The Training, Teamwork, and Inspection Process Behind Roscoe and Bell Environmental’s Canine Teams

Roscoe may be the bed bug detective people recognize, but a professional canine inspection is never the work of a dog alone.

Every inspection depends on a trained scent-detection dog working closely with an experienced handler. The dog searches for the odor associated with live bed bugs and viable eggs. The handler directs the search, observes the dog’s behavior, evaluates any alerts, and considers the findings within the context of the property.

Together, the dog and handler help locate hidden bed bug activity that may be difficult to find through visual inspection alone.

Need an inspection now?

Schedule a Bed Bug Canine Inspection

Call Bell Environmental at 877-376-1775

A Trained Nose Is Only the Beginning

Dogs have an extraordinary sense of smell, but natural ability alone does not make a reliable bed bug detection dog.

A professional canine must learn to:

• Recognize the target odor associated with live bed bugs and viable eggs
• Distinguish the target odor from unrelated household and building odors
• Search rooms and furnishings systematically
• Work around normal distractions
• Communicate a consistent alert to the handler
• Continue searching until the handler ends the inspection
• The handler must learn just as much.

Handlers are trained to guide the search without unintentionally leading the dog, recognize subtle changes in the dog’s behavior, interpret the trained alert, understand how scent may move through a room, and determine what should happen after an alert.

This is why professional certification and training apply to the canine-handler team, not simply to the dog. Handlers emphasize scent recognition, odor discrimination, handler education, and the ability to read changes in a dog’s behavior during a search.

What Are Bell’s Bed Bug Dogs Trained to Detect?

Find What Is Hiding. Understand What Happens Next.

A bed bug canine inspection should provide more than an alert. It should give you useful information, professional guidance, and a clearer path forward.

Bell Environmental combines trained canine teams with decades of bed bug and pest-management experience to help homeowners and organizations investigate suspected activity and decide what to do next. Bell’s site states that the company has served customers since 1963 and operates a specialized bed bug program separate from routine pest-control service.

Call 877-376-1775 or request your bed bug canine inspection today.

The best inspection method for bed bug detection involves bringing in Bell Environmental’s Roscoe or another bed bug dog, who can smell bugs hiding inside walls. How capable are our dogs? Each member of our canine team is up to 250% better than humans at bed bug detection- with with 95-98% accuracy. Humans are only 30-40% accurate when looking for these concealed insects in a low level infestation. People can’t see inside walls nor behind outlets, cable and phone jacks, and light switches where bed bugs hide— especially between tenants while apartments are painted and cleaned.

Canine Inspections are a unique service that can prove cost effective by locating bed bugs before they become overwhelming infestations, potentially reducing your total treatment area. If you don’t detect bed bugs in their early stages, you will soon have a large infestation: Two breeding bed bugs can multiply to 152 bed bugs and 130 eggs in a month and to 302 bed bugs and over 1,000 eggs in 45 days.

Bed Bug Sniffing Dogs with Degrees

Master Trainer David Latimer trained our dogs at his Vincent, Alabama training center, Forensic and Scientific Training Investigations Center (FSI). Our Master Trainer holds numerous technical certifications related to the fields of forensics, fire and explosion investigation, and K9 training. Bell Environmental’s handlers attend this canine academy and complete intensive training. Each dog has only one handler, so they work closely as a pair of bed bug inspection pros. All of our handler-dog teams currently hold WDDO (World Dog Detector Organization) certifications. This training is reinforced at our dedicated facility where our canines reside.

Benefits of canine bed bug detection

• Studies have proven that trained bed bug sniffing dogs are 98% accurate in detecting the presence of bed bugs and their eggs whereas humans are 30-40% effective at finding low level infestations.
• Perfect for use in healthcare facilities, residences, and large corporate environments where the actual scope of a bed bug infestation is not known.
• Ideal for large apartment buildings. Roscoe and his peers can determine which units are experiencing bed bug activity and which ones are free from bed bugs.
• Bed Bug Dogs are a great way to learn if you’re moving into an apartment with hidden bed bugs. Know before you move in so you avoid this itchy problem.

Contact Bell Environmental today at 877-376-1775 for a canine inspection to discover a bed bug problem or prove that your facility is bed bug free.

Click here to learn more about Roscoe the Bed Bug Dog. Learn how to appear in his commercials, about his downloadable apps, book , and game, about his background as a rescue dog, and how to be his friend on social media.