They are a growing problem, infesting in their teeming millions houses, apartments, dormitories and firehouses around the Tri-State. Cincinnati and Hamilton county have formed a task force to combat them. Yes, we're at war with bed bugs and now man's best friend is on the frontline, helping us stomp out this nuisance.
Hershey, a labrador retriever, is the latest weapon in the all-out war on bed bugs.
Cimex lectularius, the fancy name for an all too common pest, is a bloodsucker. Dormant during the day, feeding on you at night. Bed bugs don't make you sick, but they do make you itch. They are reddish brown, flat, oval and just creepy.
Homeowner Anita Shapiro had a bed bug problem of her own. She said, "I freaked, because I realized every night, when i went to bed, I had these bugs crawling all over me."
John Montgomery knows that feeling all too well. Medical equipment he rented brought bedbugs into his home. He and his wife went in search of a solution. Montgomery said, "One of the things that kept coming up is how dogs, scent-detecting dogs were being used as a major weapon in the battle against bed bugs."
Over 800 hours of training later, Montgomery and Hershey are poking around customers' homes, sniffing out bed bugs. When he finds them, Hershey sits and Montgomery marks the spot for professional exterminators later. Each mark, a measure of relief for infested homeowners. Montgomery said, "And this is a good way we can calm their fears. Because by showing them where bed bugs are and where they're not, it eliminates the feeling that they're everywhere."
Bed bugs don't discriminate by age, race, or income, and they love to hitch a ride to your home on your clothes or your luggage when you travel. Hershey can find them once they're there, but experts say an ounce of prevention is worth a hound of cure. Montgomery added, "Just be aware you could come in contact with bed bugs, because in a place like Cincinnati, they're everywhere."
Not every dog is suited to sniffing out bed bugs. Montgomery says labs have noses that can pick up scents in the parts per trillion, sensitive enough to tell the living bed bugs from the dead.
