News from
NYC’s bedbug-sniffing dogs
prepare for retirement
BY GABRIEL SANDOVAL
THE CITY
Nemo and Mickey, a pair of
miniature beagles on the
code enforcement team
at the city Department of Housing
Preservation and Development,
have sniffed out bedbugs since
they were puppies, protecting the
city from blood-sucking insects
one apartment at a time.
But the dogs are aging and
inching toward retirement: Nemo
is 10 and Mickey is 11.
Now, the agency is searching
for the next generation as the canines
wrap up their distinguished
careers as public servants.
“The vet estimates that Mickey
and Nemo have one to two working
years left,” said Matthew
Creegan, an HPD spokesperson.
The agency has posted a
notice seeking a handler to supply,
groom and house two new
trained dogs, in addition to caring
for Mickey and Nemo, in a
facility with staff present around
the clock.
“As of now, HPD plans to retain
ownership of both dogs, past
their working years,” Creegan
said.
The agency has also declared
its intent to keep the dogs’ current
handler, Biscuits & Bath, a doggy
daycare center with multiple locations
throughout Manhattan.
For the past six years, the
beagles have lived at Biscuits &
Bath’s branch on the Upper East
Side, where they receive veterinary
services and training twice
annually.
Since 2011, the detection
dogs have accompanied code
inspectors on visits to apartments
where a resident has called 311 to
complain about a possible bedbug
infestation.
When a team enters an apartment,
the dog is unleashed to
sniff for bugs, allowing its nose
to guide the way. Once bugs are
located, they sit to notify the
inspector.
Creegan said landlords are
Nemo, the bedbug-sniffing mini beagle, in 2017.
obligated to correct violations by
hiring an exterminator to remedy
the problem within a set period of
time depending on the severity of
the case. HPD returns to verify
the bugs have been eradicated.
If they’re still lurking, he said,
an inspector will issue another
violation.
Bedbug infestations surged
in New York City in the 2000s.
But related calls to 311 have been
steadily dropping in the past decade,
sliding from 12,200 in fi scal
year 2012 to nearly one-third of
that, 4,415, in the year that ended
on June 30.
“Combined, Mickey and Nemo
attempt more than 3,500 inspections
per year,” Creegan noted.
They surpassed 25,000 career
inspections in 2017. Commemorating
the milestone, the city
awarded them bones and sweaters
with their names on them,
amNewYork reported.
‘Find the Bugs’
The dogs have enjoyed quite
a run.
They offi cially joined HPD in
November 2011 after successfully
completing a six-month training
course in bedbug detection at the
Iron Heart Training Center in
PHOTO BY JONATHAN PATKOWSKI/HOUSING PRESERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Shawnee, Kan., where they were
born.
On their fi rst day, the duo
inspected a total of nine homes
for bedbugs, resulting in three
violation notices for landlords, a
Wall Street Journal article at the
time noted.
Each dog works separately
from the other, assisting a rotating
crew of three inspectors.
David Trevino, an HPD inspector,
has worked with Nemo and
Mickey since they started. He
joined HPD’s canine inspection
unit at its inception.
An HPD employee since 2006,
he recalled first hearing the
agency fl oat the idea of creating
the canine unit about a decade
ago. The dog lover decided to
volunteer.
“I love working with them,”
said Trevino, 59. “They are smart
dogs. They’ve been doing it so
long, you know. We do training
every year, but it’s already in their
blood.”
Trevino said the number of inspections
varies daily, as does the
duration of each visit, which ranges
between 15 and 30 minutes.
“Bedbugs hide and they come
out at night, and once you turn on
the lights, they hide,” he said, adding
he has to verify the presence
of live bedbugs with a fl ashlight
before he can issue a violation to
a landlord.
Dead bedbugs or bite marks do
not suffi ce, he said.
The dogs aren’t allowed to
mingle with residents, although
kids are an exception.
“You know how kids are. They
like to play with dogs,” Trevino
said. “I don’t stop them, especially
Nemo. He loves kids.”
When it’s time to search, he
gives Nemo and Mickey a simple
command: “Find the bugs!”
“Right away, they go at it,” he
said. “They love it.”
He offers treats after they discover
bugs, but not always.
“Nemo, I give him sometimes,”
Trevino said. “But when you
praise him — like, ‘Good boy,
good boy!’ — they love it. They
just go throw themselves on the
fl oor, shaking his tail.”
Trevino acknowledged that
Nemo and Mickey’s detection
skills aren’t 100% perfect, as a
2010 New York Times expose
pointed out about sniffi ng dogs’
powers, but that’s why he’s there
to verify.
“We can’t write a violation of
bedbugs if we don’t fi nd it,” he
told THE CITY.
Cuteness Factor
Jennifer Erdogan, director of
Bell Environmental Services, a
pest control company serving
clients in and around New York
City, knows much about bedbugdetection
dogs. Roscoe, the
bedbug-sniffi ng beagle famous
for his “Where’s Roscoe?” commercials,
worked for Bell before
retiring about three years ago,
she said.
“Roscoe is an old man right
now,” she said.
Now 11, Roscoe lives in New
Jersey and apparently roots for
the Mets.
A Pandemic Refuge
In late March, when Biscuits
& Bath was temporarily closing
due to the pandemic, Trevino was
asked if he could house the dogs
in the interim, he said.
“I didn’t hesitate,” he recalled.
“I just said, ‘No problem. I’ll take
‘em.’”
Jonathan Patkowski/Housing
Preservation and Development-
Mickey and Nemo at the home
of Canine Unit Inspector David
Trevino.
The dogs stayed with Trevino,
his wife and their dog — a 1-yearold
Belgian Malamar named King
— at their Washington Heights
home for several weeks in the
spring during the height of the
pandemic. Nemo, Mickey and
King soon became friends.
When Trevino brought Nemo
and Mickey home for the fi rst
time, they cried because they
weren’t accustomed to his home,
he recalled. To comfort them, he
ditched his bed for the sofa.
“The fi rst couple of days, I had
to sleep next to them,” he said.
Each day at 5 a.m., he said, he’d
walk the dogs to Highbridge Park
along the Harlem River, where the
dogs played for 30 to 45 minutes.
In June, Trevino returned
the dogs to Biscuit & Bath and
in-person inspections resumed.
Now, they work three days a
week, Trevino said.
This story was fi rst published
on Aug. 13, 2020, by THE CITY
is an independent, nonprofi t news
outlet dedicated to hard-hitting
reporting that serves the people
of New York.
14 August 20, 2020 Schneps Media