Past Students

Name: Peri

Breed: Beagle Cross

Age: 4 Years (2023)

Reward: Food

Location: Double Oaks Estate, Lancefield. Winery and Truffle Plantation.

Planted 9 Rows in 2019 and remainder in 2021.

Previous Training:

None

Main areas to work on:

N/A

Course: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced.

We started Peri’s truffle training journey in 2021 starting with the Beginner Course at 4-month-old late April 2021. After 4 weeks she was ready for the Intermediate course all because of the excellent training and consistent approach of her owner, Kristy. She was finding unpaired truffle hides, pointing accurately with her nose and sitting as her alert. She has amazing focus and extremely keen to please. She absolutely loves the game. She began the Intermediate course in mid-May 2021 and then moved on to the advanced course in mid-June 2021.

I returned in 2022 to do 3 refresher sessions with Peri to see how she was going and continue to keep her interested in the game as real truffles were still a few years away on this farm. She was confident in unpaired truffle training oil hides off lead and was accurate and focused even within the truffiere.

In 2023 I returned to do refresher with real truffle hides. Peri found the real truffle hides without difficulty.

Future:

Peri will be working on lead keeping focused and working on the “Show” command while building search stamina during the off season between 2023/2024. There could be truffle in 2024 so it could be an exciting year for her, 3 years in the making. Once the truffiere is producing we will be marking real truffle locations with Kovu and continuing her training in advanced while cross checking her with the real underground truffle locations. So keep a eye on Double Oaks website in 2024 because there is every possibility they will be starting their truffle hunting experiences.

Name: Bonnie

Breed: Black Labrador

Age: 6 Years old (2023)

Reward: Food

Location: Near Ballan. Living on a 2.5-year-old truffle farm (2023)

Previous Training:

Bonnie started her truffle dog training in February of 2023 when she was 6 years old. Hides consisted of a treat and edible truffle oil (olive oil based) on cotton wool within a silver ball and netted bag. Bonnie would pick up/dig up the hide and throw it around a bit before bring it to her owner. Then sometimes jumping up to get a reward. She would find this paired hide very consistently within the shed and was keen to search once she got started. She would need to be reminded to keep searching often throughout searches and would be distracted easily.

Main areas to work on:

• Working towards unpaired hide (truffle scent without reward)

• Independent searching.

• Increasing focus especially in areas of higher distraction (i.e. outside)

• Reduce jumping

• Reduce digging/picking up of hide.

Course: Intermediate

Once hearing about her history, I was happy for Bonnie to skip the beginner course and go straight to intermediate. We worked through the course focusing on unpaired (non-edible truffle training oil) with independent searching in increasingly distracting environments while keeping Bonnie at the source of the hide without digging/picking it up nor jumping up.

Outcome:

After 6 weeks she was searching independently on unpaired hides outside without the need to keep reminding her to ‘search’ and she was staying at the source to get her reward. Not picking it up and not jumping up demanding more treats. She would show the location with her nose and sometimes paw tap the ground before looking at owner for reward while still standing in front of the hide. She transitioned to real truffle hides instantly and was finding the real truffle hides outside under increasingly distracting environments. She would re show a location when asked and was accurate in her alerting at the source. Once a hide was found with simply stepping forward, she would continue to search for the next location without the need to re tell her to search, showing independent confident searching. She understands when the game is finished by a “All finished” command and taking off the lead. She better understands her role in the truffle hunting team and is a much happier dog because she understands how the game works and what she needs to do to get her treat.

Future:

Bonnie has completed Intermediate Truffle Dog Training in August 2023 and will continue to the Advanced Course during the off season between 2023-2024. I have no doubt she will be finding real truffles on their farm once it starts producing sometime between 2024-2026.