Truffle Hunting Shiba Inu 11/10/12 Foray and Hunt
What involves pigs, hunting and dogs?
Truffles!
I've been keeping a little secret. I have been learning the art of truffle hunting with my Shibas and Kai over the last few months. I have definitly become a fungus fan and the Pacific Northwest hosts it's own special variety of truffles which rival the traditional Italian truffle in fine dining. This region also boasts some select wild edible mushrooms that people are having luck searching for using dogs, and the season for fungus finding is now upon us.
I've been working with Beebe and Farrah (Shibas) and Akuma (Kai) and it seems as of now that Beebe is the best and most keen to it. I did some research on how truffle dogs are traditionally trained, and enrolled in classes. I began with simple retrieve games using a hollow ball with scent inside, and then feeding and praise with retrieves and successful finds in the yard. Then I started burying it in duff (the strata that truffles like to fruit in) in wooded areas and under the pine trees in my yard.
This week in class, Beebe located her first real truffles in duff boxes and became the world's first truffle hunting Shiba. I am super proud of her. She definitly knows the scent and what to look for and has a good work ethic, so it will be up to me to keep her exposed to the scent and searching in various environments, and make sure it's rewarding for her.
Next week we hit the woods and setup some hides under the trees rain or shine. Regardless of our success with finding any wild edibles, it's a great excuse to get outdoors and enjoy nature with a trusted companion.
This thread will document our mushroom and truffle hunting progress.
Truffles!
I've been keeping a little secret. I have been learning the art of truffle hunting with my Shibas and Kai over the last few months. I have definitly become a fungus fan and the Pacific Northwest hosts it's own special variety of truffles which rival the traditional Italian truffle in fine dining. This region also boasts some select wild edible mushrooms that people are having luck searching for using dogs, and the season for fungus finding is now upon us.
I've been working with Beebe and Farrah (Shibas) and Akuma (Kai) and it seems as of now that Beebe is the best and most keen to it. I did some research on how truffle dogs are traditionally trained, and enrolled in classes. I began with simple retrieve games using a hollow ball with scent inside, and then feeding and praise with retrieves and successful finds in the yard. Then I started burying it in duff (the strata that truffles like to fruit in) in wooded areas and under the pine trees in my yard.
This week in class, Beebe located her first real truffles in duff boxes and became the world's first truffle hunting Shiba. I am super proud of her. She definitly knows the scent and what to look for and has a good work ethic, so it will be up to me to keep her exposed to the scent and searching in various environments, and make sure it's rewarding for her.
Next week we hit the woods and setup some hides under the trees rain or shine. Regardless of our success with finding any wild edibles, it's a great excuse to get outdoors and enjoy nature with a trusted companion.
This thread will document our mushroom and truffle hunting progress.
Comments
I've heard that dogs are easier to use than pigs, because the pigs will eat the truffles if you don't intervene quickly.
I'd totally get into that if I wasn't going to Alaska.
Thanks for the encouragement. I try and make sure each of the dogs has their own fun thing to do with me that gets them out of the house routinely. Beebe is the matron of the house and has had the most training (although Farrah is catching up). She is super undemanding and reliable and sometimes I underappreciate that since the show dogs and young dogs are a huge time theif. I wanted to find something just for her and me to do and I'm glad she is really enthusiastic about it.
I'm addicted to finding oddball activities for my dogs to try, lol.
Do the truffle shuffle!
YES!!!
I'm glad Beebe enjoys it maybe she can find you some truffles for yummy treats I hope training goes well.
Beebe the Shiba went Truffle hunting yesterday in the Washington boons somewhere mysterious and secret
She successfully located some black truffles and she definitely knows what she is doing. Mostly, I had a great time just watching her work and explore the wooded slopes on such a nice day. I really got a good sense of how the Shiba Inu is truly a versatile sturdy breed, and it was great fun seeing her in hunting mode zigzagging up and down the hills (and in some cases pulling me along with her).
She had a tracker on, and next time I'm letting her off as she can cover better ground without the long line getting tangled, and she has a good recall. I'm really looking into getting a Garmin for these types of adventures. I can't wait to go back! The season lasts till early spring.
It didn't take much stretch for me to imagine her scent tracking wild game in some picturesque Japanese mountainscape
On the scent
Busy searching with her nosy nose
Catching up to the group
The Truffle Party
Old Man Forrest
Here there be truffles
Marking with a flag
Digging it out with a spade
The goods, a black truffle carefully stowed in a small breathable bag for transport
We found some other fungi as well. This one could be a deadly Amanita (which is...deadly...but probably tastes like candy or something unfair like that), but it sort of looks like S.ambigua (which tasts like old leaves, and is edible). Either way, we will leave it.
My little mushroom