feature in this episode.Similar Posts:

Woman notifies hotel desk about bed bugs in room, is evicted from hotel

nobugsonme — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:59:38 +0000

Channel 5 in Kansas City, Missouri reports that a woman says she found bed bugs in her room at the Value Place Hotel after noticing bed bug bites on her child. Instead of moving the woman to another room and dealing with the problem, the hotel simply evicted her:

After she alerted the front desk, [hotel customer Jackie] Trotter said she thought they were going to move her to another room. But when she insisted the hotel also clean all of their clothes she said they kicked them out.

“First I was stunned and just looked and asked, ‘Wait, my child got bed bugs from your hotel and you are putting me out?’ and she said that’s procedure,” Trotter said.

Trotter said she and her daughters just moved to town. She said they paid the motel for two weeks in advance and now they have no money to move elsewhere.

So the hotel actually had a bed bug protocol and this is it? Kick out the person who shows you there are bed bugs in the room?

A spokesman for Value Place responded in writing to KCTV5 News, saying, “Bedbugs are the single biggest issue the lodging industry faces today. These situations are brought into hotels by people.”

He added, “The best way that a property can deal with that matter is to isolate and eradicate that source from the property to protect the entire property. We followed the appropriate protocol.”

Well, this statement shows a lack of understanding about the “source” of bed bugs.

The hotel spokesperson is correct that “people” bring bed bugs into hotels. However, they are wrong in (apparently) assuming that the person to first notice and complain about bed bugs in a room is likely to be the source.

In fact, bed bugs can be in a room, unnoticed, for years, biting hotel guests. If a hotel wants to completely avoid the “source” of bed bugs, they need to close their doors right now. Or search every person coming through the door with a bed bug sniffing dog.

It might be better for business if they instead learn more about bed bugs and how to prevent them. They might also implement a program of regular bed bug inspections (human or canine or — preferably — both). Housekeeping staff need to be educated on the signs of bed bugs.

But kicking out customers who point out a room’s bed bugs amounts to throwing the baby out with the bathwater.Similar Posts:

Boston University dorm residents bitten by bed bugs

nobugsonme — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:16:03 +0000

News 7 in Boston reports that Boston University students living in a dorm at 575 Commonwealth Avenue have been complaining about bed bug bites, and bed bugs have been found.

The school did not release the number of infested rooms, nor how many students complained about the issue.

An exterminator was called to fix the problem.

It’s not the first time BU has had to deal with the itchy problem. In February 2007, they were in Shelton Hall, and the Daily Free Press at BU said students were asked to keep quiet and not spread panic.

The same student newspaper argued rightly that all students should be notified about the problem. This is sound advice, because administrators need students to come forward if they think they have bed bugs.

And then, eight months later, in October of the same year, students in a London (UK) Boston University dorm were bitten by bed bugs.

The Daily Free Press reported that students claimed a London BU administrator told them they were lying about bed bugs, and that they’d be banned from studying abroad again if they discussed the problem with others. BU admin later claimed the students’ accusations were false, so we’re not certain what actually happened in London except that the incidence of bed bugs in London was not itself denied according to The Daily Free Press.

It’s great news that the media is reporting the current story, but I hope BU is also now telling students about bed bug infestations as they arise. Since many people do not react to bed bug bites, and since it can take a long, long time to actually see a bed bug after becoming infested, everyone deserves to be notified that their neighbors have encountered bed bugs.

The recent history of bed bugs at BU highlights the need for university housing administrators to have an up-to-date bed bug protocol, taking advantage of the latest detection technology (which may include bed bug k9s and maybe one of the soon-to-be-released bed bug traps?) and treatment protocols which include careful and thorough inspections, prepping students for treatment, and options such as thermal heat or aggressive and repeated applications of an appropriate combination of steam, residual pesticides and dusts.

Colleges should not worry prospective students will choose another college; they should get on board with the best bed bug protocol they can, and publicize that fact, like Dan Mizer, Associate Director of Residence Life at Texas A&M, who is happy to tell the media the school is proactively employing bed bug sniffing k9s and planning to use TempAir when bed bugs are found. Would you rather send your kid to a college with a good bed bug plan in place? Or one where they try to avoid alarming people by discussing the problem which we know can arise at any college, anywhere?Similar Posts:

Bella Vista residents in New Haven are getting bed bug k9 inspections

nobugsonme — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:15:32 +0000

Remember the Bella Vista in New Haven? That was the complex where low-income, elderly and disabled residents found out their building had bed bugs by watching the news.

Now Radar of Advanced K-9 Detectives is searching for bed bugs with his beagle nose. Watch this clip from News 8 in New Haven.

Carl Massicott of Advanced K-9 may be overstating claims of bed bug sniffing dog effectiveness (he says bed bug k9s are 98-100% effective, a number not quite borne out by recent research).

Massicott also says human detection is 30% accurate; I think that a good human who does a thorough examination would have better accuracy than this; one who does the most cursory inspection (as many do) may be even less accurate.

And what kind of advice is Marilyn Watstein getting? First, we’re told the PCO and management told her she had no bed bugs; Radar found them in her mattress. (So far so good!)

The reporter says, “it’s her mattress that’s infested, so she’s taken off all the bedding” (cut to shot of sheets in an open garbage bag) “and is waiting for them to spray and wrap the mattress” (this over a shot of someone’s enormous handbag sitting on the stripped mattress).

I understand the main focus in this segment may have been good video, as opposed to good bed bug fighting practices, but we are told the bed was stripped because bed bugs were found in the mattress.

Why then is the bag of potentially infested bedding sitting open on the floor, and why, oh why in the name of all things sensible, was someone’s enormous tan handbag on top of the mattress where bed bugs had been found moments before?!?

Presumably that handbag will be leaving the building, and it has the potential of spreading bed bugs further.

I think it is excellent that the building has called in a bed bug sniffing dog. Residents of infested units need simultaneous, prompt treatment even if they have not seen signs of bed bugs, or noticed any bites, and a good bed bug sniffing dog increases the odds of detecting such cases.

I don’t know if that handbag belonged to someone in the News 8 production crew or to Ms. Watstein herself, but it should be carefully isolated, inspected, and possibly treated for bed bugs.Similar Posts:

How accurate are human bed bug inspectors, k9s?

Results of University of Florida tests on bed bug dog effectiveness are out

nobugsonme — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:01:38 +0000

The long-awaited University of Florida study of bed bug dogs that we mentioned last year has now been published:

Ability of Bed Bug-Detecting Canines to Locate Live Bed Bugs and Viable Bed Bug Eggs

MARGIE PFIESTER, PHILIP G. KOEHLER, AND ROBERTO M. PEREIRA
Department of Entomology, Building 970 Natural Area Drive,
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-0620
J. Econ. Entomol. 101(4): 1389-1396 (2008)

Here’s the abstract in full:

ABSTRACT The bed bug, Cimex lectularius L., like other bed bug species, is difficult to visually locate because it is cryptic. Detector dogs are useful for locating bed bugs because they use olfaction rather than vision. Dogs were trained to detect the bed bug (as few as one adult male or female) and viable bed bug eggs (five, collected 5-6 d after feeding) by using a modified food and verbal reward system. Their efficacy was tested with bed bugs and viable bed bug eggs placed in vented polyvinyl chloride containers. Dogs were able to discriminate bed bugs from Camponotus floridanus Buckley, Blattella germanica (L.), and Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar), with a 97.5% positive indication rate (correct indication of bed bugs when present) and 0% false positives (incorrect indication of bed bugs when not present). Dogs also were able to discriminate live bed bugs and viable bed bug eggs from dead bed bugs, cast skins, and feces, with a 95% positive indication rate and a 3% false positive rate on bed bug feces. In a controlled experiment in hotel rooms, dogs were 98% accurate in locating live bed bugs. A pseudoscent prepared from pentane extraction of bed bugs was recognized by trained dogs as bed bug scent (100% indication). The pseudoscent could be used to facilitate detector dog training and quality assurance programs. If trained properly, dogs can be used effectively to locate live bed bugs and viable bed bug eggs.

You can easily access it on the Armed Forces Literature Retrieval System, using the title above.

The study used dogs trained by Pepe Peruyero.

The results are impressive: “Dogs trained to locate live bed bugs and viable
bed bug eggs had an overall accuracy of 97%, which is similar to previous studies on insect detector dogs” (1394).

But there was also a 10% no-indication rate on viable bed bug eggs (10% of the time, dogs did not alert to viable eggs being present). The study suggests this can be attributed to a low concentration of the target odor. These false negatives (as well as false positives) can also be attributed to the handler’s “misreading dog behavior” (1394).

Ultimately, the study concludes that

Dogs can be trained to locate cryptic insects that are difficult to uncover visually as long as dogs are trained in a similar manner to the method we used, training is maintained regularly, an experienced handler is used, and nontarget odors are separated from target odors (1395).

This comes as no surprise, but cannot be emphasized enough. We know that bed bug dogs can detect bed bugs. We also know that it doesn’t always work.

Bed bug dogs have to be properly trained, the training needs to be ongoing once they’re with the handler, and the handler has to know what they’re doing and do it well.

Everyone is not cut out to be a dog handler. This is a booming industry and a lot of people are trying to get in on it. People with no experience handling dogs are among them and some of these may not be cut out for it.

The potential is there for people to obtain bed bug dogs from the trainers but to handle them improperly, or not maintain training. So even if your bed bug dog handler got his or her dog from the same source, depending on how the handler is working with the dog now, your results may not be as impressive.

Consumers considering a bed bug dog need to remember that anyone can hang out a shingle and advertise their “bed bug dog;” there’s no government agency certifying their effectiveness. So get references and recommendations and choose wisely.Similar Posts: