Lisa makes a great point. It can be a difficult task of weaning a dog off a tennis ball or toy that has been used to hide when starting scent detection. Our K9 trainer has always started the dogs on scented towels. Leerburg's narcotics detection video shows a great method of teaching an active alert using a sand pit and burying the ball.

 Quote: michael_wise

 Quote: linda patch

Hi Michael--

You know, if doggie gets good enough, you could start a business.

I would love to, but it would have to be after me practicing proper training for a few years and a different dog.

I'm about 2 months late to this thread, but I too would love to eventually start up a business doing insect scent work to detect either termites, bed bugs, or both. Seems like a great thing to do!

Like you, Michael, I'd need more practice and a different dog. My dog is very smart and loves to play scent "find it" games, but he doesn't have the drive to search relentlessly. He's a great dog to practice on though and learn how to teach this stuff. My questions are these:

1) to become really, really good at detecting termites, etc, would you have to start with a puppy, or would an adult be ok if they had good drive?

2) for some reason, the few bed bug detection places I've found online seem to use beagles, but most search and rescue dogs and drug/bomb sniffing dogs are GSD and labs. Is there some reason why they'd be training smaller dogs for the insects or would a lab or shepherd work just as well? It seems to me that the breed shouldn't matter as much as the personality, drive, and ability to concentrate. In other words, I just have to make a smart choice about what dog I pick.

3) I'm assuming that a dog would need to specialize in one insect type or another. Is that right? Maybe you could have one bed bug dog and one termite dog...

4) This the toughest part: once you have them trained, where does one go to get them certified for insects? Is there an organization for that?

This was in the New York Times the other day--New Breed of Guard Dog Attacks Bedbugs

Matt,

As you stated, I don't think breed or size is as important as hunt and search drive.I have two excellent scent dogs, one is a Labrador and the other a Amstaff/American Bulldog mix.

Neither one of these dogs had the drive as puppies, both developed it later in life, the lab around 2 1/2 years old and the Pit mix around one year old. I think you are better off testing an adult dog rather than a puppy.You know their physical capabilities as well as their drive and determination. You need to find a dog that would "die" so to speak for the find.

I don't see why a dog couldn't be trained on both bedbugs, mold and termites. You train dogs on many different drugs so I would imagine it is the same.I have taught my dogs to find drugs, people and to retrieve my slippers and shoes. I thought about teaching them to get me my beer but was afraid they would eat everything in my refrigerater as well. I have noted though the companies I have checked out do have dogs for each specific detection, they don't detect both bedbugs and termites, it is usually one or the other, I am not sure why. I am sure someone with more experience may be able to clarify that.

I would probably teach them a passive alert since they would be searching residences.You wouldn't want your dog scratching up a clients house.

Like Lisa said, with an adult you know what you are getting. Puppies can be a best guess as far as drive potential.

I think the size of bug detection dogs has more to do with where they are asked to work. Not that a big dog couldn't work close quarters inside small rooms, but little dogs would have to be a little easier. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you wouldn't put a dachshund on a rubble pile.

Also, I wonder if a smaller dog is more attractive to hotel, or like business owners, since they could be snuck in and out more easily without being noticed.

I'd like to hear from people in that line of work, though, because this is mostly speculation on my part.

Good point about the smaller dogs not being noticed, guests may think they are a pet vs.a working dog. Also,large dogs can intimidating to some people.

Oops! My dog is not a Amstaff mix, she is an American Pitbull mix, not that it matters!

 Quote: lisa harrison

Good point about the smaller dogs not being noticed, guests may think they are a pet vs.a working dog.

I think I read that somewhere, but couldn't remember where or if I even read it. May have dreamed it. Makes sense in my simple little brain.

 Quote: Linda Patch

This was in the New York Times the other day--New Breed of Guard Dog Attacks Bedbugs

I learn something new everyday on this site... I had no idea dogs could detect bed bugs and I also learned I don't have any desire to visit NYC!!!

OK so I've done some more research on this and have found that there are some places that train dogs, then you purchase the dog and go and become trained with the dog as a dog/handler team. I don't know the prices but something I read said it might be around $10k. It's a bit like a police department buying a trained police dog I suppose.

Here's a couple of links:

http://fsik9.com/modules/content/index.php?id=3

http://falcok9academy.com/falcok9/Home/Detection.html

http://www.jkk9.com/


There are also a couple of organizations that provide certifications and information:

http://www.wddo.org/

http://www.nesdca.com/


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I've also read that you can have one dog detect both termites and bed bugs, but that it's better to have them do one or the other. I've also read that there is some concern about the potential health risks to the dog if they are doing mold detection.

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So here's my question: to do termite inspections, would *you* have to go become certified as a termite inspector and then do the canine work in addition, or could you be trained with the dog as a termite inspection team and then start working immediately? It seems like termite inspection certification (for people) involves termite eradication (pesticide training) and structural repair, which you don't really need to know if all you are going to be doing is *looking* for the critters. Same thing with bed bugs.

This brings up another question: would you work as an independent termite (or bed bug) detector, or would you contract to work for a pest control company? Around here (northern CA), the pest control companies do the inspections for free and make their money selling you their chemical and repair services. Searching online, I found several pest control companies around the country that use canines, but they use the dogs in conjunction with the rest of their business, which again is doing the chemical treatments and structural repair. What would be cool, would be to do strictly canine detection, and then the property owners can call whoever they want to solve the problem. All we'd do is confirm or deny that a problem exists. This service would probably be most valuable for people buying a house. Bed bug detection would probably work the same way, but most of the business would probably be for hotels.