Meet Beddy
I am a sweet and hard working beagle who was rescued from the Ozarks and picked by Iron Heart Training Center to be trained to detect bed bugs in accordance to the NPMA standards. I do this by my amazing sense of smell. I have 300 million olfactory receptors and the part of my brain devoted to analyzing smell is 40X greater than that of a human! I spent several months training at Iron Heart, alongside other dogs being trained like me and some being trained to detect bombs or drugs! Certification is a required part of my training and I had to meet strict criteria and so did my handlers. For example, they have to understand my body language and correctly guide me. I am able to detect every stage of life cycle of a bed bug from egg, to nymphs to adults.
I continue to practice several times a day with my handlers. Can you believe they keep live bed bugs (enclosed in vials) in their home so I can keep my bed bug detection senses in tip-top shape? Hunting bed bugs is my favorite part of the day!
Let me put you at ease by detecting whether or not you have bed bugs in your home or business. If any bed bugs, eggs, or nymphs are present, I can help you know where they are and what areas need to be treated to get rid of them!
John and Jina grew up in the small town of Smith Center, KS. Living in north-central Kansas provided ample opportunities for hunting and John’s family raised greyhounds for coyote hunting, he had blue-tick and walker hounds for treeing raccoons, and beagles for chasing rabbits. Who knew that 25 years later his love of dogs would lead to raising a dog to hunt insects?!
Kansas State University drew John and Jina to Manhattan and they eventually moved to nearby Wamego, where they now reside. Jina is a high school counselor and John is a facilities manager in Topeka. Through his work, John has first-hand experience about the continual cycle of bed bug treatment and then their return. In an effort to be more efficient and save money, he contracted a canine bed bug detection team and was impressed with the dog’s efficiency and ability to pinpoint the exact location of infestation—saving him time in detection and money in treatment.
This caused John and Jina to further research the training and use of canine detectors. What they found was there are very few bed bug detection dogs available in Kansas and most are owned by large pest control companies who charge exorbitant fees to cover their overhead and who influence patrons to exclusively use their treatment option. In contrast, Bug Hounds is family owned and operated by John, Jina and their sons, Jake and Jayson.
Our mission is to provide discrete, efficient, and affordable bed bug locating for businesses as well as home owners.
Meet Cocoa
Cocoa is a German Shorthair from the St. Mary's area. She started training at 8 weeks old and was a natural! Her keen sense of smell and high energy level make her an ideal Bug Hound! She was also chosen for her height as she can sniff the top of beds without having to get on them and can also sniff higher on furniture such as bookshelves and dressers. When she isn't working, Beddy loves to run, play and sit on her owners!
Meet Huck and Finndy
Huck and Finndy are the most recent additions to the Bug Hounds, LLC family. They are German Shorthair brother-sister puppies from Harper, KS. They are currently progressing well in their training. When they aren't training they keep each other company by playing chase and hide & seek. Even though they are super playful, they are all business when it comes time for training. They actually get a little jealous of each other when one is training and the other one has to wait! Their trainer is Jayson. He enjoys hunting and loves animals of all kinds, but has a special heart for dogs. Jayson is a certified handler for the bed bug canines and is responsible for much of their required daily training.