Voices of Lawrenceville: Jersey Dog Seeks Bed Bugs

Marcia Brice opens her front door and I am greeted with a frenzy of licks and kisses from Jozy, Marcia’s partner in crime. Here’s Marcia’s story in her own words: 

“I am a dog handler for a very interesting little dog that detects the scent of live bed bugs and bed bug eggs. Our job is to go into people’s houses or commercial properties such as hotels or nursing homes. When someone suspects early stages of bed bugs, it’s our job to go and find them. 

“I got laid off in January 2010. I was a graphic designer. I was specialist, but since the print industry is starting to die, I couldn’t find a job. So in order to be more marketable I decided I needed to take classes in HTML, web site design – stuff like that.  I took a bunch of classes at Mercer Country Community College but I found that I didn’t like doing that stuff. My brain doesn’t really work that way and it was a struggle. I just knew I could never keep up with the younger generations who have grown up using this technology. That’s when I decided it was time for me to figure out something new to do. I kept reading about the bed bug epidemic especially in New York City. Then I read a couple articles about bed bug dogs. And I thought, ‘Hmm, I could do that.’ And I thought about it for a couple of weeks, just mulled it over. I started researching more into it. I also love animals and I’m not easily grossed out. I’ve raised two boys, so I have pretty much seen it all. So I did a lot of research and decided this looked like a really interesting opportunity. 

“I kept reading about this one canine school in Florida called J and K Canine Academy. They seemed like they were probably the best. So I called and talked to them and they seemed very positive. In October I put down a deposit. It took me a few months to get Jozy, my Jack Russell terrier.   It takes the school about three months to train each dog. I did not go down to get her until almost the middle of March. Then I trained with the school for three days from 9 a.m to 6 p.m.  It was pretty intense. Then the last day we did our certification testing and Jozy and I passed!  It was so stressful. I was a brand new handler, and earlier that morning she was having a hard time finding her bed bugs. They kept saying trust your dog, trust your dog when we were going through the test. 

“There were four dogs in our class. Each dog had an owner. All the owners were really nervous for this part of the test. We had 20 minutes to take the test, which was a lot of time because we only had to inspect four rooms. We knew that there were two bed bugs spread out through the four room. We just flew through. Jozy found them just like that. There were also distractions in every room. But she only encountered one. There was a handful of dog food on the floor; she just scoffed it up and kept going. That was a really good feeling when we passed that test.  We call the bed bugs B’s. Jozy is trained to know what B’s are. Not bed bugs. Because if you go into a hotel and you say, ‘OK, go find your bed bug’ people will totally freak out. No one wants to hear that word ever when dealing with commercial sites. B’s is a much more discreet word choice. 

“At first when I told my husband I wanted to do this job he was like, ‘What! Are you kidding?’ Which I kind of expected; it seemed like a normal reaction. Then I started showing him all the articles I had been reading and he began to see the light. He understood it seemed like a pretty good thing to do. About two or three weeks later then I really decided I really want to do this. I didn’t tell my parents. They aren’t the most supportive people in the world and I knew they would say ‘Are you kidding?’ and I just didn’t need that background noise. They got an email announcing the starting up of my new business. 

“Since I have never had my own business before it’s been tough. I made my own website and I tried to do the programming myself but there was a time crunch so I hired someone to help me out and she was wonderful. But then she explained to me that it would take four to six weeks for people to start noticing the site. It’s all a learning process. 

“Bed bugs get to be about the size of an apple seed. They are known as hitchhikers meaning they latch onto objects.  They are attracted to the warmth and the carbon dioxide that our bodies release. So when we are sound asleep they come seek us out and have dinner.  Most of them are fairly small.

“Before every job Jozy has to stay in a crate for a while before she goes to work. This keeps her calm. We want her to be excited as possible when she starts to work for the best results. When I first go to a job site, I hide a live bed bug in a vile. This gets Jozy very jumpy and excited.  Then I wait ten minutes.  At home when we are just practicing we wait for 20 minutes. We call this letting the bed bugs ‘cook,’ which means letting the smell come out. Then we put the leash on her and walk around the room starting with the left side. Once she smells the bed bugs she will get excited and then start scratching. That’s her signal; we call it an alert. 

“Initially the first two weeks of getting Jozy we had to do ‘controlled hides’ to practice. A controlled hide is when I take the vials of bed bugs and hide them in random places throughout my house. So the first two weeks I would hide them and then I would walk around and she would follow me, searching. 

“After those first two weeks we had to start doing blind hides. Blind hides are when someone else hides them and then she goes and searches. These have to be done twice a day. And so every morning and every night my husband has to do this and he has been very good at it and I think he has been enjoying it. There have been a couple times where I have had to be somewhere either early in the morning or late at night and that’s when he takes over and does the hides with her. 

‘After each hide I have to record it in this journal. I say the date, and where we hid the bed bugs, and how many she found. That takes a good half an hour twice a day.

‘There is a big difference between a pet and a working dog. Working dogs aren’t supposed to get as much affection; they’re supposed to get more quiet and down time. Jozy is very affectionate. She likes to jump up on your lap, and lay against your chest. How can you not love a little thing like that? 

“In the beginning we had some adjustment problems with Jozy being a working dog not a pet.  She was getting a little too much lap time, and I was also walking her a lot. We didn’t have work so she needed the exercise and I was training for a half-marathon at  the time so I would walk her about two  miles. But then we started to see she wasn’t doing her training very well. And I had no clue why. It was really frustrating. So I called J and K Canine and basically they said I couldn’t take her for those long walks. They said it was so fun that every time she put the leash on she thought she was going out for a long stroll. She got to smell all these good things outside and that was more fun to her than finding bed bugs. And finding bed bugs is supposed to be the most fun thing in the world to her. So they said to put her on a treadmill. So now everyday she goes on the treadmill for about 15 to 20 minutes. She goes 3 to 3.3 miles per hour, and she really likes it. I can still take her for short walks outside at night and during the day. Now she is back on track; training very well. 

“A challenge in this business is I have to be completely discreet. When we go to jobs we usually go through the back door because we don’t want to attract attention. I have a little crate for her that’s on wheels when we go to hotels, or places where they don’t want the dogs to be seen. When we go on inspections we will never wear a uniform or any logos because no one wants to know the space has bed bugs. I’m trying to get some jobs with colleges; that would be nice because we could go in when the students were not around during the summer or during breaks. 

“I have been able to still do the things I normally do with this new job but it will be a problem when I take a vacation because she has to be trained everyday forever. So that means we have to take her with us. Or possibly I find somebody else in this business who has a dog from the same company so that they train the same way then we could swap. They take my dog for a week, and I keep their dog for a week. I’m just planning on not having a vacation this summer and just having a lot of work. Summertime is the time when I should be the busiest. This job has certainly impacted my family’s life. 

“One of the best parts of the jobs is the people I have met marketing my business.  I’ve been to some networking groups and joined the Chamber of Commerce. I’m doing things I wouldn’t normally have done. I’ve kind of come out of my shell some and that’s been very rewarding for me. I love this little dog. I think she is going to be a great partner. She doesn’t tell me to make the logo bigger or change things; she is just always very supportive and always happy to see me.”  

FAST  FACTS

Location: 22 Temple Terrace, Lawrence, N.J 
Owner: Marcia Brice 

Phone number:  (609) 379-2888
Website: http://www.jerseydogsbb.com   
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jersey-Dog-Seeks-Bedbugs-LLC/198175753543254