For those who don’t really know what bed bugs are, here’s a very quick overview (*cringe*): Bed bugs are small, oval, brownish insects that live on the blood of animals, but mostly humans. Adult bed bugs have flat bodies about the size of an apple seed. In other words, flesh eating bugs that can cause itchy welts on your skin if you’re bitten. Pretty grim, right? The worst part is that they can infest hotels and sometimes Hotel Managers or hospitality personnel are not aware of these infestations or they don’t act quickly to get rid of these bugs before the critters become a major problem. And guests who experience these unwelcome bed guests don’t hesitate to complain online and let the world know that your hotel is a filthy dump filled with bed bugs. So how do hotels deal with this issue efficiently and effectively?

Bring in the big guns

The new trend in bed bug detection is to bring in bed bug sniffer dogs. We all know how amazing dogs are for sniffing out drugs, bombs, mould and other undesirable substances. More recently though (and in America predominantly), dogs are being trained to sniff out live bed bugs in residential communities, hotel rooms, and other types of buildings like hospitals or student residences. This has become a highly lucrative business for both exterminators and dog trainers alike due to the increased number and seriousness of the infestations. Gordon Ramsay himself had to send in the bed bug sniffer dogs during filming of Hotel Hell. Talk about sending in the cavalry!

What makes canines so successful?

Trained dogs boast a 97% (and more recently in a Florida University study, 98%) accuracy in finding live infestations. And humans? Well, they’re just about cracking a 30% accuracy level at this stage. The figures talk for themselves. Aside from these amazing statistics, recruiting dogs for this new job role is also a chance to give those from shelters and homes a new lease on life. But it takes hard work and dedication to become accredited. Dogs have to train for between 800 and 1000 hours in order to become eligible for certification. Most of these training hours are spent at specialised training facilities where mock hotel rooms are created and set up very realistically. Live bugs are placed in the rooms in various places and the dogs have to sniff out these exact locations.

What happens when the bugs are detected?

The dog and their handler will approach the detection process as if they were completing a training exercise. Usually, they will be accompanied by a professional exterminator for visual verification and advice on how to proceed once an infestation is actually confirmed. Once the detection is made, the professional exterminators can get to work, and the pooch in charge can get a few rewards and treats for a job well done.

It doesn’t matter how clean your hotel is…

You know, it’s not because a hotel is dirty that bed bugs feel that they should visit. Bed bugs are attracted to CO2 which humans give off when they breathe, as well as the warmth of the human body. These pests are just as likely to infest a spotless hotel room as they are a filthy dirty one. All they need are regular visitors.

If you’re panicking about how to keep bed bugs out of your hotel, your home, or your student digs, take a look here for some easy prevention tips.  But more importantly, keep things clean, laundered, vacuumed, swept and when in doubt, bring in the dogs!

Image Credits
Image 1: http://bit.ly/XVTjCz
Image 2: http://www.bedbugs.org/dogs/
Image 3: http://bit.ly/XVTjCz