How Accurate Are Bed Bug Detection Dogs?

One of the questions we’re asked most often is: “How accurate are the dogs?”

The short answer is that a properly trained and maintained bed bug detection dog, working with an experienced, licensed pest control handler, can be an exceptionally effective tool for detecting live bed bugs … particularly when infestations are small or difficult to locate visually.

In a 2008 University of Florida study published in the Journal of Economic Entomology, trained dogs detected bed bugs and viable bed bug eggs with 97.5% accuracy and no false positives under controlled conditions. In a separate controlled hotel-room experiment, the dogs were 98% accurate in locating hidden bed bugs.

But those numbers require some context.

Real-World Detection Is Different from a Laboratory

A detection dog is only as effective as its ability to access the odor.

Our dogs have alerted to as little as a single viable bed bug egg. But realistically, no responsible K9 inspection company should suggest that a dog can detect every bed bug in every environment. A single viable egg buried beneath three loads of laundry in the back of a closet presents a very different scent picture than one in an accessible area. The same is true for bed bugs located high in a ceiling, inside a smoke detector, behind walls, or in other areas a dog cannot effectively search.

That is why we don't simply quote a laboratory accuracy percentage when someone asks how accurate our dogs are.

Our teams search thousands of apartments, hotel rooms and offices each year, along with hundreds of thousands of square feet of commercial and institutional space. We can count on one hand the number of confirmed misses we have encountered. Confirmed misses are extremely rare, but no detection method should be represented as infallible.

What About False Alerts?

This is just as important as detection accuracy.

Our inspection and training protocol follows one very simple rule: if we cannot locate and visually verify a live bed bug or viable egg, the dog is not rewarded.

In practice, it is very rare that we are unable to locate live bed bug activity following an alert. Our handlers are trained to carefully investigate the area indicated by the dog and, in the overwhelming majority of cases, we are able to visually locate and verify the source of the odor.

Occasionally, however, a dog may alert to an area where the source is inaccessible or simply cannot be visually located. Even when the handler strongly believes the dog has correctly identified live bed bug odor, we still do not reward the alert.

The reason is simple: we never want to incentivize a dog to alert for anything other than the target odor of a live bed bug or viable egg.

The same standard protects our clients. We do not report a property as having confirmed live bed bug activity unless we visually verify a live bed bug or viable egg.

If a dog alerts and we cannot visually confirm the source, we document the location of the alert in our report, but it is not reported as confirmed live bed bug activity.

Independent, Double-Blind Testing with distractors

Our K9 teams undergo double-blind testing that includes distractor odors. Neither the handler nor the evaluator working directly with the team knows where the target odor has been placed during the search.

We voluntarily use testing standards that go beyond commonly recommended industry best practices and many available K9 certification protocols.

Testing is conducted with an independent proctor who has no relationship with our company, our handlers or our dogs. Proctors are volunteer professionals — such as retired law enforcement, fire service or government personnel — whose role is simply to oversee the integrity of the testing process.

Our teams are independently tested at least annually because accuracy isn't something we believe should simply be claimed. It should be continually demonstrated.