Frequently Asked Questions

Occasionally you may see truffle rising the earth up in a little mound but for the majority of the time you won't know if truffles are present!!  

With the dog's keen sense of smell, they can locate the truffle easily. In fact, their sense of smell is 10,000 to 100,000 times better than humans. Dogs have a vomeronasal organ located in the roof of their mouth and this organ is responsible for detecting pheromones. Lucky for us, truffle release pheromones that the dogs can easily detect, even if the truffle is deep. 

Once our Shepherds indicate there is truffle present the spot is marked and we work the dogs on. When the search area is complete, we then head back and the handlers carefully start to unearth the area. 

Truffles are only harvested when ripe. Time and consideration is important to maintain the integrity of the truffle. Perfect ripeness is the goal. 

Having the dogs present during harvest is of great benefit. Occasionally it's really hard to get the precise location of the truffle, so the dogs can reaffirm that.

Having the dogs come regularly is of benefit to your Truffiere especially during peak harvesting time.  

If there is ripe or nearly ripe truffle our dogs will find them. Their work ethic is superior and a pleasure to watch. They have been trained in different search pattern techniques, so they cover the ground efficiently and thoroughly.

Often, we leave unripe truffles marked so they can be checked again.

Yes, most definitely!! 

We truffle once a week on most farms and its quite easy to bring home truffle.

 In fact, it's the best way to know the truffle is the freshest you can buy!

 We can also put you in contact with the farm owners, sometimes they run truffle hunts and they are more than happy to send orders via post too.

Yes we do travel!!

We have a team of 2 dogs and one handler, Bridgett Hone in Uralla, NSW. 

And one dog and handler, Mariah Hone situated in Bright, VIC. 

The dogs are quite accustomed to travelling. Infact, they get very excited heading out to work. They have their own comfortable dog boxes and just love heading out in the Utes.

In Australia the Winter Truffle season, generally, runs from June to September for Tuber Melanospurum and Tuber Borchii.

Summer Truffle is usually around December/January. 

Harvest time frames can vary depending on the weather and elevation of the farm.

Normally every 7 to 10 days during harvest season. The dogs will find any new truffles and the unripe ones can be carefully checked again in hope of harvesting. 

Finn is trained in different competition scents and also the detection of Koala Scat. 

He assists farmers to pinpoint trees that koalas are active in or areas they travel through. 

We charge the same rate as a Truffle Hunt.

Bea and Finn compete in Scent trials which comprises of 4 different odours. They are also familiar with the Koala Scat but the Truffle, both summer and winter, variety finds them most excited!!

Nessa, also trained in competition scent detection but hasn't had the opportunity to compete just yet. Same as Bea, her love to find truffle is infectious, a joy to watch.

Her last truffle find was a huge 230grm Summer Truffle for Wandiligong Truffles in VIC.

We love our Shepherds to be attentive to our commands. They have a strong work ethic, and we find the obedience training and showing helps to keep them in balance. 

Scent detection requires them to work independently and we rely on their nose to acquire our targets. Whereas obedience training is more about the discipline and precision of meeting our commands.

We often work on farms with livestock and wildlife, and we need to know our dogs will listen to us no matter what happens around them.

Yes!! They can be viewed on Taste of Australia series 6 Episode 2.