About
Termite Dogs
The Best Method for Detecting Termites
How Scent Detection Works with Termite Dogs
A human nose is made of hard cartilage, while a dog's nose is made of folded skin. Humans smell in parts per hundred, while dogs can smell in parts per trillion. In fact, a dog has more than 220 million olfactory receptors in its nose, while humans have only 5 million.
Since dogs can smell in parts per trillion, they can distinguish individual odors in a way that humans just can't duplicate. If there were a pot of soup cooking on the stove, all you, the human, would be able to smell is the overall aroma of the stew. A dog, however, can distinguish each individual ingredient in the soup, such as celery, tomatoes, carrots, beans, chicken broth, etc. This incredible ability to decipher odors makes a trained dog a great tool for fighting termites.
A knowledgeable handler and termite dog combination is the best method for detecting termites. A termite dog's handler must always be on alert because he is the reasoning member of the team. The handler must know not only his dog but also how termites behave.
Meet our Termite Dogs
Cricket (Right) – the dog that started it all
Cricket was our first termite dog. She went about every job the same way – nose to the ground, smelling termite activity. Cricket once did a contract job in Birmingham to settle a dispute. Her nose said that there were, indeed, termites in the house. It wasn’t until the wall was torn apart down to the studs that professionals finally located the termites not located by professionals. Her nose knew the truth!
Cricket had the most wonderful, loving personality a dog could ever have. We took her to “Show- and-Tell” events because she would always act like a lady. We lost her in 2012 but she remains our figurehead. A testament to knowledge, training, standards, quality and everything else that we at Hadley Termite & Pest Control, Inc. represent.
Misty (Left)
Our Cricket was such a success that HT&PC needed another termite dog! Misty came to us from a Birmingham firm in 2002 that also trains drug, bomb, and arson dogs.
Misty was a full blooded Australian Shepherd. She was more high-strung than Cricket. Misty was happy to be a working dog. She also required many toys, and the more interesting the toy, the better. It might slow her down from chewing it to death before the week was over.
We lost our pretty Misty to a brain tumor in March 2011.
Peeps
Peeps is an Australian Shepherd-Terrier mix. We adopted her out of a South Florida Australian Shepherd rescue center. She is the second of the termite detective dogs that we trained. Peeps likes to work and she likes people – a winning combination for a termite dog!
Woody
Woody is an energetic terrier mix of no specific lineage. He enjoys working with his handler. The best part of his day consists of riding in the truck and searching for termites. He is a termite finding machine!
Jessie
Jessie is also a mixed breed pup. While she enjoys working for termites, she loves interacting with people just a little bit more. Jessie has to have pats and affection from every customer before she'll start to work. She'll find termites, and every stray crumb in the house too!