Howdy lady. I was surprised i hadn't left a comment on this video before. I do like rewatching some videos because I can sometimes pickup something i missed before. I hadn't thought about using a specific treat that they like before. When getting ready for a training session or actually going into the field to hunt it seems like a good idea to let them sniff the truffle or truffle "ball" followed up with a sniff of the treat so they know what game your playing. Great tip. 👍 😊
Thanks Victor. A lot of hunters try to train one-track minded dogs whose only activity is truffle hunting. The dogs are locked up when they are not working and apart from being fed, they have minimal contact with the rest of the world. The thinking is that this would spoil the dog's hunting instinct. For these dogs there is no confusion as to what game they are playing as there is only ever one game. Our dogs are family dogs that hunt truffles and I don't think it makes them any less effective and the dogs seem a lot happier than those trained in the old school way. I presume this happens with other hunting dogs too?
@TheRealTruffleHunters I'm aware of what your talking about. Here in the States with bird hunting dogs there are folks with similar thoughts, going both ways. I've noticed this with different breeds as to what is considered better or worse. I'm of the thought if I'm away from home and am leaving the dogs at home to leave them in their kennels. Not as any kind of punishment, real or imaginary from the dogs perspective. It's their own home, their safe and happy place. But when I'm home or I can take them with me( in my fishing boat for example) yes I'm definitely going to have them with me. I'll point out I'll only have 2 or 3 dogs at anytime. And definitely only one for the first year or two. I will try to do something different and probably not recommended with the first dog. Train it as dual purpose. To hunt both birds AND Truffles. I believe it's very possible to do so. But it will require a dog that's been bred well for hunting and high intelligence. Both hunting techniques require the dog to sniff out what we are hunting for. Funny thing is bird dogs key in on a birds trail first by finding the birds droppings then working towards the bird. Anyway that was why I liked the idea of the scent your hunting first given to the dog followed by the treat. It let's the dog know it's find the truffles game or find the birds game. For the birds you use a wing for scent. And that's for upland bird hunting. No need normally for waterfowl. It will be interesting to see if my thoughts on training a dual purpose dog will be effective. Time will tell. And if it doesn't work? Well you still end up with a great loyal friend with four legs and that's a great thing. 👍 Time for me to get to bed, have a great day. 😁🐶🦆🧆
Most dogs are more interested in getting the snack than eating the truffles. However with some dogs you have to be fast or they will start chowing down!
Start off with any truffle oil, these all contain sulphides which you are teaching the dog to sniff out. As the dog progresses, you can switch to the real thing...usually old broken pieces of the truffle you will start hunting!
I an help you on this. First ANY truffle oil works. So go to your local store, market or Amazon for your oil. It's not difficult and doesn't have to be expensive. Good luck.😊
