Training Your Dog To Find The Most Valuable Mushroom In Europe. How I Trained The Best Truffle Dog That Ever Lived.

Autumn has arrived here in the UK and it's traditionally been a time when I don't sit still. Whether I'm harvesting and preserving the last of my gardens yields, or out roaming the woodlands, I'm in constant motion. Wild food foraging is a topic that is to large to cover in one or even ten swipes, but I intend to do small articles that I hope are informative as well as helpful to the amateur forager and wild food fanatic. In this write up I'm going to cover the most sought after and amazing mushroom in Europe, the summer truffle. Also known as the Tuber Aestivum. I'm also going to explain how to train your dog to find them step by step.

First I'm going to start with identifying the Summer Truffle and its habitat. The Tuber Aestivum favors areas that have chalky soil and loves to grow under oak, beech, and birch. If you live in the South East of the UK around the coast you will find this type of habitat effortlessly as it's all chalk cliffs down in that region and loads of chalky soil. It was my favorite area to hunt for these amazing fungi and over the years I had infallible success. It is rare to find it prominent and clearly visible above ground though. This little guy is an expert at concealment and when it grows under oak or beech there is no way you will be able to tell the difference between the casings on the top of acorns or around beech nuts and a truffle. You'll miss it every time. I know some foragers will dig around the entire circumference of a tree that they suspect might conceal these amazing culinary delights. I've always felt that this wreaks havoc on the ecology around the tree and damages the truffles spore distribution for the next year. Sure you might find one that year but don't count on relying on that spot the following year. But this is my opinion and to each their own.

Summer truffle and its resemblance to beech nut casings and acorn tops:

Identifying The Tuber Aestivum:

This species is pretty easy to safely identify. In looks and smell it really doesn't have any deadly doppelgangers like many species of fungi do. The coarse exterior and coloration is always a dead give away, but above all the smell is unmistakable. The chemical that causes this species to have this unique aroma that is sought after by pig and man is dimethyl sulfide. To pigs it smells like pig pheromones were as to us it smells like culinary gold. This is why pigs were so often used to find them and of course notorious for eating their finds. With using a dog you aren't faced with this dilemma. If you find a Summer Truffle and it doesn't have that smell then chances are you're not holding a truffle. Basically make sure it matches all visual, olfactory, and texture criteria and you will have positively identified it. Then it's ready for your basket and its debut in your kitchen. I feel it's important to state that it's a considerate practice to be mindful in regards to quantity. I used to truffle hunt in a woodland every year that I could have harvested buckets full from. Instead I only took what I needed to make truffle oils for my kitchen... As well as to put into Christmas hampers alongside the homemade jams and sloe gins I gave to friends every year. One of these little guys goes a long way so it's good practice to leave some behind so you've always got a place to go hunt the next year. With all of that said on to the most important part... Training your pup to unfailingly find truffles no matter how well hidden they are.

In July I lost my Labrador of ten years who is in the pictures above to mammary gland cancer. For her ten years in this life she was my constant companion in all of my pursuits. From shooting to foraging she was constantly by my side pulling her weight and adding her influence to everyone of my outdoor endeavours. As a puppy I trained her as a retriever on the shoot and she was an amazingly disciplined gun dog. But as years went by she began to have seizures so I ceased using her on the shoot and began to train her for a different job that was less demanding. The job of helping me find truffles on my woodland walks. What I thought was going to be a difficult training process for an adult dog all those years ago was incredibly easy to do and lead to years of gratitude on my part with each find she made.

For those of you who own a food obsessed dog who enjoys playing fetch this process is easy. First you start by buying truffle oil from the store or offline. Then you take your four legged child's favorite ball and cut a hole in it and rub the truffle oil in the hole and around the inside of the ball. Take some sturdy gorilla tape and tape it up to seal the hole and presto, you have an amazing training tool to help your little companion expand their skill set.

Now normally a retrieving dog doesn't require reward for fetching but in this case you're going to want to make sure your jacket pocket is amply stocked with small treats. You take your pup out on the lead and let them smell the ball and fetch it a couple times, then secure them to a tree in the woodland and walk a few paces off out of their sight line and conceal the ball under some leaves. Conceal it well as their sight has nothing to do with them learning how to find the truffle, it's all about smell. When you go back to your pup take them and walk them over to the area and let them have a sniff around. If they don't immediately find the ball be patient. Once they find the spot and pull the ball out heap loads of praise on them and give them the treat. Repeat this at least ten times each time with a reward. My girl thought she had died and gone to heaven at this point in the training simply due to getting to play a new type of fetch as well as getting a treat post. It also helps to associate a command with each find. Mine was the word truffle said in an excited tone which of course made her whole body wag with excitement.

Now next is the tricky part. A lot of us teach our dogs not to dig if we have a garden. When I started going on to the next step I could see my girls confusion. We use hundreds of words to convey what a dog can convey in a momentary expression and having the privilege to learn that language from her was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. When she gave me a look that really queried whether or no she was allowed to dig I understood, but with gentle tones I encouraged her and once she removed a bit of top soil out came the truffle ball that was delicately removed by her and plopped on the ground. We repeated these exercises every day for a week. My approach was that I broke it down to twenty five repetitions a day at the end of our walk in the evening. When I got my first day off I chucked her and my foraging bag into the car and drove down to Kent to an area I had heard whispers of being a good spot to start. When we got far enough down the path to be suitably away from fields and roads I let her off the lead and began to say the command I had associated with the activity and she was off like a shot. In no time the tale was going and she was probing at a spot under an oak tree with her paw. I quickly made my way over and began to gently remove the soil and found a plum sized truffle. We were both so incredibly happy but no sooner than after I had given her a treat she was off like a shot again and in less than five minutes she had found another! That day is one of my fondest memories of her. Not just her success but how happy it made both of us to be working together. After we had found three I called it a day and put a reluctant to leave Labrador on the lead and left. This activity became a yearly tradition for us and this is the first year in six years I'm going miss it. I hope by sharing this article and method of training that others can begin to enjoy this incredibly rewarding activity with their four legged companions. Their only with us for so long and you want to get the most out of every experience that you share with them. Thank you all for reading and steem on.