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Revision as of 21:05, 6 October 2009
Bed Bug Hunting Dogs
We have all heard the saying, “a dog is a man’s best friend.” This has been
proven over and over again. Dogs are trained to sniff out drugs, explosives, and
they can even detect seizures and cancer in people. These are just some of the
services they perform for us.
With the explosion of bed bugs all over the country and especially in hotels, it
was mind boggling to read that dogs have been trained to find bed bugs. They
perform the task efficiently, quickly, and precisely. In a hotel room these dogs
can check the room in as little as two minutes. This is great because we live in
a very mobile world now. A room can be free of bed bugs but the next visitor may
inadvertently carry the pest with them on their clothing or luggage.
When the dogs locate bed bugs the room must be disinfected and the best thing to
do is burn the mattress. It is expensive for a hotel but it would be far worse
for someone to have a bad allergic reaction to the bed bug bites and the
negative attention that would come from that. The dogs themselves are Labrador
mixes. Many hotels are having their hotel rooms checked as often as every three
months. Any longer and a full fledged infestation could occur.
When you are planning a vacation don’t tell yourself if you pay more for a room
there will be no bed bugs like there would be at a less expensive place. A
really mind boggling thought is imagining between twenty-five to thirty people
from anywhere in the world will be sleeping in an average hotel bed in only one
month’s time. With the rate of adult reproduction, that is how fast an
infestation can happen.
Bed bugs survive by feeding off the blood from your body. An amazing fact is
they can live almost a whole year without feeding. When DDT was outlawed, it
wasn’t as easy to eradicate these pests. The result is even the most elegant
hotels and homes are susceptible to these bugs. Thanks to bed bug sniffing Labs,
finding bed bugs is easier, faster, and helps to prevent infestation of a room,
hotel, or apartment complex.
Today, bed bug infestations carry consequences with them. Although they carry no
disease and are mainly the cause of itchy sleepless nights, bed bugs do cause
allergic reactions in many people. The reaction is caused from the bed bug’s
saliva. Not only can these bites swell and turn red, they can develop a wheal
with a white center; that is most probably an infection. Besides the horrendous
itching, some individuals can develop asthma attacks. Now, we have someone who
could need corticosteroids for swelling and itching and treatment for an asthma
attack; I think these little bugs have shown they mean business.
Of course, you know the inevitable. One woman staying in a Boston hotel had a
very severe reaction to bed bug bites she received in the hotel. She sued the
hotel and was compensated for her injuries and ordeal.
When traveling, one thing you can do is check and to see if the mattresses and
box springs on the beds are covered with plastic. That won’t solve the problem,
but it will help keep the bed bugs from getting through the barrier to the
mattress or your body.
If you bring bed bugs home with you from a vacation or by any other means, there
are things that you can do to get rid of them. One way is to use a natural
product containing food grade diatomaceous earth. It is deadly to bed bugs and
other troublesome insects because it dehydrates them by cutting through their
exoskeleton. Diatomaceous earth is safe to use and will kill what bed bugs you
have.
By: Bradley Skierkowski