Truffle dog training begins with finding what drives your puppy/dog. Is it food reward or is it a toy or ball reward?

Once you have found the high value reward specific to your dog its time to pair this reward with the scent of truffle.

To start with the length of time for training sessions should be short. I would recommend no more then 10 minutes to begin with. Search stamina is something which develops over time and its important to end the game when your dog still wants to play the game not when he is tired, over it and just wants to sleep. You will get frustrated, he will feel your frustrations and then your dog will make some negative association with this game which will end up setting back your training. It is very important to learn your dogs body language to know when they are starting to get tired or lose interest and not get annoyed but make the last hide super easy and fun and end on a good note with lots of praise and pats. Searching is mentally tiring for dogs, they have to use a large part of their brain to pick up the scent, track it, narrow it down to a position and then work out a way to tell you they found it. Just like anything over time all this will become more second nature to them and it wont be as mentally tiring and thus they will have a more search stamina. But just like learning to drive a car it doesn’t come naturally to start with it take a lot of concentration when you are learning.

The last stage in truffle dog training, going out into the field with your dog where you have no idea where the truffle is and relying on your dogs amazing sense of smell, his confidence that you helped build up, and your ability to read his body language to find all that black gold just waiting to be found and dug up.

When I provide training for truffle dogs I provide a template program for your dog which explains how to do the training steps, when to move onto the next stage or when go back a step if the dog has lost some confidence. However, this program will be tailored to your dog over time and I will make changes to the steps and the length of time in each stage depending on your dogs initial confidence level, age, and drive. Every dog is different and each dog will find some of the challenges more difficult then others.

I have a beginners, intermediate and advanced course which each run over 4 weeks.

I provide a minimum 2.5 hours private 1 on 1 training which includes theory and practical aspects, course work, video reviewing and detailed comments of your video footage over the duration of the 4 week course. I also show and demonstrate these training techniques with my dog Kovu and show you in action how each step is done. I am available to help iron out any issues or help you work out if your dog it ready for more difficult hides throughout the course.

I can provide truffle dog training oil (Educatruffe) which I used to train Kovu and truffle training kit ($35) which includes all the items you need to get started.

All through the training I will be connectable via email/phone if you run into any issues along the way.

Please contact me for the rates for the truffle dog training program with as much information about your needs and your dog.