Can a Bed Bug Dog Tell the Difference Between a Live Dead Bug and a Dead One?

I had a call for an inspection this morning. An ex-husband's wife had had bed bugs and he was afraid with the children going back and forth from one house to the other that he also had bed bugs. Very probable! However, he indicted that the ex-wife had not had me come to check her house after treatment because someone had told her that a scent dog cannot tell the difference between a dead bug and a live bug.

I will tell you what I told him:

When you hire a bed bug dog, ask to see the handler's training vials. Are their vials clean?

If you see dead bugs, or skins or exoskeletons that dog won't be able to tell the difference between a dead bug and a live bug.

We keep our vials clean. We clean them every week to ten days. The dog is only as good as the handler is, behind the scenes. Attention to details at home makes for a great dog is the field.

Yes, "Dusty Boot" can tell the difference between dead bugs and live bugs because he has been proofed off of them. He trains twice a day, morning and night. We have two vials of live bugs and one vial of dead bugs. We hide the dead bugs along with the live ones. He is only rewarded when he alerts on live bugs. You can tell when he smells the dead bugs, there is a difference in his body language but he does not alert. He does not alert on skins, sheddings or exoskeletons, either.

Absolutely, "Dusty Boot" can tell the difference between a dead bed bug and a live bed bug.

Do you have a question I can answer about bed bugs?