April 10, 2008

NEW YORK – Few people realize that staying in a hotel bed could mean sleeping with unwelcome visitors. They’re bed bugs and they’re back. But to ensure a good night’s sleep man’s best friend is on the job in the battle against the bug.

“In the 50s (they were) a big problem and then (they) kind of went away. And now it’s back. And it is growing. I mean there are some who refer to it as the pest of the 21st century,” said Cindy Mannes, spokesperson for National Pest Management Association.

In New York City they’ve become such a nuisance that the city now holds seminars on how to exterminate them.

“It’s so hard to get rid of them,” said one woman who attended a seminar in Brooklyn. “We’ve been doing a little bit of research on it, trying to figure out how to get rid of them and it seems like a lot of work.”

They’ve been a lot of trouble for many Americans. According to the National Pest Management Association, there was a 71 percent increase in calls from 2000 to 2005 to pest control professionals about the critters.

“It is definitely a growing problem. The reported number of bedbugs through 311 have tripled over the last three years,” said Elise Shin, instructor and special projects manager for the NYC Department of Housing and Development. “So that’s a sure indicator that it can be a really huge problem if it’s not checked.”

But now there’s a new weapon for those who are trying to get rid of bed bugs.

Radar and Marty are Beagles -- and the pair are employees, of sorts, of Advanced K9 Detectives.

“What our dogs do is they go out, they find the bed bugs by way of their noses -- smelling them,” said Carl Massicott, president of Advanced K9 Detectives.

The pups sniff their way into a wide range of places rife with bed bugs, including average homes, luxury hotels and college dormitories. They’ve been discovering the bugs in places many wouldn’t expect.

“He’s found them in hotel telephones, clock radios in hotels. We’ve found them in the remote controls for TVs. He could find them anywhere,” said Massicott.

Many of the bug-sniffing dogs are Beagles --and many originally come from rescues. They cost about $10,000 each, and they are trained and certified annually.

“They’re trained the same way as bomb and drug sniffing dogs,” said Massicott. “They’re trained the exact same way -- but we just use bed bugs.”

And the dogs have had a successful track record. According to a study by the University of Florida, canines trained to detect one type of insect were about 96 percent accurate in finding the bug.

“Everyday I come home I hide bugs for him to find and he will find them. I mean I forget where I put them. And all of sudden he’ll be in the corner scratching away. And I’ll go ‘Oh, there they are,’” said Massicott.

So, how do dogs do it? Well, it all has to do with their noses.

“So there’s different reasons that dogs are so much better at detecting odors,” explained Dr. Louise Murray, director of medicine for the ASPCA’s Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital. “One is that they have so many more receptors in their nose than we do. They also have an additional scenting organ called a vomeronasal organ that’s located above the roof of their mouth and that’s something that we don’t even have. So that helps them as well with their sense of smell.”

A strong sense of smell coupled with a stronger will to work makes these canines perfect for hunting out the pesky bed bugs. It’s a job no human could hope to be as efficient at. And they never stop.

“The dog I found has never been late for work, has never called in sick, never wants a cigarette break. He doesn’t call the union on me. All he wants to do is go to work,” said Massicott.

They’re the perfect employees, and at the end of they day, all they want is a pat on the head and a scratch behind the ear. And the occasional treat.

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