Famous for fighting crime and guiding the blind, man's best friends have a new mission: to detect bedbugs. "The sense of smell in dogs is hundreds of times sharper than a human's eye," says Donna Coberly of training firm Excelsis Detection. "We use dogs to find bedbugs before they attack people." This company trains dogs to detect these insects in hotel rooms, cruise ships and homes, and works together with a pest control service. After one dog detects the animals, a second dog confirms the finding, and both companies make a visual inspection and eradicate the animals. The process is faster than if it's done with humans, Coberly says: While a dog performs an inspection in a few minutes, a pest control professional takes an hour or two to inspect. Excelsis provides inspection services on commercial, residential and health care properties.
A goal of the iPod mobile training system is to offer employees the opportunity to train directly in their own work environment, as content is efficiently organized into playlists to allow for greater retention of information. The on-demand functionality of these teams supports the spontaneity of this unique style of training and guidance at work.
The program contains several two-minute modules that highlight brand-specific skills essential to employee growth, said Dawn Koenig, the hotel's vice president of performance services, adding, "The next phase of mobile training will offer refresher training around the hotel's own personalized customer service tools. Homewood Suites".