Rich Wilbert searches for bed bugs with his dog, Sara. Dogs are trained to sniff along baseboards, beds and furniture for the pheromones, the faint chemical odor that the insects emit to signal one another. (Michael Nagle / For The Times)

A Dogged Pursuit of Bedbugs

There's high demand for dogs that are trained to track down the tiny, bloodsucking parasites, which have invaded cities in the last four years.

Reporting from Asbury Park, N.J. - Sara pulled on her leash, sniffing up one side of a cluttered bedroom and snuffling down the other. The black Labrador retriever suddenly sat beside an armchair.

Rich Wilbert, her handler, flipped the chair over and poked at the stuffing and seams. He spotted pin-sized drops of human blood -- clear signs of an infestation of bed bugs in the small apartment.

"Good girl, Sara," Wilbert said. He fed her a few treats from a bag as a co-worker made a note to treat the room with insecticide. Sara went back to searching for Cimex lectularius, as she does six days a week.

A working dog's life is not easy. Some canines gain glory by sniffing out bombs, drugs or land mines, but most do less glamorous labor. Beagles hunt home-munching termites, terriers track toxic fumes from Chinese drywall, and collies chase Canada geese off golf courses.

Bed bugs are the latest dirty job. Largely eradicated in the United States after World War II, the tiny, bloodsucking parasites have invaded city after city in the last four years, leaving painful skin welts and pricey pest control bills from Boston to San Francisco.

One result: Many pest control companies -- especially those that use bed bug detection dogs -- are riding high despite the economic recession.

They typically charge $500 to $1,000 to treat a small apartment or office. That buys a trained dog to detect the reddish-brown vermin, heavy applications of sprayed steam and chemicals to kill the insects and their eggs, and a follow-up visit with the dog to make certain the nasty nocturnal varmints are really gone.

Bed bugs hide during the day in wall cracks, behind light switches, or in other dark places. But the dogs sniff along baseboards, beds and furniture for the pheromones, the faint chemical odor that the insects emit to signal one another, and then alert the handler of an enemy invasion.

At Action Termite and Pest Control, based in Toms River, N.J., general manager John Russell said his business has grown by 30% this year thanks to Sara, Rex and Cassie, his three dogs. He is adding to his 46-member staff and plans to buy a fourth dog.

"The phone has been ringing off the hook," he said. "We used to get maybe one or two calls a year. Now we get 10 to 15 a day."

Among the recent jobs: an $80,000 contract to eradicate bed bugs from four apartment blocks owned by the Atlantic City Housing Authority. His dogs also sniffed their way through two office towers in mid-Manhattan and a luxury hotel in Philadelphia.