93 replies to this topic

[Om shanti]

:loveeyes:

What does Bodza mean, by the way? Elderberry?

[kocos]

Way to go, Kocos.
My truffle endeavors have been limited to me watching the squirrels around the apartment complex I work at. The grounds are old and established and have a healthy mycorizal eco-system. During the spring and summer months the squirrels will dig up the truffles. I'll go dig where they were looking and usually I can find a few that were missed or left behind. Having a dog to show you where to look is the ultimate cool, and truffles are sooo delicious ranking up there with the morel. Keep us apprised of your progress.:bow:

Thanks for the heads up :) There are plenty of truffles around if the conditions are right. I can only hope that my knowledge will proove sufficient to fund these little gems. I just found a hungarian article that someone found the bigest hungarian Istrian truffle, Tuber magnatum to date 400 and somthing grams... sold at an auction it could be worth a car or a rural house somewhere. Pretty cool that we have such treasure buried in the soil...
May i ask where abouts your located? If your on the other side of the pond then iam assuming Oregon? But yes squirrels, mice, deer, hogs and even slugs will devour all the truffles they can get at, hence its best to hunt for truffles in areas with few large herbivores. The hungarian name for truffles is "szarvas gomba" which means deer mushroom!
In any case iam glad you all find this worth reading, i hope that within 7-8 months i should be able to show up some truffles.

:loveeyes:

What does Bodza mean, by the way? Elderberry?

Yepp elderberry http://en.wikipedia..../Sambucus_nigra
Great little plant by the way, we make a great tea and syrup from the flowers, they can also be dipped in dough and deep fried yummm :D

[dial8]

Dude, taht is a bad ass little pup. She is growing really fast too! I WANT HER!!!. :lol:

[kocos]

Dude, taht is a bad ass little pup. She is growing really fast too! I WANT HER!!!. :lol:

Your not alone man, the whole apartment block wants her by now :lol: cant take her from the door to the car without 3 granies atacking us moaning and groaning with delight...
And yeah its crazy how fast she is growing, she was about 2-3 kilos when we got her she is now 10! They grow up so fast ... :eusa_booh

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[ethnobotanica]

A TRUFFLE PUPPY!!! Coooooll.:)

[TastyBeverage]

:lol: That last pic is hilarious! Your other dog looks so long suffering...

Great thread! :)

[kocos]

:lol: That last pic is hilarious! Your other dog looks so long suffering...

Great thread! :)

Yeah the little one sure knows how to provoke :lol: Honey, the other dog is cool though, labs are really gentle, they actually played a few times today and yesterday which is a big thing for Honey she doesnt like playing with dogs.
Here is another funy pic, note the oyster logs in the background :lol:

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[Ben Dover]

:lol: Nice pics man

This thread makes me want to get a Lagotto and hunt some myself!

[kocos]

:lol: Nice pics man

This thread makes me want to get a Lagotto and hunt some myself!

Thx man!

Almost all dogs can be trained for truffle hunting. Evidently some are better than others.

[kocos]

A few new pictures of Bodza... They grow up so fast!

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[eastwood]

Beautiful dogs Kocos.

[Om shanti]

Beautiful! You should consider letting her cast as a dog model, maybe actress too. Unless it would be at odds with her truffle vocation. :teeth:

This London agency is currently also advertising for a singing dog. ;-)
http://www.petlondonmodels.com/

[copelandiaKidd]

Bodza 160.jpg

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[kocos]

Beautiful dogs Kocos.

Thanks man, i love them both!

[kocos]

Beautiful! You should consider letting her cast as a dog model, maybe actress too. Unless it would be at odds with her truffle vocation. :teeth:

This London agency is currently also advertising for a singing dog. ;-)
http://www.petlondonmodels.com/

OoOoOoOo Bodza, superstar vizsla :D lol she can almost sing too, especially in the morning when its time to take her outside.

But for now its all truffles... she still wont retreive properly outside... too many smells and sounds all around. She has made a lot of dog friends too.

[kocos]

Its been a while since my last update.

We had our first, more or less serious training day today. Bodza is now a maniacal retreiver, which was the first step to achieve.
She also knows the basic comands like siting down on the curb before crossing a street. Only eating when comanded. Sits and stays no mater what she see's (other dog, birds). And most importantly she stops chasing game on comand. The area I picked the verpas at is crawling with rabits, pheasents and roe deer. She has tried to chase them countless time but upon my first yell she stops and comes back. This is crucial as her job will be done in the field and if she stays "hooked" on the smell of game, she wont do her job properly.

Also when taking her out for her daily long walk, I would through her favorite ball which was covered in truffle butter. This is the first step in truffle training. Get the dog to retreive her toy which is soaked in truffle's.
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270139160
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270139160
With all of this covered, I made a few truffle decoys, nothing special as you can see just some foam cubes, saturated with truffle butter (1 part butter- 1 part truffle)
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270138718

These cubes are allowed to soak up the butter in a bag with the rest of the dogs toys.
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270138718
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270138718
While Ms. Kocos distracted the dog, I went around and burried these cubes in the ground and put a few under logs and rocks. Once done I went back and started throwing her ball and asking her to retreive it.
On a side note, just as we finished smoking our joint, out came a policeman from no where. Bodza barked at him like INSANE, had to hold her back :lol: my dog for sure ;). There was some robery in the area and someone reported seeing the burglers here. You can see the guy walking in the distance.
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270139160
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270139160
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270139160
Its important to allow the decoy area to settle before getting the dog to search for the truffles. This is necesarry since the dog can follow your scent right to the truffles, thus making it all too easy for her. So we allow the smells to settle and then take the dog out searching.

Saying her name and then immidatly giving her the command "search" we start the hunt. Immediatly the dog starts smelling the ground looking for a scent to pick up. We have to be patient especially with a young dog as they get distracted constantly. I too had to guide bodza to the first spots to get her attention.
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270139523
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270139523
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270139523

Once she finds the spot, we incourage her to dig, asking her "whats there Bodza?""Search!" Once she has come down to the decoy we quickly grab the decoy and start complimenting her. We then show her the decoy and give her a reward snack. Its good to have something that smells good, like cheese or salami. Crackers and shit wont cut it as the truffle smells much better to her than some simple cracker no wonder huh... It really has to be a REWARD!
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270139836
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270139836
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270139836
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270139836


After the second decoy she was starting to get the hang of it. Searching around franticly making noises like some little boar. By the last decoys she was geting beter and beter. Picking up a scent from far and following it up to the decoy.

These steps have to be repeated for an hour or so every day preferably. We are going to do this untill the truffle season starts which should be in late june, july. Then we will train in areas that have truffles growing there and sooner or later she will find her first truffle. Lets hope so anyway :D
Its also important to play with the dog inbetween sessions. Its not good if she looses intrest in the hunting game, its better if we stop before she wants to.

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[koldj]

Right on, Bodza!! :D

[pinehunter]

Very cool. I had wondered how you would go about training her.

How did you guess my location? Yes, in fact 2 miles from the beach. One of the best places on earth to hunt wild mushrooms.

[kocos]

Very cool. I had wondered how you would go about training her.
How did you guess my location? Yes, in fact 2 miles from the beach. One of the best places on earth to hunt wild mushrooms.

If Iam not mistaken, its mainly in Oregon that you can find true truffles. Both black and white ones occure. Mainly Tuber gibbosum, Leusangium brunneum and Leucangium carthusianum. They are found from Cali all the way up to BC but Oregon is where they pick the most.
I think Ive even seen a vid on youtube with a guy picking truffles with his dog. Cant wait to try!
Here are the rest of the pictures I didnt manage to load up.
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270155124
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270155124
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270155124
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270155124
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270155124
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270155124
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270156428
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270156428
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270156428
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1270156428

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Edited by kocos, 01 April 2010 - 04:14 PM.

[paph]

Cool pics bro, Bodza sure looks like she's having fun!!!:D