Vancouver Island trainer teaches dogs to find fun by finding fungi
Dogs do better than pigs at finding truffles, trainer says, despite popular perception
Teaching your dog to fetch is one thing, but a Vancouver Island dog trainer is teaching them to fetch truffles that grow there.
Bev Maahs says dogs actually make better truffle hunters than pigs and most professional truffle farmers use dogs for the job.
"The reason pigs go after them is because they have a pig pheromone smell to them, so they find them highly delicious," she told All Points West host Robyn Burns. "Pigs are harder to control, they're a little harder to get into a vehicle and they don't smell so good."
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On the other hand, she says, dogs are highly trainable and love to "smell out" their environment anyway.
"It's a fun game for them," she said.
But if you think training Fido to hunt down truffles is going to make you wealthy, don't hold your breath.
Maahs says the west coast of North America — including Vancouver Island — is home to Oregon white and Oregon black truffles, which have culinary value but are not particularly expensive.
Another issue could be safety. There is renewed awareness of dangerous foraged foods like the death cap mushroom since a three-year-old Victoria boy died after eating one.
Maahs says she trains dogs to find only certain kinds of truffles and wouldn't eat any unrecognized items a dog finds.
Still, she says this year could be a particularly good year for wild truffles because of rainy weather, especially after last year's droughts.
With files from CBC Radio One's All Points West
To hear the full story, click the audio labelled: Vancouver Island trainer teaches dogs to find fun and find fungi