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The worst thing about bed bugs for many of our Trust K9 customers is the psychological affect that you are sharing your bed with unwelcome guests.

This can lead to sleepless nights as even the slightest movement on your skin can set your mind racing and there goes your restful night’s sleep. Just the thought of the bed bugs can makes you feel that there is something crawling on your skin (this happens to almost everyone and even talking about creepy crawlies can bring this on). However, in extreme cases this can lead to a condition called “delusional parasitosis”.

Sometimes these types of thoughts can lead people to believe they are still suffering from bed bug bites, long after the bed bugs have died.  You might start to convince yourself that you are seeing signs of bugs everywhere and in once case I heard of, a customer rubbed surgical spirits all over their skin to “kill” the bugs.  Putting any type of irritant directly on your skin is high unadvisable as this can cause severe dermatitis which is even more unpleasant than the original Bedbug bites.

This is where our specially trained Trust K9 bed bug sniffer dogs can come to the rescue!
Two recent cases give great examples of the calming effect that our team of super sniffer dogs can have; firstly a customer called us in to treat his house having had a bed bug problem for nearly a year having tried several other companies. Having carried out a visual search it was determined that a Trust K9 heat treatment was the most suitable course of action. A few weeks after the treatment he contacted us saying that he thought that he was seeing signs again, so back I went, this time with Alfie the super bed bug sniffing Spaniel and after a thorough search of his whole property Alfie drew a blank.

The relief on my customers face was a treat to behold and now over two months later he is still clear of bugs and he is sleeping easy, thanks to the confirmation of a successful treatment that only a dog can give.

My Second example is of a lady who after another sleep deprived night was starting to panic, she had been staying at her boyfriends and he had had a confirmed infestation (as it turns out we have since treated him). She was due to visit her parents in Norway and was therefore doubly paranoid about bringing them home to her shared flat in North London as well as taking them back to Norway (where a search there can cost over £2000). We gave her flat a good going over with the dogs and again we were happy to tell here her flat was clear of bed bugs and she was safe to enjoy her visit back home in Norway.

The reason we can give this kind of reassurance is the high standard our canine bed bug sniffer dogs are trained to, being able to alert on just one viable egg or bed bug. Trust K9’s bed bug dogs can differentiate between live and dead bed bugs meaning that after a treatment we can tell a customer with a great degree of accuracy if the treatment has been successful or not.

So how can our dogs help you sleep at night?… Easy! they can let you know you are sleeping alone, or not!

Till next time, Sleep tight.

Pete

Bed bugs spread by hitching lifts on clothes, suitcases, handbags, shoes and so on. Recently I came home from a bed bug heat treatment, which had been a particularly heavy infestation, and took off my shoes at the bottom of our stairs and left them there.  My Wife, who is paranoid about me bringing bed bugs home, had given me one of ‘those’ looks and so I put them into a plastic bag until I had time to inspect them properly.

The next morning, I was taking Lola, our bed bug sniffer dog , out for a walk and she started acting very interested around the bag and then began ‘alerting’ next to it to indicate that she had detected bed bugs!  We immediately treated the area of the stairs, and I am pleased to say that 3 weeks on, we do not have bed bugs.

Having this happen with my own Bed Bug Dog re-affirmed the following:

• The earlier you catch a bed bug infestation, the easier it will be to get rid of, with minimum disruption
• Bed bugs can hitch on anything which can come into contact with them
• Bed bugs will usually choose quiet undisturbed areas to live and so shoes would be an unlikely home, however, if you stand on eggs or in a heavily infested area the bed bugs will use you like a bus to get to their next destination!

Last night I went along to the BBC studios to talk on ‘Barking at the Moon’ with Jo Good and Anna Webb. This was my second time on the show, and last night we were talking about the role of Dogs at the Olympics.  Trust K9 has been busy making sure the Olympians, visitors and press will be arriving to bed bug free accommodation with our bed bug sniffer dogs.

You can listen to the show here  http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/p00vp3hv (I am on 1.17) “Woof Woof”

Anna and Jo were very engaging and their enthusiasm and passion for dogs and their roles in society is admirable. I enjoyed speaking to the other guests whilst waiting to go on air and was very interested to speak with Victoria Davidson who has created a thermometer called animalarm which will send a text message when the temperature gets too much for your dog in the car. As dog handlers we have to travel with dogs a lot, and Victoria explained to me that many dogs suffer heat exhaustion not only when a car is stationary, but also on journeys.  This clever device will send a text to your phone if the temperature gets too high. All the statistics are on her site www.animalarm.co.uk
Mark

We have had a spate of jobs recently where the cause of their bed bug infestation points to second hand furniture.

One of our customer’s was given a lovely old dressing table by a relative, but unfortunately for them, it turned out to have bed bugs and infested her house. We were able to get rid of the bed bugs for her, without needing to throw away the table, but the stress and money to treat the bed bugs can be costly.

Bed bugs have nothing to do with dirt, anyone can get them, the bed bugs or eggs just have to be carried into your house via someone or something. Picking up discarded beds or sofas from outside People’s houses is extremely high risk for bed bugs. Often the first reaction for people when they find out they have a bed bug problem is to throw furniture away!

In fact, we would recommend steering clear of any second hand beds full stop. A recent customer purchased one which seemed like a bargain at the time, but she ended up paying more than she expected. She bought a brand new bed, and tried in vain to get rid of the bed bugs herself, and in the end when she couldn’t eradicate them, she had to pay to get rid of the bed bugs professionally.

Today is such a throwaway society and so we do not want to discourage people from buying second hand furniture. Forewarned is forearmed, so be aware and follow these tips to stay bed bug free:

• Avoid buying second-hand beds or headboards which are high risk items
• Check any second hand items for the following, before you move it:
  • Adult bed bugs. These are visible to the eye, they are rust coloured and about the size of an apple pip. They can make themselves entirely flat so can hide in tiny cracks
  • Check for black dots like felt tip, which smudge when moistened
  • Eggs – these are tiny, but you can see them best on dark surface
• If you are unsure then call a bed bug expert like Trust K9 for advice or a visual inspection
• If you are buying a large quantity of second hand furniture then bed bug sniffer dogs can give you the all clear
• Remember, you can’t tell if the seller has bed bugs just by looking at their house. Bed bugs are hitch-hikers, so just because someone’s house is clean and tidy, it doesn’t mean they don’t have bed bugs
• And finally, if you are unlucky enough to get bed bugs, don’t treat it yourself! Unfortunately bed bugs are immune to much of the pesticides available to consumers. Call an expert.