POST FALLS - Just suspecting bedbugs are in beds or furniture can leave people feeling grossed out, like something is constantly crawling on them, in their hair and on their skin.

People can lose sleep over the nuisance critters, which prey on sleeping humans, feasting on blood.

Now imagine a cute beagle coming to the rescue, with the ability to sniff out the sometimes hard-to-spot pests.

Enter new Post Falls business Bed Bug Scouts LLC, a K-9 bedbug detection service, which has just been started by owner Greg Terry.

"A lot of experts say we're like in the first inning of this," Terry said of the spread of infestations. "It's only going to get worse."

Eradicating infestations is difficult. The apple seed-size adults and salt-grain sized eggs have been found in hotels, movie theaters, retail stores and homes nationwide. They hide in folds and seams of furniture, and emerge at night.

Some are even developing resistance to chemical sprays and gases used to kill them in the past.

The bugs move from one place to another in luggage or clothing or second-hand furniture.

Terry, 44, said his customers will be found in both the commercial and residential markets. They will include, among others, hotels, college dorms, furniture and thrift stores, apartments and homes.

He said he will provide his detection services in North Idaho, eastern Washington and western Montana.

Bed Bug Scouts will be working closely with pest control businesses, who he anticipates will send referrals his way.

His business will be a one-man, one-dog operation, at least to begin with.

He just got his co-worker, 1-year-old Sammie, last month. She just completed months of training.

"The dogs are the best tool for early detection," he said.

Sammie cost him $10,500, purchased from J & K Canine Academy Inc., in High Springs, Fla.

Currently, Terry and Sammie are offering demonstrations to show potential customers what they can do.

Terry hides bedbugs, contained in mesh-covered vials, and Sammie goes to work hunting them down.

"Are you ready to work? Are you ready to work," Terry calls out to Sammie.

When she finds bugs, she scratches at the spot and is rewarded with food from Terry's fanny pack.

Without a dog, he said, "You could search for hours for one bedbug."

With a dog, he said, a hotel room can be checked in minutes.

Bug scientists have described the smell, which can't be picked up by the human nose, as sweet and sometimes sickly.

Pepe Peruyero, owner of J & K Canine Academy, said the demand for bedbug sniffing dogs has exploded.

Last year, his business sold 50 or 60 dogs. In the first three months of this year, he sold 70.

About 90 percent of the dogs used are beagles, which are easier to train because the breed is so motivated by food.

"We look for motivation and drive in a dog," he said.

Beagles also are popular because of the smaller size, as customers will want a bug-sniffing dog to maintain a low profile at a hotel or other establishment.

The dogs minimize use of chemicals to treat infestations because they can pinpoint where the bugs are at in a room. Without locating the bugs in a room, the whole space would need to be treated.

The dogs are great for low-level infestations, where spotting the bloodthirsty bugs is very difficult.

The Pacific Northwest is "really starting to show a lot of interest" in the dogs, Peruyero said.