Fiinu sniffs out harmful PAH compounds – Selma the puppy will follow in the same tracks

The exercise room in Oulu is full of hustle and bustle. Ville Heikkinen, Senate Properties’ dog team expert, is starting practical exercises with the latest member of Senate’s indoor dog team, PAH detection dog Fiinu. This time, 11-week-old Selma, who is only just at PAH detection dog school age, has joined them.

The furry noses listen carefully to their handler’s commands and diligently sniff during the training – both complete their exercises in an exemplary way.

Senate has ten indoor air detection dogs, of which 30-month-old Giant Schnauzer Fiinu is the first dog to look for harmful PAH compounds. Parson Russell Terrier Selma is fast becoming Fiinu’s colleague, but her training will last another one-two years depending on the way the puppy is taught.

“I believe that Selma will quite quickly learn how to sniff out PAH compounds. Initially, the puppy learns the search technique with the help of food. Once a dog finds a cache, it’s rewarded. However, training means much more than learning a smell. A dog needs to get used to different people and places so that it gets into the routine of work,” says Heikkinen, who is a member of Senate’s nationwide indoor air team.

He himself is currently studying construction engineering at a university of applied sciences and will also soon shortly complete a qualification as a dog team indoor air expert at the University of Eastern Finland. Dog training is also his own specialisation.

PAH compounds comparable to asbestos

PAH compounds are harmful substances that can cause a health hazard in large quantities. Elevated PAH levels in indoor air generally come from old building materials such as creosote waterproofing. The are also in other building materials.

“Searching for and pinpointing PAH compounds in old buildings is important ahead of demolition or modification work. You need to be as careful when handling these as with asbestos otherwise they could spread into the indoor air,” Heikkinen explains.

Senate always begins the repair process of old buildings with a condition survey, one part of which includes a proper inspection of the condition of the structures and identification of the building materials. The inspection work is always done in-situ and a trained PAH detection dog helps the experts.

“We decide how to progress separately with each building. We can use a dog initially when we find out the potential occurrence of harmful substances in a building. A dog can also be used in quality control after repair when we check to see how successful the removal of harmful substances was.”

Finland’s first PAH detection dog

Fiinu has been working on searching for PAH compounds since autumn 2020.

“As far as is known, Fiinu is Finland’s first PAH detection dog – perhaps even the first in the world,” Ville Heikkinen guesses.

Heikkinen emphasises that a dog cannot work alone. It acts as an aid to the actual expert and the entire indoor air team in the search for harmful substances.

“The dog has an accurate sense of smell and can easily find the location of PAH compounds but is unable to indicate the quantity of the substance,” Heikkinen says.

Heikkinen also reminds us that each indoor air detection dog only looks for the odour it has been trained to look for. This means a PAH detection dog only looks for PAH compounds. Senate’s other indoor air detection dogs, three of which Heikkinen has trained, are so-called mould detection dogs and look for microbial damage.

“Once a dog has helped to pinpoint the location of PAH compounds in a building, we experts think about what kind of odour sources there could be in the building. After this, we carefully plan the next steps.”