Finders (truffles)
Finders: truffles
The truffle is a subterranean edible
fungus which has a piquant aromatic flavour much enjoyed from antiquity;
truffles are in great demand today. The several species ripen in
winter; cannot be cultivated, but may be preserved where found (in
light, moist, well-drained soil); grow mainly in France and Italy in
woodlands near the roots of pine, oak, and chestnut; in England, under
the leaf mould in beech woods. Truffles are solid, fleshy, globular,
range in size from marbles to softballs, grow in bunches of from 10-20,
about a foot underground. They're dug out with a spud (a sharp, narrow
spade); Poodles are among traditional indicators of their location.
In North America, we have "an Oregon White Truffle (Tuber
gibbosum), which grows along the west coast of the US, but is
particularly common in Oregon. It's not generally considered as
desirable as the truffles from France or Italy, but it has good flavor,
and hey, we have to make good with what we've got." (MZ, 22 Jan.
'01).
Garland Gourmet Mushrooms and Truffles, owned and
operated by Franklin and Betty Garland,
successfully pioneers propagation and cultivation of "black diamonds"
(black Perigord truffles; Tuber melanosporum) in North Carolina.
For a description of truffle-hunting in North Carolina with Standard Poodle
Ginger, see "Smells like $500--Move over Perigord: The black diamonds known as
truffles are quite happy to grow in North Carolina," by Walter Nichols,
The Washington Post, Wednesday, February 23, 2005, p. F01.
"This is a picture we took for our Christmas card [2004]. It's sort of
Green Acres meets American Gothic. Ginger is sitting in front of me
and Cody is in front of Franklin. Only Ginger finds truffles,
however." --Betty Garland, 3/05.
For a summary of truffle hunting, and including old photographs of
truffle-hunting Poodles see "Able to smell truffles at a hundred
yards", by Nicholas Thornton, Dogs in Canada, October 1992, pp.
45-6. See also, Rosa Engler, Pudel (Cham, Switzerland: Muller,
1995), p. 21.
A method of training the truffle-Poodle, given in Rawdon B. Lee's
A History and Description of the Modern Dogs of Great Britain and
Ireland (London: 1894), pp. 186-7, is similar to that used today to
train dogs to detect gas leaks in pipelines and drugs in
shipping-containers: "The training of the dog should commence when he
is about four months old, when he is taught to bring his master a
truffle which is thrown for him. This quickly done, his next task is to
fetch one of them which is hidden, and following this a truffle is first
covered with earth, and this, too, he is encouraged to find and take to
his master. So gradually the lessons continue, until the puppy will be
quite reliable in finding and bringing in fungi which have been buried
by his master two inches or so underground, the dog being, of coruse,
rewarded with some little dainty each time he does his duty well. So
far perfect, he is now taken out to some place where truffles are known
to be, and the dog will find them, thus his training is accomplished
with less trouble than either a pointer or setter is broken to find and
stand game. Of course the little dog hunts keenly, and with his nose to
the ground, his tail action and quickness on scent are quite equal to
what are seen in a spaniel on the line of fur or feather. When a
truffle has been 'set' or found two or three inches below the ground's
surface, the dog will scratch the soil away with his paws in the fashion
common to canines, but the better plan, and the one usually followed, is
for the owner to dig up the prize, and so prevent any risk of its being
injured by the dog's teeth. I need scarcely state that a truffle dog
must be thoroughly and entirely broken from his natural inclination to
hunt vermin and game."
The following summary/translation (HB, 8/'97) is part of a chapter
entitled "The Utility Poodle", Der Deutsche Pudel (Munich: 1907),
and presents a similar training method: "Another use for the Poodle,
because of his excellent nose, is that of truffle-dog. As early as
1746, Döbel in his Jägerpractica says that in this he is
superior to all other breeds, and is nowadays used for this purpose in
Italy, Spain and France, and also in those areas of Germany where
truffles exist. The publication Der Hund in 1883 gave a detailed
description of the truffle hunt, and the therefore required training.
In the south of France the income from truffles is considerable since
annually several hundred thousant pounds are exported. It is thus
appropriate to talk about the training of truffle dogs.
"Training should begin in the summer so that the dog remains in
practice. Initially, one practices retrieving at home by sewing
strong-smelling truffle into a small leather pouch and hiding this in
various parts of the room and making the dog find and retrieve it. Once
he does so willingly and without 'mouthing', it is then hidden in shrubs
or under moss or leaves, and let the dog find it, consistently using the
same command such as 'Seek,' 'Lost,' 'Truffle.' Later the pouch is
hidden under deeper layers of moss or leaves. Once the dog finds it
quickly and surely, one takes him to parts of the forest where truffles
are known to grow, and makes him find and retrieve under ever more
trying conditions. During training, one should talk to the dog as
little as possible, not using any words other than those commands chosen
for the truffle hunt. When the dog has found the truffles he is to be
praised and patted, and made to sit, then rewarded with a 'treat.'
"Not until the middle of September after it has rained, does one take
off the leash, and following into areas in which truffles are suspected,
there one hides a fresh truffle (not in a pouch) on a number of
occasions under two inches of earth and leaves. If the dog scents the
truffle and starts to scratch to recover it, one should quickly go to
the location and recover the fruit oneself, showing it to him and
putting it into one's pocket. From now on the dog should not be allowed
to retrieve, but merely indicate the location. When he does so, he
should be made to sit, praised, and rewarded.
"Once the dog discovers the truffles even underground, take him into
a truffle region and cause him to quarter upwind, since this will cause
the scent to be found faster and more easily. An experienced and eager
dog can scent truffles at 20 paces, and 6" below ground, indicating his
find much in the manner of a Pointer.
"After return from the hunt, the dog should be fed his normal food,
never before the hunt, when he should not get anything but fresh water.
During the hunt he should be given treats only when he has actually
found truffles. If he finds nothing, which can happen in dry and hot
weather, he should not be given anything other than his food upon
returning home."
The editor, while on holidays, finds her Poodle very useful finding
sea-clams on the broad beaches typical of late-fall low tides on the New
England coast. No training required (evidently other than that the dog
understands the object of the search); it's only necessary to walk up
the beach behind the quartering dog, digging at each site the dog
scratches out.
We lack a source for this headpiece
engraving "Poodles hunting for truffles" which is evidently from the second
half of the 19th century;
it is in the style of the "London Illustrated
News", "Harper's" etc.
Go back to Finders