Dog bug detection teams may need certification

By SHANTEÉ WOODARDS, Staff Writer | 0 comments
Each year, Blanca and Gibson are sent to hotel rooms to hunt for a hidden vial of bed bugs.
A test monitor follows owner Beth Nelson and the dogs as they search for insects that may or may not be on site. If the dogs find the proper vial — instead of distractors that could be other insects — Nelson’s Crofton-based firm is certified.
But this training validation is an option, not a requirement, for companies using scent detection dogs. State officials worried this left homeowners vulnerable to fraud.
Now the Maryland Department of Agriculture is proposing new regulations requiring companies using scent dogs to show proof of training. It also requires test conductors to have at least five years experience in dog scent handling, training and evaluation. The tests cost at least $125 per canine handler team, depending on where it is administered.
“It’s really important to have the certifications,” said Nelson, who works with the dogs through Canine Scent Investigations LLC. “It’s a really strict certification process and not everybody makes it through it. And like every other certification process, not everybody should make it through it.”
Since the 1970s, the state has required pest control companies to have at least one employee certified as an applicator, which requires an examination. But the same isn’t true for firms using dogs to inspect for bed bugs, termites and other infestations.
These teams were introduced about a decade ago and could inspect sites with no proof the dogs or their handlers had proper training. A change in the department’s rules will level the playing field as pest control companies, state officials said.
“The concern was that somebody could take their household pet and say it could sniff out termites or sniff out bed bugs and take it out (to a customer),” said Dennis Howard, program manager for the MDA’s pesticide regulations section. “A lot of complaints we get are from somebody who fell for the first color page ad in the telephone directory thinking it meant good service. We try to tell them to shop around, call three or four companies, look at credentials to make informed decisions.”
Under the MDA proposal, canine scent detection teams — both the dogs and their handlers — will need annual certification for pest detection work. Without it, the state could assess a civil penalty or revoke or suspend the license.
The state is accepting comments about the issue through Feb. 25 but no public hearing has been scheduled. So far, the only comment the agency has received is a concern about creating a monopoly for the agencies offering testing.
The World Detector Dog Organization and the National Entomology Scent Detection Canine Association provide certification. At NESDCA, evaluators follow dog teams as they search for hidden bed bugs at warehouses, residential dwellings, schools and other structures.
Bed bugs have crept into the state in recent years. In October, the University of Maryland had an infestation at some campus apartments. In November, the U.S. Naval Academy relocated some midshipmen and treated eight rooms at Bancroft Hall after the apple-seed sized insects were discovered.
The county Department of Health estimates it had about 20 bed bug complaints last year. Since 2010, Terminix has been running an annual listing of the top bedbug infested cities. The county’s neighbors of Baltimore and Washington, D.C., have been listed.
Last year was the busiest year for Nelson’s Canine Scent Investigations, which inspects office buildings in the Washington, D.C., area. The company either confirms or denies the presence of bed bugs, then the issue is passed on to pest control.
“They’re hitchhikers; they’re grabbing a lot of rides from people’s homes and into work,” Nelson said, adding that bed bugs aren’t always the culprit. “(But) a lot of times it’s just a nervous person working in an office space and some type of insect everybody assumes is a bed bug.”