If you’re afraid you’ve brought more home from your trip Outside than you want in your house, Carrie Kinison may be able to help.
Kinison recently launched “Auggie Doggie K-9 Bed Bug Detection Service,” using a trained detection dog to sniff out bedbugs. She’s hoping to serve communities throughout Southeast.
A 36-year-resident and owner of a company that sells natural pet foods, Kinison said she has spent more than two years training Harvey, her 4-year-old rat terrier, to sniff out bedbugs. (She uses male bugs in a “controlled environment” that are shipped to her and synthetic scents for training.)
Kinison said she was inspired to start the company after getting bedbugs at a “nice hotel” in Anchorage. “I think it’s terrible that hotels are letting this happen.”
Harvey has worked about 15 locations around Haines, including laundromats, taxis, inns and offices. The service allows businesses to quickly locate a bed bug problem without tearing apart rooms, she said.
Harvey is trained to sit when he finds a live bug and once “alerted” in Haines, Kinison said. The building’s owners “didn’t find anything,” Kinison said. “They may have taken care of the problem… He’s never given me a false alert, which is unusual for a detection dog.”
Kinison said she trains Harvey daily, and 3,000 hours of training are required to get a dog to want to hunt. Harvey does a “sweep” of a room by sniffing from object to object, sometimes at Kinison’s pointing. “If he looks at me funny, I’ll do it again and maybe even a third time.”
Adult bedbugs are brown and about the size of flax seed. Immature ones resemble clear pinheads. They can get into phones, clocks and TVs, Kinison said. “They’re very hard to see.” Harvey found a live bedbug egg in a hollow metal table leg in Juneau, she said.
Kinison said Harvey’s work can help direct the services of an exterminator. She expects many of her customers will come from the real estate industry. “You don’t want to rent a place or sell a place that’s infected.”
Residents concerned they might be carrying bedbugs in their luggage or clothing can try freezing their luggage or putting items in a hot dryer, Kinison said.
Kinison can be reached at 767-5676 or at [email protected].