Can Dogs Smell Bed Bugs? – Wag!

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Although bed bugs tend to be about2.5 mm to 4.5mm long, your pup may have the ability to stillsmell them.Dogs have one of the most powerful noses on the planet! While us humans have about 5 million cells in our noses that help us smell, our furry friends have around 220 million!

Particles in the air attach to our pups' wet noses, helping them smell even better.Even further, the part of a dog's brain that is dedicated to analyzing scents is far larger than ours. And while dogs have amazing senses of smells, they are alsosmaller and agiler, allowing them to identify something as small as a parasite.

Since dogs are born with an amazing sense of smell, detection dogs are taught to seek out certain scents, including those of bed bugs, and alert their trainer whenever it is present. This is how dogs are capable of hunting animals and detecting bombs they can smell things the humans can't even imagine being capable of!

The National Entomology Scent Detection Canine Association (NEDSCA) is the only facility in America with accreditations for training scent dogs.The NESDECAstandardsare based upon research conducted by scientists at The University of Florida.NESDECAprovides the training methods set out to be used by trainers and certifies facilities. Dogs, along withtheir humans work alongside one another to produce accurate and efficient results. However, the accuracy of canine detection with bedbugs has been controversial.

ABC aired a story on how effective canine scent detection really is for bed bugs. The show explored a detection team in New York City. The home observed was certified as bed bug-freeby two entomologists. The homeowner, who was indeed an actor for the show, asked 11 pest control professionals that utilize canine detection to inspect her home. Seven of the eleven canine detection teams found the home to be bed bug-free.

There are a multitude of reasons for the false alerts - ranging from a mistake to the fact that the dogs may simply have wanted a treat. Because there is no way to know what training a dog has to determine it's detection reliability, you should always request evidence of bed bug presence prior to a treatment being made.

Originally posted here:
Can Dogs Smell Bed Bugs? - Wag!

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