Dogs Australia

An interesting article in the SMH about Barney the termite-detecting beagle.

Sydney’s Best Pest Control uses Barney as a last check for termites, after the standard detections have been performed.  To guarantee that Barney always gets his reward,  his owner always brings a jar of live termites to detect, even if the house had none.

So Barney always performs, always finds the termites, and always gets his reward. A good training and reinforcing technique.

A competitor pans the technique, however admits it could be useful if standard techniques cannot find out how and where the termites are getting in.  The use of a dog is more of a comfort and reassurance, as ever.