Action Pest Control Hires K-9 Detectives In Fight Against Bed Bugs

Action Pest Control recently hired two canines to assist its team in the fight against bed bugs. Indy and Izzy, both fox red retrievers, are K9's trained to detect bed bugs in residential and commercial settings with 98 percent accuracy—a rate human inspections alone cannot match!

Just in the same way dogs are used to detect drugs, bombs, cadavers, missing persons and more, Indy and Izzy are trained and certified in bed bug detection entomologist and our dogs can locate bed bugs and their eggs with near 100 percent accuracy.

When it comes to finding bed bugs, dogs rely heavily on olfaction, their sense of smell, rather than vision. With 44 times more olfactory receptors than humans, dogs have a clear advantage over visual inspections alone. “You and I may smell beef stew cooking, but dogs can smell the individual ingredients: the beef, broth, potatoes, and even the spices,” said Kirk Hayden, chief handler for Action. “The same rings true in the world of bed bugs. Our dogs can detect live bed bugs, their eggs, and the scent they leave behind.”

Bed bugs are notorious hiders and have been found in homes, hotel rooms, healthcare facilities, college dormitories, movie theaters, retail stores and elsewhere. You can imagine how time consuming this can be for one or two individuals to locate bed bugs and their eggs, so it makes sense to add a canine unit. With Indy’s help, we can locate infestations before they get out of hand, saving both time and money.

These small, wingless insects feed solely on the blood of humans and often leave behind itchy, red welts on their victims. Bed bugs are excellent hitchhikers, and humans and their belongings provide the perfect transportation for them to travel across the globe. Because bed bugs are cryptic and often go undetected for months in some cases, regular inspections are highly encouraged.