Going Green with Bed Bug Dogs

With growing concern over how our individual actions impact the environment on the whole, businesses and consumers are beginning to think in a more eco-conscious manner. Even in the pest inspection and control industry, bed bug dogs are viewed as an environmentally safe – yet, highly effective – inspection tool that can prove critical when dealing with a bed bug problem.  

Bed Bug Dogs Also Earth’s Best Friend
Here’s why a bed bug dog is environmentally-friendly facet of an overall treatment strategy:

• Unlike other types of bed bug inspection, identification and treatments methods that may utilize equipment or pesticides, the inspection dogs do not require any chemicals or high levels of energy consumption to do their job effectively. While these other strategies can be effective and still relatively safe, they do tend to have a greater impact on the environment and resources than is the case when using a bed bug dog as an inspection tool.
• The dogs can cover a lot of area quickly, which does save a significant amount of lighting and other resources. A human inspector must rely on a more methodical – and not as reliable – search by using the naked eye, a magnifying lens, and a powerful flashlight – and typically will require electricity-based lighting and either air conditioning or heat based on the time of year. This means the longer the inspection time, the more resources are used. 
• The dogs are able to uncover more hiding places, which means more direct treatment of the affected areas rather than having to use multiple methods or treatments over a longer period of time every time a new hiding spot is uncovered. This also saves resources and energy over the long term by handling the problem in a shorter treatment period. This will also require a lessened need and volume of harsh chemicals.

As the media has reported, more cities like Detroit are turning to bed bug dog inspection companies to address the growing infestations. In noting the success rate of bed bug dogs, the article cites an often quoted study that was completed at the University of Florida, which concluded that these dogs have a 97% accuracy rate when detecting bed bugs, including even uncovering those bed bugs in the early stages of development and those in hard to reach hiding places.  

In Summary
In summarizing the main points in this blog post, here are some of the highlights to remember:

• Bed bug dogs can be considered to be a safe, effective, and environmentally-sound inspection tool for bed bug problems. 
• They save on energy and electricity usage by relying on their own nose rather than flashlights and chemicals to do the job for them.
• They can cover a lot of ground much faster than a human being can, which also reduces the use of electricity, energy, and resources.
• Because the dogs are more accurate in their inspection processes, more areas can be treated with just one inspection rather than having to undertake more inspections and rounds of treatment from using human inspection processes.

About The Author

Jeremy Ecker has worked in the pest control industry for the past 17 years. The last 8 years was spent as a Vice President of one of the most well respected regional Pest Control Companies in New York. He is part of a NESDCA Certified Dog Team