Explore all Truffle Dog
The truffle dog seems first to have arrived in Britain in the mid-seventeenth century, brought by a Spaniard who made a great deal of money from the truffles located in his native country by his dog. Pigs were commonly used by farmers for sniffing truffles out, but the Truffle Dog had a very sharp sense of smell. Never officially recognized by the English Kennel Club, it did nevertheless receive recognition in France and Scandinavia under the name Truffleur and was actually shown at London's Botanical Gardens. Truffles lay just under the surface of the ground and a good dog could locate as many as 45 kg (100 lbs) a week. Truffle Dogs looked somewhat like Poodles and weighed 7-11.5 kg (15-25 lb), they had black mouth and under lip markings. They were mostly white or black or a combination of the two, but if black ones worked at night, they were made to wear white so they could be seen. |
