Re: “Sniffing out pests and profits,” Feb. 3 Gazette.
This article was in general about my bed bug and mould canine detection company, Sniffer Dog Services Inc.. Although the write-up proved very informative, I would like to correct the writer’s quoted statement regarding the dog’s motivation for working.
The article read, “… the pest control industry isn’t universally sold on the reliability of sniffer dogs.” And goes on to quote a source, “You have an issue of a dog given treats when it finds things. They’ve had in some circumstances a lot of false positives just because the dog knows they give treats.”
To set the record straight, and I can’t speak for pest control companies and the way their dogs are trained, at Sniffer Dog Services Inc. my dog is trained to alert to the scent emitted by live bed bugs and mould. This isn’t a trick the dog is taught as the article would suggest, by offering the animal ‘treats’ to sit or beg as someone would do with the family pet. “Comet” is actually a highly trained working dog and is fed when he alerts, and only when he alerts, on live bed bugs or mould. The dog alerts, he is fed a piece of food.
When inspecting a site for bugs or mould and it is clear (no alerts), he, Comet, is given verbal and physical praise to let him know what a great job he’s done. After the inspection, if he hasn’t eaten, we go home and train until he has eaten his daily allotment of food. On days we aren’t working or after an inspection, I plant vials of live bugs and containers of various mould throughout the house (in beds, dressers, couches, chairs, closets, office furniture, storage rooms, luggage, etc.) to simulate a working scenario where he is fed piece by piece as he alerts correctly.
I also plant vials of dead bug carcasses to ensure he isn’t alerting to the bugs’ scent by association. To further push his daily regimen, we use a six-spoked training wheel with containers that hold, in addition to the bugs or mould, various materials you would associate with a typical site such as nails, drywall, screws, wood, paper, carpet, insulation. He is ‘fed,’ again piece by piece, as he correctly alerts to the container the bug is hidden in. All in all, Comet trains a minimum three hours a day following scent trails. Food is his motivation, not a ‘treat.’ If he doesn’t do his job right, he doesn’t eat. And he does his job right.
Stephan Lentz, Sniffer Dog Services Inc.
