If you’re looking for a bed bug sniffing dog in NYC, you won’t have to look for – training bed bug detector dogs are a new craze among bed bug control companies. All across town and cities, especially New York City, you’ll find dogs seeking out these tiny pests… but do these particular puppies really sniff out the buggy problem? How much of the time are they really able to locate bed bugs?
The Principles
Whether it’s a home, office building, or school, bed bug sniffing dogs are on the prowl. Bed bug detection companies are touting these dogs as 98% effective in bed bug hunting abilities.
Just as a dog can be training to sniff out bombs, drugs, or nearly any other substance… they can also be training to sniff out and locate bed bugs. This discovery has led to an increase in dog training schools offering specified schooling for qualified pooches.
The Craze
$11,000 – that’s how much you’ll pay if you want a bed bug sniffing dog of your own. Why so much? Because bed bug sniffing dogs are all the craze among extermination businesses, and customers as well. Not many dog-training schools have adopted bed bug hunting programs, so specially trained dogs can be a challenge to find.
The Argument
There are specialists who are calling bed bug-sniffing dogs into question. Even bed bug detecting companies have noticed that, increasingly, there have been many dogs that indicated a bed bug infestation… but no one was able to locate any bed bugs. The real question is this – are the dogs the ones to blame, or are their human counterparts simply unable to locate said bugs?
Another issue is dogs sniffing for bed bugs and confirming their existence when bed bugs aren’t the problem, but another bug is. Several parties have had no bed bug problems despite a dog acknowledging them… but they did end up having mites, fleas, or other bugs.
The Conclusion
It’s impossible to truly say whether or not bed bug sniffing dogs are overall an accurate form of bug-hunting. It’s possible that the training tactics have no yet been perfected, or it’s possible that the dogs are confusing one type of bug with another. Time will tell if these bug-hunting pups can hone their skills and become a true force for bed bugs to reckon with.