By Todd Fertig
August 25, 2012
SPECIAL TO THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

If someone tells you that Schendel Pest Control has gone to the dogs, that’s probably a good thing.

For the past three years, Schendel has been using a specially trained scent-detection dog to help detect bed bugs. The dog — Patches — has become somewhat of a mascot of the company.

“Patches is similar to what you would see in airports — drug detection or bomb detection dogs — and is trained to detect bed bugs and is 98.9 percent accurate,” Schendel president Brent Boles said. “If a human goes out to inspect, they are only about 20 percent accurate because of how hard bed bugs are to find. So we do have that extra tool.”

Schendel was selected Topeka’s Best Pest Control Company for the fifth year in row, but Boles still relishes the affirmation.

“It’s very exciting for us to win and we’re very honored,” he said. “After five years, it doesn’t get old. It just confirms that we’re doing some things right.”

To what do you attribute winning this award for the fifth year?

We aren’t perfect, but we’re willing to make what we do wrong right. So when we make mistakes with our customers, we do whatever it takes to make them happy. And I think that’s important when you’re dealing in a people business. Our people are very empowered to make sure that the customer is happy.

Are bed bugs a new and particularly challenging problem?

Bed bugs have been at the forefront of media in our industry for the past about five years, and they continue to be problematic in every city across the country, and Topeka is no different. It’s an insect that very few companies have the ability to control because of what’s required from an investment standpoint. We are one of the companies that are providing bed bug control.

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