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Published February 25, 2020

When Jon Sandberg, owner of Sandberg K9 Solutions, LLC, of De Pere, started his business five years ago, his wife asked him what his backup plan was.

"I didn’t have one," Sandberg said. "I didn’t go into this business thinking I would fail. I just thought that there is a demand for this, and I have this dog and we’re going to come together as a team."

Looking back, the greatest challenge to growth was explaining what he could do with Chester, his talented working dog. That talent, and the niche his business has, is the ability to detect the presence of bed bugs.

He had a Green Bay SCORE mentor, Robert Jahnke, and a business plan. Sandberg’s primary target was one that gets the most negative publicity for bed bugs – the hotel industry.

"Trying to explain this at first was difficult. I would try to set up a meeting or talk over the telephone, but they didn’t quite understand it," Sandberg said. "I thought hotels would be the big revenue maker, but unfortunately, the hotel industry is not very proactive on these issues. They are more of the mindset that they will just wait until something happens."

But Sandberg, who purchased Chester from the prestigious Iron Heart High Performance Working Dogs facility near Kansas City and spent months and months in training, understood that businesses evolve. He discovered that there was a demand for bed bug inspections in housing. With a degree in education, he was comfortable giving seminars and sharing information to get the word out.

He reworked his business plan and pinpointed a new target – housing units. His first break came when he was hired by the Green Bay Housing Authority, and it was built from there. Property management companies followed, and the business grew to where he and Chester now average inspections at 30 to 35 units a day.

"This year, Chester will do about 3,000 total units including apartments and homes," Sandberg said. "The actual sniffing is four hours a day because I know when to cut it off. He can only work so many hours in a day."

That ensures that Chester will be effective, and also gives Sandberg time for exercising and training. Along with two other dogs he owns, the four can be seen running and walking near their home in De Pere every day. After a few hours of exercise, Chester also spends time training so that he will have the necessary skill.

"In this time, I don’t think we’ve gone a full week without finding bed bugs," Sandberg said. "That’s telling us how much work he’s doing and how much he’s finding. It’s incredible."

For those surprised by the incidence of bed bugs, Sandberg says you shouldn’t be. The tiny insects feed on human and animal blood, usually during the night, and with an increase in business and leisure travel, they are now prevalent in all areas of the country. They travel on luggage, your body, your clothes, your laptop computer – anywhere they think they can hide.

No one wants to experience the welts, infections, allergic reactions, and stress that can ensue. That’s why detection is so vital. Once detected, Sandberg recommends a pest control company to come in and dispose of them.

To avoid getting infected himself, he is careful not to get too close to potential problem areas. When he gets home, he cleans Chester carefully, and then tosses his clothes in the wash and takes a shower. By taking these steps and being watchful, they have never been infected.

It is an interesting business for Sandberg, who never thought that bed bug detection would become his business.

"I saw the demand and I don’t think it mattered so much it was a bed bug," he said. "It was the ability to work with a dog, and the bug was a secondary thing."

His love for dogs and admiration for their abilities runs deep, and he says that whatever scent you can think of, a dog can be trained to smell it. However, that talent comes with months of training and only a select few make the grade as working dogs.

As the business grows and his schedule has filled up, Sandberg contemplates his next steps and considers the possibility of having other employees and dogs. His business specializes in inspection, detection, and education, and he wants to fulfill that mission. He continues to get marketing ideas from Jahnke and may write a manual featuring policies, procedures, and checklists he has developed and publish it so that it could be used by other scent detection teams. He also has advice for other entrepreneurs.

"You need to have two big things before deciding on a business," he said. "You better be good at what you do and there needs to be a demand."

Tina Dettman-Bielefeldt is co-owner of DB Commercial Real Estate in Green Bay and past district director for SCORE, Wisconsin.