Cristina Penca and Aldo Massaglia said they found bedbugs in two-thirds of their visits to private homes
A pair of British and Irish sniffing dogs joined the Paris's fight against bedbugs has become priority number one.
10-year-old cocker spaniel Thunder and five-year-old Troy cost their owners €15,000 (£12,000) each, but they worth its weight in gold as cinemas, luxury hotels and Parisian families vie for their impressive bug-spotting skills.
As France is gripped by a national psychosis over the emergence of the dreaded «punaise delit» business, the business of dog owners, an American-Italian couple Christina Pancus and Aldo Massaglia are thriving.
“It's absolutely insane right now. We can't keep up. Since bedbugs hit the headlines about three weeks ago, business has grown by about 45 percent,» said Mr Massaglia.
For a private apartment they charge between 260 and 350 euros, but hotel searches can run into the thousands.
Over the past two weeks, the couple have been called to eight Parisian cinemas, four theaters and two schools, as well as a five-story law firm in a posh area.
They also searched five hotels, dressing smartly to pose as guests traveling with dogs to avoid panic.
A film producer planning to visit Paris hired them to do a pre-emptive check of six hotel rooms to make sure his film crew didn't have any unpleasant surprises.
The couple said business has grown about 45 percent since bedbugs made headlines
But their most frequent clients are Parisian families. In about two-thirds of calls, they actually find bed bugs.
In a bourgeois four-bedroom apartment in the 11th arrondissement of the eastern capital, dogs waited impatiently as their owners explained the rules of the game to the apartment owner. , Valerie, 60 years old, aeronautical engineer.
Her son Emmanuel, 21, noticed what he thought were bedbugs a few nights ago and has since discovered several in his bed, which the family kept in a glass container.
“These are teenage bedbugs,” Mr. Massaglia said, zooming in on the pests on his iPhone.
The dogs, he added, will inspect each room and determine whether they smell your victim. will stop completely.
The spaniels underwent intensive eight months of training in Miami, Florida.
The course was designed for military and police to teach dogs to sniff out drugs, explosives, cell phones in prison cells and Covid.
The couple takes Thunder and Troy back to Florida for advanced training every three months at a cost of $1,000 per trip. The dogs fly in the cabin.
«Playing ball»
They also receive sealed vials of live and dead bedbugs from a British entomologist so the dogs can taste the difference between them.
< p>Mr Massaglia, holding a tennis ball, said: “The dog associates this ball with bedbugs. When they stop, they believe they have found a new ball, and as a reward they can play with it.»
Cocker Spaniels underwent an intense eight-month training in Miami
Thunder flew into the living room, sniffed the couch and TV, and then suddenly slowed down in the chair Valerie uses while working remotely. “He issued a warning,” Mr. Massaglia said.
An examination of Emmanuel's bedroom turned out to be unambiguous: once at the head of the bed the dog stopped dead in his tracks. He also froze on his mother's pillow in her bedroom.
The rest of the apartment was without errors. Troy was then called in for a second opinion and stopped at the same locations.
Valerie said she had no idea how the bugs got there. “I recently went to Montreal. We all take the subway. My son often has friends spend the night. They could have come from anywhere. Who knows?” she said.
“Her son said his biggest fear was contaminating his father's apartment, where he lives once every two weeks. “Last time, I changed my clothes before I walked through the front door,” he said.
His mother expressed “relief” at noticing their presence. “When I told friends and family they said how terrible it was, but no one died. It's not that I have cancer. We'll just follow the instructions.”
After the inspection was completed, pest detectors suggested that the family wash and dry all of their clothing at high temperatures.
They were also advised to hire a steam gun to clean the bed and furniture, or have a pest control company do it at a cost of around €200 an hour. According to them, the chemicals are harmful, much more expensive and mostly useless since insects are largely resistant to most types.
Bed bugs are largely resistant to most chemicals used to kill them
Mr Massaglia added: «But many companies argue otherwise, so they can sell their products, just spray houses in a short time and pocket the profits.»
As Paris prepares to host the Olympic Games in nine months, The French government is struggling to contain a nationwide pest scare.
An emergency meeting was held last Friday and Transport Minister Clément Beaune promised to send sniffer dogs on trains to check their presence.
But have dog handlers noticed a sharp increase in indicators? ?
Mr Massaglia said: “To be honest, no. We have been in this business for over ten years now and have always been called upon to visit hotels, schools and cinemas. But now people are scared and unions are stepping in and demanding action.” this tariff! It was as if someone was trying to damage the country’s reputation before the Olympics,” he said.
“There is always an increase at this time of year, especially after a hot summer,” Ms Pankus added. However, she predicted that the influx of around two million people during the Games would likely lead to an «explosive rise» in cases.
Bed bugs are present in all major cities in France, but Paris is «pretty bad «, she admitted.
She was more concerned about the rise in the number of «cowboy» organizations charging high prices for ineffective treatment. She said it has become a cruel industry.
“We once had to hire a private detective to identify anonymous threats that turned out to come from a competitor.”
She said that she once witnessed a British company. , whose name she chose not to name, brought bugs to the hotel to establish business.
As for service dogs, “there are more and more of them, but in the vast majority of cases they, and especially their Masters, have not been properly trained , and I'm afraid that this could damage our reputation,” she said.
At least for now, Thunder and Troy have the opportunity to work on fixing the mistakes.
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