Exterminators Team Up with Locally Trained Dogs to Find Bed Bugs

Trained labs, beagles and golden retrievers alike have started sniffing around homes and businesses in Hartland and surrounding areas to make sure the bed bugs don't bite.

Lori Grigg, co-owner of Paradise Dog Training based in the Fenton area, has been training canines to be service dogs for people with disabilities for nearly 30 years. The Tyrone Township resident started Paradise Dog Training about three years ago with her husband, Jack Grigg. Sniffing out bed bugs is a new division of her business that they started about three months ago, but one that her dogs are slowly mastering.

"All of these dogs are really great with their noses," Lori Grigg said. "The good thing about a beagle is that they're small and can go under things, on top of things and they have short hair."

Bed bugs are small, parasitic insects that feed on human blood and can be found in beds, base boards, vents and according to Lori Grigg, pretty much anywhere that people gather together. 

Ryan Lamb, owner of Best Pest Control based in Howell, said that he has exterminated a handful of confirmed cases of bed bugs in Hartland area in the past two years. An additional households contacted him thinking it was bed bugs – it ended up being termites or fleas.

"It's everywhere," Lamb said. "It's doesn't stop in one city. It's just whether you're unlucky to get them or not."

The Griggs and Lamb have established a working partnership since the development of the bed bug seeking for Paradise Dog Training. Lamb contacts the Griggs when he needs a second pair of eyes, or in this case a nose, and they contact Lamb when an exterminator is needed. Working with dogs is a new partnership for Lamb, and although the partnership is merely two months old, Lamb has already seen its benefits. He said there have been a couple cases so far where the dogs have been able to sniff out isolated locations of bed bugs where Lamb was unable to see them.

"They've found things that were there that we could not find," Lamb said. "Even with as good as I am and as good as everyone is that works with me." 

It is an added cost for residents and businesses to use the dogs, if the exterminator cannot see the bugs. The dogs have a 97 percent accuracy rate of finding bugs, according to Lori Grigg. So far, the Griggs have been charging $250 for the first hour of search and $100 for each additional hour.

Getting the Dogs Prepared

Paradise Dog Training serves much of metro Detroit. The dogs go through a three- to four-month training period before they can professionally seek bed bugs. There is a minimum four-month training period before a dogcan become a service dog. Dogs are prepared to service all sorts of people, in additionto those that are visually impaired.

In order to prepare the dogs for their professional training, the Griggs purchase the puppies and then have one of the 10 families they currently work with raise the puppies until they are a year-and-a-half old. At that time, the owner will give the dog back to the Griggs and they will start their training.

Scott Rilett, a Fenton resident, is one of the people who foster the dogs for the Griggs. Rilett said that at first it was just a trial period for his wife and himself before they decided if they wanted another dog, but they enjoyed the first experience so much that they decided to keep up with the fostering.

"Saying goodbye (to the dogs) seems to be harder and harder the more you do it — they all have different personalities," Rilett said.

The Riletts are now onto their fourth dog, after recently having to give Rugby up to the Griggs.

"We just foster them until they are mentally and physically developed," Rilett said. "The biggest thing is socialization, for example taking them out to public restaurants and grocery stores — just getting them exposed to as many different situations as we can so when they do become a service dog, nothing surprises them."

The Search Process

The Griggs brought their golden retriever Ditto to the Cromaine District Library in Hartland to demonstrate how the dogs are trained to find bed bugs (Click on the box above for our video of the demonstration). The library, where the Griggs also participate in monthly reading program where children practice reading to trained therapy dogs (Tail Waggin’ Tutors), allows them to conduct some training there.

To simulate a search, Lori Grigg took out two capsules containing bed bugs and a pseudo pad, which is the pad of a live and pregnant bed bug. She said she purchases the bugs for training from California for $4 per bug. In order to activate the smell of the blood, and to keep the bugs alive for as long as possible, the Griggs take the bugs out of the capsules and let them suck their hands.

"People are picking these bugs up in luggage, mostly in hotels ... or when they have people come visit them," Lamb said. "They can be transferred in or on anything."

Anywhere that people congregate, these monsters can be found, according to Lori Grigg, not just in beds. To demonstrate, she hid the bugs in various places around the library, such as under a chair, in a locker and on top of a bookshelf. After she told Ditto to find the bugs, Ditto started sniffing around, with Lori Grigg holding out two fingers together to direct if Ditto should be hitting low or high. Each time Ditto was successful in locating the bed bugs, the dog notified Grigg by sitting and pawing at the location. On site, Grigg is unable to lead the dog past probable sites for bugs to swarm.

"It's a two-way learning street because you're learning to read the dog; it's a lot like reading a compass," Jack Grigg said.

Lori Grigg agreed.

"It's a whole new concept of trusting your dog," Lori Grigg said.

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