About Us

My name is Dominique Nicolay, Founder, Owner and Handler of MassBedBugBusters canines.

I became interested in the bed bug detection industry because of three unrelated and separate bed bug occurrences that inflicted my family over the course of two years. Prior to this, I had never taken bed bugs seriously but quickly found out they were back, and to an unusual extent.

Throughout my life, I cannot remember a time when I didn’t have a dog at my side. After my favorite dog died of old age, I felt empty. I missed the enormous affection; the puppy hugs and kisses the times he made me laugh and most of all, his unconditional love. Unappealing as bed bugs are for anyone, I was still thrilled at the thought of getting involved in a profession where I could spend most of my time working with dogs.

BED BUG DETECTION AND INSPECTION

It was a Win-Win for my clients and me!
Using my project manager mindset, I planned, budgeted, documented, and found a win-win situation. I had all the benefits of having what I loved so much (my dogs), coupled with a growing and promising career and future; all while being a good Stewart for my community, educating others and saving people from serious bed bug problems. What more could anyone ask for; it made my heart smile.

I immediately began studying about bed bugs while honing my scent detection handler skills. Before long, I purchased two amazing trained bed bug dogs (Malamar and Nicki), that were by my side daily.
MassBedBugBusters continued to grow to the point that in early 2016, we had to add another amazing bed bug dog to our family, his name is Baxter.

Here we are in 2017, seven years since we first started, and I could not be more elated that I became part of this growing industry.

CREATING SEASONED PERFORMERS

Our motto is “Train as You Work, Work as You Train”. Keeping a canine cued on a scent takes daily dedication. In order to do this, we replicate real-life situations at our training sites as well as apply our learned experiences from training to our on-site inspections. In addition, to keep our bed bug sniffing dogs fit and skilled, we cue them on live bed bugs and viable eggs every day, 365 days a year. We are proud to say, our canines have been performing bed bug inspections in varied residential, commercial and industrial environments for over 7 years.

ON THE OTHER END OF THE LEASH

As the handler on the other end of the leash, our job isn’t simply holding a leash while the dog does all the work. Our proficiency as a handler is also developed over time. The more time we spend with our dogs, the better we understand their personal behaviors. We continually take advanced handler trainings to keep our skills as sharp as our dogs.

We are fully trained in bed bug entomology from the IBBRA Institute for Responsible Bed Bug Control (an educational division of the International Bed Bug Resource Authority – IBBRA)

We have plenty of tips and tools, handouts, books, posters, power points and resources to educate you on your own personal risks for bed bugs. We’ll teach you how to prevent and protect your home or business from future bed bug outbreaks.

Our combined knowledge and common sense approach will inspect your home or business for any possible problems or situations that would cause an outbreak to go unnoticed for any length of time.
Aside from showing you ways to prevent picking up bed bugs, while you’re out and about; we will show you how to create an environment that makes having bedbugs easier to find should you ever have an encounter again.

With all this information, you will always be ahead of the game knowing all the signs and symptoms before an infestation can build.

BEST TOOL FOR EARLY DETECTION

We know that there is no way to prevent bed bugs entirely; however, early detection is the best way to prevent them from setting up harborage in your home or business. Removing bed bugs in the early stages is far easier for both you and service professionals. Often they can be eliminated in less than a days’ time compared to weeks if you had not noticed their presence.

WE LOVE OUR DOGS – OUR DOGS LOVE US – YOU WILL LOVE THEM TOO!

Our dogs work for food, praise and love and are very devoted to us; they are trusted and honest partners. Their work is their play and our dogs are always ready to conduct a bed bug sniffing search just to please us. We take good care of them and they know it.

OUR FUTURE BED BUG PROBLEMS

Unfortunately, bed bugs will be around well into this century and beyond. This is not a pest that is easily controlled unless you acknowledge them early and know what you are doing.

We intend to continue our great services and contribute to the education of many more people to help save them from bed bug nightmares.

AREAS SERVED

Our bed bug dog detection service is available to all types of facilities in Boston, Providence and Hartford and throughout New England, and we are open to traveling beyond.
We Find Bed Bugs Where Humans Can’t!