Pest-sniffing canines hunt bedbugs, termites

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When the termite inspector arrived at the Orange County, N.C. home, he didn't immediately strap on a backpack filled with chemicals or crawl on his hands and knees into the depths of the garage, shining a flashlight into the corners.

Instead, he opened the door of his car so Silas, an energetic black dog of Labrador and terrier ancestry, could hop out and get to work.

Rick Wade, a professional dog trainer and pest-control agent, walked Silas around the outside of the house, commanding him to sniff for termites. About six weeks earlier, while homeowner Ed Jenkins was in the midst of remodeling an upstairs bathroom, termites were discovered beneath the shower. Terminix workers treated the areas where they could find termites but had trouble discovering the infestation's entry point into the house.

So Silas was called in to help. Specially trained to sniff for termites and bed bugs, Silas represents a small but growing trend in the pest-control world: employees that work for food, or even a few minutes chewing on a rolled up towel.

"They can find them where we can't," Wade said of the bug-sniffing canines that search for microscopic pests and their even tinier eggs. "We're looking for them, and the dogs are smelling them."

The emergence of pest-sniffing dogs mirrors the national resurgence of bed bugs, said Greg Baumann, who is based in Raleigh, N.C. and is the senior scientist for the National Pest Management Association. Recent years have seen the number of bed bug infestations rise, with apartment buildings, dormitories and hotels falling victim to insects that are less than one-quarter inch long and extremely difficult to find.

That's where the wet noses come in.

"It's an ideal situation for a scent-detecting canine," said Baumann, who added that studies have shown the dogs to be more than 95 percent accurate.

Ned Dillon, deputy director of structural pest control programs for the state of North Carolina, figures there are fewer than one dozen pest-sniffing dogs in the state. Pest-control workers are welcome to use dogs for detection.

"It's like any other tool," said Dillon, adding that workers can't depend solely on dogs when identifying an infestation. The pests must be seen as well.

The highly trained dogs aren't cheap. Jeremiah Smith of Raleigh, who owns a bed bug-sniffing terrier named Scout, said a trained dog costs in the neighborhood of $10,000. Smith, who runs his own business, Logos K9, purchased Scout from a trainer in Florida.

Pest control workers are licensed by the state. Those without licenses can work under another licensee, which is what Smith is doing while he works to obtain his own. He contracts with pest control companies who rely on Scout's expertise to find tiny critters.

Because people know about drug- and bomb-sniffing dogs, they're usually comfortable having a dog sniff their home, Smith said. He starts each job with a quick demonstration, hiding a small vial of bed bugs and asking Scout to find it.

"It's old technology used in a new way," he said.

Back in Orange County, Wade used his black Lab, Jack, to follow the run Silas made around the outside of the house. Neither found anything. Then Jack sniffed through the garage, sitting next to a spot near the back wall.

"Atta, boy," Wade said as Jack attacked the towel. "Get it, get it!"

With two dogs, Wade can use one to check the other's work. In addition to the spot in the garage, both dogs also found another spot in the basement. The termites had been burrowing through the cinder-block wall.

With the spots marked so another Terminix worker could treat for termites, Wade gave Silas his paycheck, a small handful of dog food from the fanny pack around his waist.

(E-mail reporter Matt Ehlers at matt.ehlers(at)newsobserver.com. For other stories, visit www.scrippsnews.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)

Must credit The News and Observer of Raleigh, N.C.