Noses of trained dogs hunting bedbugs in city hotels and apartments

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Noses of trained dogs hunting bedbugs in city hotels and apartments (New York Daily News)
Original Article: Noses of trained dogs hunting bedbugs in city hotels and apartments

By JANE RIDLEY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Monday, March 3rd 2008, 4:00 AM

Meet the dogs of war - the war against bedbugs, that is.

Radar the beagle and Taz the Australian kelpie are part of a crack team of sniffer dogs sweeping apartments and hotel rooms across the city to combat an infestation that has reached plaguelike proportions.

The animals are specially trained to root out the pesky, blood-sucking insects, which nest in mattresses, upholstery and other furniture.

"We are inundated with requests from hotels and apartment owners," said Carl Massicott, the mastermind behind Advanced K9 Detectives, which has six dogs working steadily and two more in training.

"It's difficult to keep up with the demand," he said.

The city's Department of Housing, Preservation and Development says 6,889 infestation complaints were logged in the fiscal year ending last June, and 2,008 building owners were hit with summonses. In 2004, there were just 537 calls about bedbug infestations, and only 82 landlords were slapped with violations.

"We have confidentiality contracts and never name the businesses where we operate, but our clients include many top-end hotels," added Massicott. "It's in their interests to nip the problem in the bud before it spreads."

Radar and Taz, rescued from shelters, were trained using the same techniques as drug- and bomb-sniffing dogs.

"A dog's nose is cutting-edge technology," Massicott said. "Our animals are 100% honest, and trained to work for food and love instead of profits."

His company does not provide fumigation services, but will return to check whether exterminators have done the job effectively. The industrious pups can check out a room in less than two minutes and show they've found bedbugs either by barking or swatting their paws. Their reward? A tasty dog treat.

"Each dog lives with its handler, but they are only allowed on furniture when they are working," said Taz's "direct supervisor" Vince Mangano. "We tend to use smaller dogs because they can negotiate tighter spaces."
Experts say the surge of international visitors to New York City is partly to blame for the epidemic as travelers unwittingly bring bedbugs in their luggage from Europe and Asia.

Others point to the banning of powerful pesticides, such as DDT, which were previously used to kill them.

Massicott says female bedbugs lay about 200 eggs a year at the rate of three or four a day. They hatch into wingless insects that repeatedly shed their skin and bite humans while they sleep, leaving large, itchy welts.
"People wrongly assume that bedbugs like dirty, unsanitary conditions," he said. "In reality, they favor a clean environment and are particularly prevalent in nursing homes."

It is unfortunate for Radar that he dislikes sniffing hospitals because he "doesn't like to smell clean."

jridley@nydailynews.com

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