Truffle Missed by Harvest Dogs
(3 posts) (3 voices)-
There has been increasing discussion about dogs missing truffle during harvest and the relationship to rotten truffle. People are talking about how we can reduce the amount of truffles that the harvest dogs miss, despite most dogs finding all the planted baits/blinds during training. Unfortunately there is no data to say if this happens at the beginning of the harvest session or if it happens later on in the session. It is possible that the amount of work is a factor - the dogs get tired and loose concentration or perhaps it is the time of day, assuming the truffle perfume may be stronger dependent on the temperature (some harvesters wont harvest while a frost is on the ground). For rotten truffle, it is suggested that if the truffle is brown inside then it has rotted before it has reached maturity. If it is black inside and has lost its veining, then it is thought to have rotted after it has reached maturity, as a result of being missed by the dog. The Members of the Association could assist by recording these two differences to provide a better picture as to the amount of truffle that might be missed by the harvester. What smell the dogs are trained on (truffle aroma or real truffle) may be a factor in the amount of truffle that is missed by the dogs also. In France dogs are trained on truffle oil (Cani-Truff) and finished off with real truffle. It has also been questioned whether different soil types and their aroma may play a part and whether soils can be sensibly tested for aroma ? Plesae post your thoughts!Posted 2 years ago #
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Many issues mentioned here, so I will try to cover all of them;
Dogs missing mature truffles, can be a few things, many truffles found rotten are because some properties are having dogs over their trees once a week, but truffles can mature and go rotten before the dogs go back over the trees. Also if the person digging does not smell the truffle scent after the dog has, the digger often says "I cannot smell it so leave it until next time", hence a rotten truffle next time. People owning their own dogs should be going over their trees twice a week minimum.
Dogs can smell through snow, rain, mud, frozen ground, mulch and leaves.
Dogs trained with canitruff require to have their training finished properly so they can find the real truffle, this is done by gradually burrying the baits/blinds deeper in the ground and leaving it in the ground longer, so that eventually the bait is 6 inches deep and in the ground for 2 hours, and using less oil, making the dog try harder to find it.
A properly trained dog will work as good as it is trained. Dog training sessions should stop before the dog gets bored and extending the training sessions longer each time, encouraging the dog to extend it's concerntration. A fully trainined dog should work until the handler says stop.
My dogs are trained on Canitruff before the season and finish their training on real truffles. If people in France are only training their dogs on real truffles, they would have no reason to invent and produce the canitruff oil for dog training. The oil is good to start your dog, but burying the bait is the key to the finishing. The oil on what ever you put it on will smell different when it is in the ground, compared to above ground.
The aroma of the ground could effect the scent of the truffle by making it smell sweeter and more mature, but as yet I have not found my dogs not being able to find the truffle due to different soils.
Another question is, does a rotting truffle cause the truffles next to them to rot also? Does too much rain cause rot? Does hot days cause rot? Too many factors and not enough answers.
My dogs this year have found a total of 68 kilos of truffles in NSW and Canberra region.Posted 2 years ago # -
At this years AGM it was stated that electronic sniffers find 40% dogs find 80% and pigs find 100%. So there are poblems that dogs are missing tuffles.
If research and development is to be done then we need to address training, longevity of dogs working time, rotten truffles and Frans point about those that have rotted maybe sending others off and the optimum harvest frequency. Personally I have found the aroma released when harvesting between NSW & Vic totally different. The dogs have marked truffles but the point of difference is the amount aroma released from the soil with the truffle. So if possible the amount of aroma that is retained in the soil would also be of value.
Scent detection work is the most demanding disipline for dogs, and they will loose concentration after varying lengths of time dependent on the age and experience of the dog. This is why we work in teams.
Finishing off training by burying the item and leaving it to permiate is not an issue, but I was led to believe that the French use real truffle for their training, and am wondering if this is a factor in dogs missing truffle? Also if it is actually more demanding for dogs to scent after a frost etc, then this could be a factor in them missing also.
I would appreciate some input from growers on their findings and what they may think is relavent to the dogs working ability.
Georgie
Aussie Truffle Dogs.Posted 2 years ago #
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