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Truffle hunting?


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Hello all! I just adopted a BC mix 12 week puppy a few weeks ago (my first foray into the herding dogs) and am looking into potential jobs for her as we do not have livestock. My husband and I are interested in teaching her to truffle/mushroom hunt (we live in the Pac NW). Does anyone have any experience or recommendations on training a border collie pup for this? We are huge dog people and she goes everywhere with us (including my husband's work), and I really want her to have something special to do. First time border collie owner.

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Hello all! I just adopted a BC mix 12 week puppy a few weeks ago (my first foray into the herding dogs) and am looking into potential jobs for her as we do not have livestock. My husband and I are interested in teaching her to truffle/mushroom hunt (we live in the Pac NW). Does anyone have any experience or recommendations on training a border collie pup for this? We are huge dog people and she goes everywhere with us (including my husband's work), and I really want her to have something special to do. First time border collie owner.

Oh, are you in luck! A friend of mine, Kristin, and her border collie rescue, Callie, are excellent truffle hunters AND teachers of the art of the hunt. Oh, AND they live in Washington State! Please have a look at http://www.wagnificentk9.com/ for more info on lessons, online courses, etc.

 

Have fun!

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Thank you, everyone. I have been doing lots of Google searches to get this started, but haven't come across Kristin 's site. Thanks, Airbear! If Gypsy is showing a strong interest in herding( she is), should I try to foster that or would pursuing the truffle hunting be okay (she is supposedly mixed with hound and really lovesv tracking as well)?

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Not sure where in the PNW you are, but I got the name of someone for one of my students here in the PDX area. If thats close to you let me know and I will dig it out.

 

I love the idea of a dog activity where your dog could make money! :D (all my dog activities are money sucks)

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  • 3 years later...

Hunting truffles now a days is likely becoming a trend not just because of the the variety of culinary use of it but it also comes with a very high price tag. A lot of people would pay extra just to get a hold of a very delicious, delicate, and hard to find truffles. On the question how expensive truffles really are, you can read and watch this article about truffle hunting to learn more.

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I recently met a truffle-dog trainer (probably the one Airbear mentioned) at a sheep dog event in the Puget Sound area, and we got talking about truffle dogs (I'm a mycologist by profession, so technically if I go to a sheep dog trial and end up talking about training dogs to hunt truffles I'm "working" :) ). One of the things she said is that she starts out teaching the dogs conventional nosework, and that teams that are good at nosework quickly add truffle scent to their repertoire of scent detection if they have a good foundation. So, even if you don't find someone close by who specifically trains for truffle detection, enroll in a regular nosework class. It's great mental stimulation for the dog, and if you learn general nosework then you can participate all year round and not be limited by season and you can play in your back yard or at the nearby park on days that you don't have time to travel to likely truffle habitats. You can always expand to truffles as time and inclination permit.

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