I had a bedbug issue in my apartment in seattle and I can confidently say it is hogwash.
They had this so-called bedbug detecting dog in, and it detected the bed bug exactly in the room where we moved the bed to AFTER we detected the bugs in the other room. The dog detected no bug in the other room which was the original source of the bugs. The dog did not even detect bugs IN the bed frame that I found and killed. But the point was, it "confirmed" the existence of the bed bugs and then they brought in some sort of heating system that heated the apartment to more than 120F or something that kills those bugs. At least the bed bugs went away after that. The bed bug source was found to be the other apartment (coz they had travelled recently). But it seems the dog simply confirmed whatever "suspicion" the humans have. Deepak should have more to say on that as he saw the dog at work. - divya On Sat, Aug 28, 2010 at 3:22 AM, Deepa Mohan <[email protected]> wrote: > Could not resist sharing this: > > > Journal of Economic Entomology 101(4):1389-1396. 2008 >> >> Ability of Bed Bug-Detecting Canines to Locate Live Bed Bugs and Viable >> Bed Bug Eggs >> >> Margie Pfiester1, Philip G. Koehler, Roberto M. Pereira >> >> Department of Entomology, Building 970 Natural Area Drive, University of >> Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611–0620 >> >> 1Corresponding author, e-mail: [email protected]. >> >> Abstract >> >> The bed bug, Cimex lectularius L., like other bed bug species, is >> difficult to visually locate because it is cryptic. Detector dogs are useful >> for locating bed bugs because they use olfaction rather than vision. Dogs >> were trained to detect the bed bug (as few as one adult male or female) and >> viable bed bug eggs (five, collected 5–6 d after feeding) by using a >> modified food and verbal reward system. Their efficacy was tested with bed >> bugs and viable bed bug eggs placed in vented polyvinyl chloride containers. >> Dogs were able to discriminate bed bugs from Camponotus floridanus Buckley, >> Blattella germanica (L.), and Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar), with a 97.5% >> positive indication rate (correct indication of bed bugs when present) and >> 0% false positives (incorrect indication of bed bugs when not present). Dogs >> also were able to discriminate live bed bugs and viable bed bug eggs from >> dead bed bugs, cast skins, and feces, with a 95% positive indication rate >> and a 3% false positive rate on bed bug feces. In a controlled experiment in >> hotel rooms, dogs were 98% accurate in locating live bed bugs. A pseudoscent >> prepared from pentane extraction of bed bugs was recognized by trained dogs >> as bed bug scent (100% indication). The pseudoscent could be used to >> facilitate detector dog training and quality assurance programs. If trained >> properly, dogs can be used effectively to locate live bed bugs and viable >> bed bug eggs. > > >
