Taking The Bite Out Of The Bed - Westfair Communications

Paul Alley and his mixed-breed dog, Sophie, are becoming quite a hit in the Hudson Valley and the Big Apple. Sophie”™s got a nose for bedbugs.

Alley wanted to stay on top of his game and so enlisted the services of Bill Whitstine, owner of the Florida Canine Academy. “Bill trains all kinds of dogs, from bomb-sniffers to arson. He rescued Sophie from a shelter two days before she was going to be put down,” said Alley.

Alley says Sophie”™s ability to sniff out mold was so successful that he sent her back to Whitstine for training in tracking down bedbugs.

According to Alley, Sophie is “98 percent accurate, compared with trained pest control specialists, who are accurate about 30 percent of the time.” She was a very worthwhile investment (over $20,000 in fees and training), but worth every penny, he says. “She ”˜noses”™ what”™s been infested and what”™s clean, which saves our customers both time and money. Hotels, dorms and other places where people sleep en masse are potential homes for these pests, and it”™s a growing problem.”

Alley says colleges often call upon him and Sophie to sniff out dorms, among them West Point. A visit to www.bedbugregistry.com will tell you ”“ in an unconfirmed report ”“ whether that hotel you love has been bitten by the “ugh” bug.

Frosty glow warms heart, pushes up bills

Yes, we have had several snowstorms cancelling events and making weekends shoveling events, but you can”™t beat the beauty of the sparkling trees covered with an icy glow. At this apple orchard in Ulster County, trees wait patiently for spring to come. And so do we after last week”™s cold snap! (Ouch ”“ the heating bill.)

Words of wisdom

You don”™t have to be religious to get the message this Hudson Valley church displayed on its billboard. With a new president coming to D.C., and the country and state in a fiscal crisis, we can only wonder who to start pointing the fingers at. Is it the Republicans? The Democrats? Both parties? Or are we all a little bit responsible for spending more than we had, living larger than real life and then getting the bill for it. A good message for 2009: Start planning!