| Region | Date | Areas |
|---|---|---|
| Bay of Plenty | Thu 22 and Fri 23 May | Rotorua and surrounding areas |
| Auckland/Northland | Sat 24 May | South and West Auckland |
| Sun 25 May | Wellsford to Whangarei | |
| Mon 26 May | Whangarei to Mangawhai | |
| Bay of Plenty | Thu 29 and Fri 30 May | Rotorua and surrounding areas |
| Sat 31 May | Katikati through Pukehina | |
| Sun 1 and Mon 2nd June | Rotorua to Gisborne | |
| Bay of Plenty | Thu 5 Jun and Fri 6 June | Rotorua and surrounding areas |
| Waikato | Sat 7 Jun | Hamilton Area |
| Sun 8 Jun | Otorohanga to Mokau | |
| BoP | Thu 12 and Fri 13 June | Rotorua/Taupo |
| Hawkes Bay | Sat 14 June | Napier/Hastings |
| Wairarapa | Sun 15 June | Masterton and surrounding areas |
| Bay of Plenty | Thu 19 and Fri 20 June | Rotorua and surrounding areas |
| Auckland/Northland | Sat 21 June | South and West Auckland |
| Sun 22 June | Akl East Coast to Whangarei | |
| Mon 23 June | Whangarei to Mangawhai | |
| Bay of Plenty | Thu 26 and Fri 27 June | Rotorua and surrounding areas |
| Sat 28 June | Katikati through Pukehina | |
| Sun 29 & Mon 30 June | Rotorua to Gisborne | |
| Bay of Plenty | Thu 3 and Fri 4 July | Rotorua and surrounding areas |
| Waikato | Sat 5 July | Whatawhata/Hamilton/Matangi |
| Sun 6 July | Otorohanga to Mokau | |
| BoP | Thu 10 and Fri 11 July | Rotorua/Taupo |
| Hawkes Bay & Wairarapa | Sat 12 July | Napier/Hastings |
| Sun 13 July | Masterton and surrounding areas | |
| Bay of Plenty | Thu 17 and 18 July | Rotorua and surrounding areas |
| Auckland/Northland | Sat 19 to 21 July | Bombay Hills Upwards |
| Sat 19 July | South and West Auckland | |
| Sun 20 July | Wellsford to Whangarei | |
| Mon 21 July | Whangarei to Mangawhai | |
| Bay of Plenty | Thu 24 and Fri 25 July | Rotorua and surrounding areas |
| Sat 26 July | Katikati through Pukehina | |
| Sun 27 July | Whakatane to Gisborne | |
| Bay of Plenty | Thu 31 July and 1 Aug | Rotorua and surrounding areas |
| Waikato | Sat 2 August | Whatawhata/Hamilton/Matangi |
| Sun 3 August | Otorohanga to Mokau | |
| BoP | Thu 7 and 8 August | Rotorua/Taupo |
| Hawkes Bay & Wairarapa | Sat 9 August | Napier/Hastings |
| Sun 10 August | Masterton and surrounding areas | |
| Bay of Plenty | Thu 14 and 15 August | Rotorua and surrounding areas |
| Auckland/Northland | Sat 16 August | South and West Auckland |
| Sun 17 August | Wellsford to Whangarei | |
| Mon 18 August | Whangarei to Mangawhai | |
| Bay of Plenty | Thu 21 and Fri 22 August | Rotorua and surrounding areas |
| Sat 23 August | Katikati through Pukehina | |
| Sun 24 August | Whakatane to Gisborne | |
| Bay of Plenty | Thu 28 and 29 August | Rotorua and surrounding areas |
| Waikato | Sat 30 August | Whatawhata/Hamilton/Matangi |
| Sun 31 August | Otorohanga to Mokau | |
| BoP | Thu 4 and 5 September | Rotorua/Taupo |
| Hawkes Bay & Wairarapa | Sat 6 September | Napier/Hastings |
| Sat 7 September | Masterton and surrounding areas |
North Island Schedule
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South Island Schedule
| Region | Date | Areas |
|---|---|---|
| Central Otago | TBC | Queenstown/Cromwell and Wanaka |
| TBC | Queenstown/Cromwell and Alexandra area | |
| TBC | Queenstown/Cromwell and Wanaka | |
| Queenstown/Cromwell and Alexandra area | ||
| TBC | Queenstown/Cromwell and Wanaka | |
| Queenstown/Cromwell and Alexandra area |
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Truffle Surveys for 2024 – Full Schedule
This is the Current Truffle Survey schedule for all regions for the 2024 season. With new teams it means an increase of truffle surveys for some areas.
| Region | Date | Areas | Truffle Hunters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northland | Sat 3 Aug | South and West Auckland | Karen |
| Sun 4 Aug | Warkworth/Wellsford/Whangarei/Northland | Karen | |
| Mon 5 Aug | Northland/Mangawhai | Karen | |
| Wellington | Sat 10 Aug | Wellington/Kapiti | Konrad |
| Manawatu/Taranaki | Sun 11 Aug | Whanganui/Hawera/New Plymouth | Konrad |
| Waikato | Sat 10 Aug | Rotorua/Katikati/Te Puke | Karen |
| Sun 11 Aug | Hamilton/Tauranga | Karen | |
| Horowhenua | Sat 17 Aug | Te Horo/Levin/Ohau | Jane |
| BoP/Hawkes Bay and Wairarapa | Fri 16 Aug | Rotorua/Taupo | |
| Sat 17 Aug | Napier/Hastings | Karen | |
| Sun 18 Aug | Masterton and surrounding areas | Karen | |
| Bay of Plenty | Sat 24 Aug | Rotorua, Tauranga, Te Puke | Karen |
| Sun 25 Aug | Whakatane/Opotiki/ Gisborne | Karen | |
| Northland | Sat 31 Aug | South and West Auckland | Karen |
| Sun 1 Sep | Warkworth/Wellsford/Whangarei/Northland | Karen | |
| Mon 2 Sep | Northland/Mangawhai | Karen | |
| Bay of Plenty | Sat 7 & Sun 8 Sep | Rotorua/Whakatane/Opotiki/Gisborne | Karen |
Feel free to contact us if you need any further assistance.
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Professional Development
Keeping up to date with the changes within the Scent Work industry is really important for our organsation to provide current advice and the best methods for training our dogs. Although COVID-19 appeared in 2020 it gave the opportunity to complete more professional development.
We have attended a variety of short session with the Swedish Working Dog Insitute through online courses for Tracking and Progession Planning, as well as a month long online course in different methods of passive indication training.
We also completed a course with The School of Canine Science – Scent for Six. This was a six month online course learning different aspects of the scent work for trainers in the Scent Work Competition world. This was the best online course I have a attended that has both practical and theory, based both on Science reasearch and real world dog training making it a well round and informative course. Well worth completing.
All of these learning opportunities are only expanding our knowledge further to help growers train their own dogs for the surveying of their own truffière.
New Producers
What a fabulous Sunday…all growers visited had truffle production. At the second growers we located truffles under four new trees so now they have seve that are production, so exciting.
At the next grower, we were able to congratulate them on producing their first truffles…it was a very exciting hunt as we located a number around their trees, which is awesome.
Fortunately I had my friend with me who I drove to each locating and she complete the hunts with Indi, due to me being unwell. Vanessa is elated that she was working Indi to find the first truffles for the grower.
Although the season is coming to the end for some, others are just starting…so exciting.
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Truffle Dog Services on Radio NZ CountryLife
We were interviewed at the end of August at Peter Hodges and Sue Arnolds Matangi Truffiere by Carol Stiles from Radio NZ on truffle hunting.
I was a little concerned about how hunting with truffle dogs will come across on the radio, but Carol has done a really good job. Peter, Sue and I had a such fun finding the truffle and talking to Carol and her is the result…Country Life
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2019 Season…that was
Review of 2019 Truffle Season
Each truffle season I wonder if it will surpass the previous truffle season and I am never disappointed. In the 2019 season Indi found five new producers:
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- 1 x Bay of Plenty
- 2 x Hawkes Bay
- 2 x Waikato
The excitement of the new producers is priceless after all the hard work of liming, planting and annually pruning their various trees, whilst patiently playing the long waiting game for their first truffle to arrive. I am thrilled to be a part of this process.
Zorro and Tigga waiting for their turn
When we arrive to survey trees, we never know what the day will bring. For some this season they have been waiting a long time for their first truffles to appear, and their reaction can be from disbelief moving onto elation, and ultimately a celebration with wine and eating the truffle in a multitude of ways.
Some new producers had their first single truffle located this season whilst others had a couple of trees producing their first truffles. It is so exciting to find ‘first’ truffles and doesn’t matter how many are located, it is fabulous to be part of finding their first truffles and look forward to locating more for them next season.
With the number of producers increasing in the North Island, we can only guesstimate that we have located in excess of 30 kg of truffles this season. The exact weight of truffles located is unknown and can only be estimated as many were marked to remain in the ground to be dug up at a later date. On visiting one truffiere, and then returning a few weeks later, they mentioned that one of the truffles that had been marked and eventually extracted, when weighted was just under a Kg! Wow…unfortunately no photo available, but nice to know.
We completed our first night search this season. Tigga who is normally easily distracted by birds, and other creatures, was called upon to complete a search after dark. All harnessed up and working under torch and headlights we wandered to the truffiere for the search. Tigga was amazing. In the torch and headlights we could see some rabbits and other night creatures, but Tigga had her head down and was searching every tree just like her mentor Indi. Was thrilling to watch her work so consistently as trained…our goal during the off season is to get her up and running during the day the same way she works in the dark.
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Truffle Dogs in the News…
At the beginning of the season Laurie and Toff Mylchreest were interviewed for the Waitomo News and mentioned that Truffle Dog Services completed truffle searches for them. This led to us also being interviewed for the Waitomo News where we were front page of the North King Country Farmers insert. A similar article was then run in the Cambridge times after being contacted by another reporter. Later I was contacted by Stuff regarding truffle dogs role in the truffle industry which lead to a video and story on Stuff, with written articles in the Waikato News and the Dominion.
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Truffles on Kai Safari – Aug 2019
In June 2018 Tony and Jo Carr contacted me to provide truffle hunting services during the filming of their property for the programme Kai Safari focusing on foods from Rotorua. Sonia Gray interviewed Tony and Jo Carr, and then they all came to the truffiere for Indi to do her work and find a truffle for Jo to present to Sonia. It was a very successful fabulous day and the programme was released on Sunday 18th August; Kai Safari with Pio and Sonia – Series 3, Episode 12. Indi, Tigga, Zorro and myself travelled 12,700 kms this season!
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2017 Season So Far…
We have had an amazing 2017 season, and we are only half way through.
Waikato
We have located more truffles for a client who found his first in the 2016 season. Indy found both Perigord and Borchii at this property.
Bay of Plenty/Rotorua
Oh how exciting…we had an amazing weekend with finding three clients first ever truffles. One client wasn’t available to wander with us, but they received photos of the truffle left in the ground and one that was located on top of the ground, weighed and packaged ready for when we next meet.
I get so excited when I locate truffles, especially for a clients first ones, that I got invited to go fishing because of my enthusiasm.
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