Scent Dogs Find Bedbugs

A pest control company in Duluth, MN is now using scent dogs to detect bedbugs.

A properly-trained scent dog has “the ability to smell things you and I don’t,” said Missy Henriksen, a spokeswoman for National Pest Management Association, a pest control industry group, attesting to the effectiveness of scent dogs in rooting out the nasty parasites.

Working dogs with scent training have countless uses: besides the most visible display in airports (detecting drugs and explosives), they’re wonderful at finding contraband cell phones in prison, detecting clues in arson investigations, and of course finding lost people and in some cases, even lost pets.

Bedbugs are big newsmakers over the past year, having made quite the comeback in many U.S. cities. It’s only natural that a dog’s uncanny sense of smell has found yet another productive use.

At the Zoom Room, we offer a six-week class in Scent Discrimination. Although we don’t use any vials of bedbugs, we do use lots of other fun little vials, and teach your dog far more practical skills, like finding your missing cell phone. That said, the skillset is the same, so if you were especially concerned with sniffing out bedbugs at home, or perhaps while traveling and staying at a questionable motel, we can certainly teach your dog to detect bedbugs… as long as YOU supply the vial!

Learn more about our Scent Discrimination class and enroll online in our next class.