In the hillside we drive to a dead end and exit our passenger car. In front of us is a gentlemen wearing an army jacket and a baseball cap; distinctive in style of a truffle catcher all dressed in green. I ask, “no dog” just as he opens his boot and out jumps his dog.

In search of some truffles we get a feel of the forest, a dry bed, as it has been a dry spell, and not very good for truffles. The weather is unusually warm, the sky is blue and little clouds. The warm weather isn’t helping.

We walk up into the forest pushing bushes and branches out-of-the-way. The weather is gorgeous and today is a dry run for tomorrow’s journey at 04h00. The dog is a poodle type breed and has the training required to find truffles.

The truffle hunter demonstrates his dogs skill by taking a miniscule truffle from his pocket and buries it. He then calls his dog, and cracks a few teeth together to create the sound required for the dog to begin searching.The dogs finds it immediately.

The dog’s sensory system is way above what you would think. The truffle buried is the size of a pencil tip but the dog picks up the scent, and starts to dig, finding it easily. He gets his treats which makes him much more excited.

We are with the kids so the travel is limited yet enough to excite them. We head down a hill into a dried up creek, and this time the dog picks up his own scent and rushes off; his tail wagging as if on fire, she is digging ferociously.

The dog is pulled away but the truffle is in a very awkward position so we’ll return tomorrow to take it. In case you doubt him, the hunter carefully raises his staff, on the end is dirt and he raises it to smell it. The ground is reeking from truffle aroma, it is incredible.

We head back to our vehicle and return to the city.