New Regulations Require Pest Detection Dogs, Handlers to be Trained & Certified Public Comments Accepted Through Feb. 25 The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) has proposed new regulations that require pest control companies using dogs to detect the presence of pests, including bed bugs, to be appropriately trained and certified. Public comments on the proposed regulations, which were printed in today’s Maryland Register, are being accepted through Feb. 25. Currently, anyone applying pesticides commercially must be licensed with MDA, however, there are no requirements for those using dogs to detect pests and no guarantee that the dog has ever been trained. The new regulations do not allow pest control businesses to use dogs to detect pests unless both the dog and the dog’s handler are trained, certified and work together as a team. The regulations do not allow individual handlers or individual dogs to be certified. Each team must be recertified every year. “Dogs can be trained to sniff out many different types of contraband, and we even use one at MDA who is trained to detect diseases in honeybee colonies, but there are no current standards or tests required of pest control companies that use dogs to detect pests [...]
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