From normal dog to truffle hunting champion: school in Italy trains canines to sniff out prized fungi
- ‘For the dog, it’s a game,’ says fourth-generation trainer at ‘truffle dog university’ near Alba, where the best white truffles come from
- All breeds have a chance of becoming expert at finding fungi that grow among tree roots, he says
“Go on Rocky, find it! Good boy!” The Labrador wags his tail, happy to have found the hidden treasure as he graduates from Italy’s “truffle dog university”, doing his master proud.
Giovanni Monchiero is the dean of the unusual academy in Roddi in northwestern Italy and, like his father, grandfather and great-grandfather, transforms “normal” dogs into expert seekers of the lucrative fungus.
“Teaching a dog to find truffles is very simple, you just need plenty of patience and to realise that for the dog, it’s a game,” said Monchiero, 55. “We start by getting the dog to play with the truffle. Personally, I use a fresh truffle, but if you do not have one you can put some truffle-scented oil on a tennis ball. You throw it, the dog has to retrieve it and you reward him with dog biscuits.”
Then the master makes the game a little more complicated by throwing the truffle into long grass, where the dog cannot see it.
“That is when you start giving commands: go on, find it, you’ve found it, well done! You have to always congratulate and reward,” Monchiero said.