Pest-Sniffing Dogs
From the Series Dog Heroes
One morning in 2010, a pest inspector came to a home in Brooklyn, New York, to search for bedbugs. However, the inspector wasn't a person--he was a dog named Cruiser! This puggle (a cross between a pug and a beagle) was able to sniff out the bedbugs in the family's home so that they wouldn't get bitten by the blood-sucking insects. Cruiser is one of about 150 dogs that have been trained to detect pests. Some dogs specialize in finding bedbugs, while others hunt for termites, which can eat through the wood in a house, or mealybugs, which can destroy farmers' crops and trees. Thanks to the work of pest-sniffing dogs, the harmful bugs can be detected before serious damage is done. In this book, young readers will meet the hardworking dogs that use their keen sense of smell to locate pests. Packed with real-life stories and full-color photos of pest-sniffing dogs at work, this book is sure to be a favorite of dog-lovers everywhere.
| Interest Level | Grade 2 - Grade 7 |
|---|---|
| Reading Level | Grade 3 |
| Category | Hi-Lo, Nonfiction |
| Subject | Animals |
| Copyright | 2012 |
| Publisher | Bearport Publishing |
| Imprint | Bearport Books |
| Language | English |
| Publication Date | 2012-01-01 |
| BISACS | JNF003060 |
|---|---|
| Dewey | 636.73 |
| Graphics | Full-color photographs, Historical photographs |
| Lexile | 980 |
| Guided Reading Level | N |
| ATOS Reading Level | 5.5 |
| Accelerated Reader® Quiz | 149939 |
| Accelerated Reader® Points | 0.5 |
Reviews
Pest Sniffing
It isn’t all fun and games when you’re a dog. Some, like the canines featured in the Dog Heroes series, are trained professionals, using their keen sense of smell to aid military personnel, police officers, and search-and-rescue teams. In Bomb-Sniffing Dogs, readers learn that there are certain breeds best-suited to the task: German shepherds, Labrador retrievers, vizslas, and Belgian Malinois. German shepherds’ noses have 220 million sniffing cells, as opposed to the 5 million of human noses. Of course dogs aren’t born with bomb-seeking abilities, and this book details the training process, noting the tight bond that forms between dog and human partner. Pest-Sniffing Dogs turns its attention to the ever-pesky, and increasingly prevalent, bed bug. In order to detect pests like bed bugs and termites, dogs attend a training academy for two to three months and sniff pest-filled vials until they’re conditioned to the odor. Both volumes in the series offer true on-the-beat tales and put names with faces: for instance, Chocolat, a Belgian shepherd, detected explosives in a store in Afghanistan. With photos that run the gamut from cute (lots of snout close-ups) to downright impressive, this series should have wide appeal, not only for dog fans, but also for those interested in the military and action-adventure stories. A “Just the Facts” section concludes.
Pest Sniffing
It isn’t all fun and games when you’re a dog. Some, like the canines featured in the Dog Heroes series, are trained professionals, using their keen sense of smell to aid military personnel, police officers, and search-and-rescue teams. In Bomb-Sniffing Dogs, readers learn that there are certain breeds best-suited to the task: German shepherds, Labrador retrievers, vizslas, and Belgian Malinois. German shepherds’ noses have 220 million sniffing cells, as opposed to the 5 million of human noses. Of course dogs aren’t born with bomb-seeking abilities, and this book details the training process, noting the tight bond that forms between dog and human partner. Pest-Sniffing Dogs turns its attention to the ever-pesky, and increasingly prevalent, bed bug. In order to detect pests like bed bugs and termites, dogs attend a training academy for two to three months and sniff pest-filled vials until they’re conditioned to the odor. Both volumes in the series offer true on-the-beat tales and put names with faces: for instance, Chocolat, a Belgian shepherd, detected explosives in a store in Afghanistan. With photos that run the gamut from cute (lots of snout close-ups) to downright impressive, this series should have wide appeal, not only for dog fans, but also for those interested in the military and action-adventure stories. A “Just the Facts” section concludes.
