The pest controllers best friend?

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Does man’s best friend have a role to play in countering bed bugs? Be in the Ballacraine Suite at the National Motorcycle Museum at 09.30 on 2 November for a chance to find out how bed bug inspection dogs can help.

Adam Juson, a director of Merlin Environmental, will explain how detection dogs are used in his business in hotels, aircraft and many other locations to keep premises bed bug free. Some people are dismissing bed bug detection dogs as a gimmick and maybe at first glance it does seem a bit farfetched but then remember what a great job dogs do in sniffing-out drug smugglers and explosives or finding people buried under tonnes of rubble after an earthquake.

Adam has been working with dogs for almost 20 years. He will explain how scent works in a room and just how sensitive a trained dog’s nose can be. He will discuss the limitations too since, just like humans no dog is infallible. However, used in conjunction with quality monitors and with client staff trained to know what to look for, they are, in Adam’s opinion, an essential part of an integrated bed bug protection service.

He will also unveil new research from the USA which proves just how accurate dogs can be and will outline the remarkable new remote screen test based on the Remote Air Sampling for Canine Olfaction (RASCO) system originally developed for detecting explosives. Under this rather than take the dog to the bed bug scent the bed bug scent is taken to the dog with the pest controller collecting the scent which is then sent back to base for the dog to sniff. Called RIST Remote Insect Scent Tracing it is already proving to be another useful tool for Merlin’s customers.

For more information on bed bug detection dogs click here to read Pest issue 8 March & April 2010 and click here to read Pest Issue 16 July & August 2011.

  

bed bug dogs
Adam Juson right with bed bug detector dogs Charlie and Basil

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