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Bed Bugs Dogs: Dog by night, detective by day – Carolina Weekly

Dog by night, detective by day
June 18, 2010
Mike Parks

All superheroes need a good secret identity. Superman has Clark Kent, and Bruce Wayne is the one behind the wheel of the Bat mobile. University City hotels and apartment complexes have their own protector — Detective Shadow. Well, you can just call him Shadow but he’ll come to anyone who’ll rub his belly.

By night, Shadow is your typical, mild-mannered terrier mix. He loves carrying around his teddy bear and playing like a normal 4-year-old dog. But when the sun comes up, Detective Shadow dons his special harness and badge, going on the hunt for University City’s bed bugs.

“It’s like taking my best friend to work with me each day,” said Bill Caldwell, Shadow’s handler for Action Pest Exterminating. Shadow is one of the few dogs trained in the art of sniffing out bed bugs in North Carolina, Caldwell said.

His journey began in Florida, after Shadow was rescued from a shelter and brought to the Florida Canine Academy. Being a drug-sniffing dog wasn’t really suited for the friendly, cute pup, nor was bomb sniffing or any of the crime-related fields a dog can major in at the center.

Shadow is built for hunting bed bugs. His easy temper is perfect for entering people’s homes all day and meeting new people across University City. His sensitive, long nose is just right for detecting the specific odor of the blood-sucking pests.

After 800 hours of training, Shadow was ready, and Caldwell traveled south to get to know his new best friend about two years ago. After a week, Caldwell started to understand Shadow’s mannerisms, and Shadow was familiar with what Caldwell needed out of him.

“Seek” means it’s time to start sniffing, and Shadow goes right to work checking floorboards, outlets and furniture. He can smell the bugs from 5 feet away, and when he does, Shadow sits down on the spot. After being told “show me,” Shadow points to the pests’ hiding place with his nose.

And even if Caldwell can’t find the bugs right away, he knows to keep looking, because Shadow is hardly ever wrong. After a day digging around in a spot Shadow had pointed out in one apartment complex, Caldwell came back to Shadow empty handed, telling his partner he must have been wrong this time. A short time later, Caldwell found the bugs – in the adjoining wall of the apartment next door.

“It just blew their minds that Shadow smelled the bed bugs through the wall,” Caldwell said of the shocked complex staff. “His nose is better than my eyes.”

Bed bugs are a serious issue for the area, Caldwell said, as they can be hard to get rid of and aren’t particular about where they decide to take up residence. “Bed bugs don’t care how rich or clean you are,” Caldwell said. He calls them “hitchhikers” that can find a ride on the bus, in the movie theater or on vacation.

“We find bed bugs in 20 percent to sometimes 50 percent of the places we check,” Caldwell said.

That’s why apartment complexes, hotels, day cares and other locations call on Shadow for help. And help he does, until the day is over and his harness comes off. Then, it’s back to being a dog.

“He’s instantly a puppy again when that harness comes off,” Caldwell said of the dog he calls “my partner during the day, my friend at night.”

To learn more about Detective Shadow, visit http://bedbugdog-shadow.com.

Bed Bug Detection Dogs are Better than High Technology

Bed bugs, those blood sucking insects, are also known as Cimex lectularius. Some experts think bed bugs have been living on the planet since ancient times. After all these years humans have not been able to completely eliminate these horrible insects.

Even in our technologically advanced society no piece of equipment can come close to the amazing bed bud detection abilities of highly trained bed bud detection dogs. With their outstanding sense of smell they can detect bed bugs wherever they are hiding. Bed bug sniffing dogs can even smell the difference between live bed bugs and dead bed bugs. They can also detect their eggs with their astonishing sense of smell. It is important to find the eggs. They become bed bugs in about 10 days. The babies need approximately 5 blood meals to become full grown adults.

Bed bug detection dogs are becoming increasingly popular in all major cities and with residents and people living in other parts of the nation. These knights in shiny fur are experts at finding the odious critters.