The brindle dog with flyaway hair and whiskers quivered at the end of the taut leash. Trainer Jayna Hiffner dropped the leash.

The Scotty-Cairn terrier mix bounded onto the couch, darting to seams and crevices, frantically sniffing with nose pressed to the material like a vacuum cleaner.

Suddenly, the terrier stood still and pawed at a spot where couch back met cushion. He’d found his target — a bed bug.

“Dogs can smell live bugs or viable eggs, even in a light socket,” Hiffner said. “It’s kind of like going into a room with the light off. He’s my flashlight.”

It takes a human inspector about 20 to 25 minutes to search a room for bed bugs. The dog covers the same territory in two to five minutes, she said.

Dogs are one of the more recent weapons in the fight against the resurgence of bed bugs.

“Bed bugs are everywhere right now. Nobody expected them to come back,” said Hiffner, noting that by the early 1940s, they were thought to have been pretty well eradicated.

Hiffner and the terrier — Kramer — work out of the Cuyahoga Falls office of Michigan-based Rose Pest Solutions. They’ve been called to Trumbull County for a number of jobs, Hiffner said.

She carries a vial containing live bed bugs and eggs to pass under Kramer’s nose for the scent. Then he sets off to track down more of the same.

“It becomes a game of hide-and-seek,” she said.

Sofas, chairs and beds are among the insect’s favorite hiding places.

“Bed bugs want to stay where their food sources are. That would be us,” Hiffner said.

Bed bugs are parasitic insects that feed on blood. Their name comes from their habit of hiding in warm houses near or inside beds. They prefer to come out to feed when their human hosts are asleep.

Humans usually don’t feel the bite, which sometimes causes little to no problems. But bites can cause rashes and allergic reactions. The nuisance bugs are not known to transmit any diseases.

They range in size from a grain of rice to about as big as a popcorn kernel. Eggs hatch in about a week, and the pests can live up to 18 months without feeding.

“We’ve had sporadic reports, here and there,” of bed bugs in Warren, city Health Commissioner Robert Pinti said. “We’re not at epidemic proportions.

“As soon as we get a complaint report, we contact the homeowner and tell them to immediately start some sort of regiment as far as getting an exterminator in there,” Pinti said.

The problem is the follow-up, he said. An exterminator can do his job, but if the resident doesn’t follow through by making sure all clothing and bed sheets are laundered and the vacuum is run, any missed eggs can hatch and start another infestation.

“Everyone must be in concert here or it’s not going to work,” Pinti said.

Trumbull County Health commissioner Frank Migliozzi said, “The bigger cities seem to have more problems than the unincorporated areas. It’s probably (population) density.”

Bed bugs are known to be expert “hitchhikers.” They ride along on clothes and luggage. Visitors can leave them behind or people can bring them home from vacations.

“It sounds weird but if I have to spend a night in the hotel, I bring a flashlight and I’m lifting up the mattress to see if there’s any evidence of bed bugs,” Migliozzi said. “Look at the little dark places under mattresses. That’s where you’re going to see them.”

Exterminators also suggest checking the tops of headboards  or around bolts and screws on the frames for little black dots — bed bug fecal matter — or bug-shaped skin.

“The other thing to do is don’t ever toss dirty clothing on the ground. I bring a plastic bag and toss it in there right away and tie it. They’re not going to get it,” Migliozzi said.

“Those stands they give you to put your suitcases on, it’s good to use them” he said. Another tip is storing suitcases in the hotel bathtub.

Kristofer J. Wilster, director of environmental health for the county department, said he doesn’t field many calls for bed bug issues.

“We don’t have a bed bug program so we advise them to contact  an exterminator,” Wilster said.

“We are two weeks out with bed bugs,” Rose Grace of Grace Exterminating in Youngstown said. The company services Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties. “We get calls every day, about five to seven calls a day.

“A person (who has bed bugs) thinks, ‘I don’t want someone to think I’m dirty.’ This has nothing to do with being dirty,” Grace said. “Anyone can get them.”

Grace Exterminating sells chemicals to help, but heat is the standard treatment, she said. A spray followed by cranking the thermostat to 120 degrees for several hours kills the critters, she said.

“Treatments costs between $1,200 and $3,000,” she said. “(With heat), I’ve got two guys as the house for eight hours.”

Grace said the company doesn’t use dogs to do inspections but she knows they are a resource.

Hiffner said she’s worked with dogs with Rose Pest for about two years. Before that, she worked a variety of jobs over the years training and handling dogs — at veterinarians’ offices, prepping show dogs and working with police dogs.

At Rose, “these dogs are all rescue dogs,” Hiffner said. “He (Kramer) was returned two or three times because of his high energy. He needs mental stimulation.”

The job gives him that.

The company prefers smaller, compact dogs, she said. It makes traveling to jobs easier, and a small dog looks less intimidating to customers and fits better into tighter spaces, she said.

Hiffner said she and Kramer aren’t called out unless there’s a question. Residents will know if there’s a full-blown infestation without a dog telling them.

“I go in to look before it becomes an infestation,” Hiffner said. “Also, after a treatment to make sure they’re dead.”

bcole@tribtoday.com