A day in the life of Brad and Sunny Hackman aka Accurate K-9 Pest Detection and Consulting Services would keep a normal person awake all night.
“Dusty, find the bugs!” says Sunny Hackman.
“Dusty Boot”, their dog a Border Collie Mix is a four-footed sleuth. A working certified scent dog he can detect the sticky strawberry-like smell of a bed bug, as few as one or two. Bed bugs hide any where you can slide a business card into, electronics, outlets, under carpet tack strips not just in beds, don’t let their name fool you. Trained and certified bed bug dogs like “Dusty Boot” find bed bugs with 90+ accuracy while a trained pest professional’s visual inspection accuracy is in the range 30%. That is why they are in such high demand.
“Bed bugs don’t discriminate.” says Brad Hackman. “Blood is blood, and bed bugs attack the affluent and well-traveled and the poor and ill-equipped with equal vengeance.”
Dusty Boot’s clients are ravaged by insects that invade their sleeping quarters at night. The are desperate to find relief and regain the peace thats left their castle.
For the uninitiated the increasing bed bug problem is easy to ignore but for those experiencing it personally it robs their peace and is akin to having your home invaded by criminals.
The Hackman’s experienced bed bugs first hand in a rental property when a tenant thought she was allergic to her laundry detergent. By the time the culprit was found out the unit was thoroughly infested. Sunny Hackman believes that the problem tenant is the one who doesn’t care or believes that bed bugs are just something everyone lives with or worse yet, the tenant who doesn’t realize that the apartment is infested. In the case study, “Controlling Bedbugs in Apartments” by Dr. Changlu Wang and Rutgers University, 50% of tenants living in infested apartments are unaware they are infested either because they don’t know what a bed bug looks like, they never see any bugs or it could be due to the fact that only four out of ten people react to the bites. Unless a person is over sixty they’ve probably never seen a bed bug.
“Our bed bug education began in the school of hard knocks and the more we learned the more fascinating it became.” added Brad Hackman
“You could say, we’ve been captured by the bug.” said Sunny Hackman. “After spending thousands of dollars to eradicate the bugs from the rental we ended up spending a couple of hundred to start our own bed bug colony.” Dusty Boots finds bugs morning and night to earn his food and only eats when he finds bugs. Of course, the bed bugs are kept safely in special entomologist’s vials and containers.
Accurate K-9 Pest Detection and Consulting Services offers the following services:
Walk-though: When a property owner, manager or tenant thinks they might have bed bugs Dusty Boot can confirm whether a problem exists. Being pro-active and acting before a bed bug population is established is a cost effective measure. Bed bugs left unattended destroy property value. They infiltrate the physical structure and pollute the income stream of an investment property. Bed bug infestations once established can run in the tens of thousands to eliminate. Infested buildings lose their reputation and lead to non-desirable tenants and high tenant turnover.
Follow-up: After treatment Accurate K-9 Pest Detection and Consulting Services can confirm if a bed bug problem has been resolved.
Routine Monthly Inspections: For motels/hotels, rental properties, dormitories, clinics, theaters or rental properties with reoccurring problems where there is high traffic and customer confidence must be maintained.
Dusty Boot and Accurate K-9 Pest Detection and Consulting Services do not offer pest control or remediation services and do not benefit financially from the outcome of any inspection.
Dusty Boots was certified by the Matt Skogen and the Iron Heart Training Center in Kansas City, Missouri. Matt Skogen has trained and certified multiple bedbug detection dogs through the National Entomology Scent Detection Canine Association (NESDCA) and is on the board of the North American Detector Dog Association (NADDA) By-laws and certification procedures. In addition, he certifies and trains the bomb dogs and handlers for the National Reserve Banks, including the one in Denver. Dusty Boot has had over 800 hours of intensive training and Brad and Sunny Hackman are certified dog handlers.
If you have any questions regarding bed bugs or would like to schedule a service Brad and Sunny Hackman can be reached at Accurate K-9 Pest Detection and Consulting Services: 303-233-7901 or accuratepestdectection@gmail.com.
