To avoid an infested hotel bed, the next time you visit New York, you might just want to ask if your hotel room has been inspected for bed bugs by... dogs??? Last year the city's Department of Housing, Preservation and Development received nearly 7,000 bed bug complaints. The Department's answer? A team of six dogs to sniff out bed bugs in hotel rooms and apartments across the city.

Radar the beagle and Taz the Australian kelpie are part of a new team called Advanced K9 Detectives. These hounds aren't out to find drugs, they're around to make sure you have a good, bug-free, night's sleep. Although it might seem strange to use dogs to track down bedbugs, business is going well; according to Carl Massicott, the company's mastermind, a lot of the company's clients are top-end hotels.

The best part about using dogs for hotel inspection is that you can be sure they will never sell out. "A dog's nose is cutting-edge technology," Massicott said. "Our animals are 100% honest, and trained to work for food and love instead of profits."

Better ask for the canine cleared room next time you are doing your New York bookings.

Filed under: North America, United States, Hotels and Accommodations, Travel Health