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About Scent Detection
Although all canines have superior nasal sensitivity, and have been proven to be to be able to smell in parts per trillion, not all canines are ideally suited to scent detection… and neither are all handlers. A successful scent detection team is dependent upon a professionally trained and competent handler as well as canine.

A properly trained team can find molds that may have been missed in the past by other instruments. Fungus and molds come in a diverse array of colors, growth patterns and forms. Mold colonies can exist in a variety of locations often not visible to humans, such as behind walls and under floor-boards, and a dog's keen sense of smell gives them the ability to locate this "invisible" mold.

Ginger at Work

Reasons to use a Scent Detection Canine

1. Less Expensive. Because scent detection canines generate quicker and more accurate results, this can lead to lower remediation costs for homeowners and insurers as the mold can be isolated and remediated prior to the mold problem becoming extensive. For schools, hotels, commercial and government buildings, cost savings can be quite substantial.

2. Cutting-Edge Technology. The scent detection dog's nose is cutting-edge technology and the latest trend in the home inspection industry. It's the only inspection tool that can detect and pinpoint sources of hidden mold - a critical component to lowering costs and providing clients with a thorough inspection.

3. Proven and Trusted. "Man's best friend" has been used for years by military and law enforcement agencies to accurately detect bombs and drugs, among other things.

4. Dogs are Honest. Scent dogs are trained to work for non-monetary rewards, usually food or toys. Even though some providers in the industry talk about this "honesty" of dogs, it must be recognized that the accuracy of a mold inspection relies not just on the canine's ability to detect the scent, but on the combined effectiveness of the canine/handler combination.

5. Greater Peace of Mind. Research supports that if the properly trained scent detecion dog "alerts" at a particular location, there's a high statistical probability the dog has found mold contamination. If the dog does not alert, you can know with greater certainty that your home, office or school is safe from mold.

6. Pro-active detection. For REALTORS concerned about escrow time lines, scent detection canines can quickly and more accurately inspect a home, which gives both the buyer and the seller the feedback they need to quickly and effectively resolve issues.
Bearboy Working
    According to a report prepared by the Institute for Biological Detection Systems (IBDS) of Auburn University (Auburn, AL), dogs have the following capabilities:
  • Sensitivity: Documented limits of olfactory detection for the dog range from tens of parts per billion to 500 parts per trillion.
  • Discrimination: Dogs are extremely good at discriminating a target vapor from non-target vapors that are also present, even at relatively high concentrations of non-target odors.
  • Odor Signatures: When being trained to detect a substance, dogs learn to alert to one or two of its most abundant vapor compounds.
  • Multiple Odor Discriminations: Dogs can easily learn as many as ten odor discriminations.
Last modified: 2009/9/21 by molddog



More Info

About those noses...

The noses of dogs are amazingly sensitive and allow them to detemine an enormous amount about a particular scent. For example, a single drop of urine is enough to tell a scent detection canine the sex, diet and relative health of the animal, and much more. For dogs, a scent article is like a three-dimensional "odor image" - much more detailed than a photograph is for a person.



Why use mold dogs?

As David Latimer, the trainer of our scent dogs, puts it, "Mold dogs, like their peers in explosives, narcotics and termite detection can find their target odor in situations and quantities that would would be missed by a human inspector. In many cases mold infestations begin to form behind walls or other barriers, causing them to be hidden from a visual inspection for extended periods of time, all the while the occupants of a house or building are breathing the potentially harmful mold spores and off gases. Dogs have such a keen sense of smell however that they can smell mold behind walls before it develops into a health threatening infestation."


Office: 888-289-0162
Fax: 866-819-2519
Cell: 410-984-6594
Email
Steven Yerger, Certified Mold Remediator
B.C.R.S. K-9 Mold Detection Services
Division of Centurion Inc T/A BCRS K9 Services
Serving Central Maryland and Greater Washington area
 P.O. Box 508
New Windsor, MD 21776
Mold professionals  

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