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Using
Dogs to Sniff Out Mold in Homes
From a news story by
CNN San Francisco Reporter James Hattori
May 2003
"Let's go to work. You ready?" [the woman] says to her dog.
Sydney is a two-year-old mixed Labrador retriever who abhors spores.
She is sniffing Laura Herlow's house, hunting for mold.
"She does a passive alert. So she sits when she finds mold."
Sydney is one of about ten animals who have spent hundreds of hours
with a police dog trainer in Florida. Now she's certified to detect
mold.
"Good girl."
"So what does that mean? What is she indicating there?" [asks
an observer.]
"She is indicating that she has detected mold somewhere in this
vicinity right here. She's usually good for a three to four foot path."
Herlow, whose young son suffers from epileptic seizures, turned to Sydney
after getting frustrated with several other mold contractors.
"Were you skeptical at first that a dog could do this?"
"No. I would rather trust a dog and have an unbiased opinion,"
says Herlow.
"She's got it. She's found mold where we haven't suspected it and
we have looked further and verified that she was correct," says
Sydney's handler. Including this unlikely spot around a shower but away
from any openings.
"The professional mold cleanup company is going to contain this
area and take this shower assembly out," says one of the mold company's
employees.
While popular in Europe for years mold-sniffing dogs are relatively
new in the US.
"We've been using dogs for bombs and drugs and other scent work
but it is just in the last eighteen months that people are making the
connection that dogs are a great tool in the mold industry," says
Mold Detectives employee.
One big advantage is cost. Traditional detection methods can drag on
for weeks, sampling and then waiting for test results and then testing
the air at a cost of up to thousands of dollars.
"With the dog we can do that same exact testing for less than $500
and pinpoint exactly where the mold is so then the cleanup costs are
substantially less."
Jenelle Nary is a believer; she spent years suffering from mysterious
illnesses. "Mostly respiratory problems, a lot of asthma, trouble
sleeping, pain everywhere." Until she moved out of the family home.
Then Sydney found that toxic mold had spread from the bathroom under
the flooring into Janelle's bedroom.
"You couldn't see anything?"
"No."
"But the dog sniffed it?"
"Yes. Which is I think awesome."
While experts say it is unclear just how bad toxic molds can be to human
health, worried homeowners [now] have a new weapon to unleash.
For additional information,
look at these Web sites:
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