Training Jack the Hound to Hunt Mushrooms

Jack the Hound sitting next to some Fly Agaric Mushrooms (yeah…don’t eat those). Jack is eagerly awaiting his next task - what type of Mushroom shall we find next?

A week or so ago, Laurie and I watched a  movie called The Truffle Hunters. It was a movie about some Italian folks who had trained their dogs to find Truffles - a type of subterranean fungus.

This film inspired me to head into the mountains with my faithful hound, Jack. And together, we would find Mushrooms. Efficiently.

Me and Jack, the soon-to-be-trained Mushroom Hound.

Here’s how I thought it would go. I figured that Jack and I would walk along until we found one of our target Mushrooms. Then I’d praise him, we’d play fetch for a while. He would associate fun with finding Mushrooms…and Bingo! He would be a fully trained Mushroom Hound.

How hard could it be, right?

Funny that you’d ask. The first problem was that he had no interest in the Mushrooms at all. I’d find a Bolete, call him over, show it to him, and praise him. Then he’d look at me as if to say, “Well, I’m glad you’re happy…but what’s that rubbery Fungus-thing you’re pointing at?”

Then, when he figured out that we might play fetch every now and then, he’d stand 3 or 4 feet away from me, fixedly watching the stick.

In retrospect, another way to phrase this was that he was pointedly ignoring the Mushrooms.

Okay, I thought. It was time for me to display some adaptability. I would put him on the leash. That way I wouldn’t have to bring him over when I found a Mushroom. We would find it together, and then share our enthusiasm. It would be great.

That seemed to work. I’d find the Mushroom and get all worked up about it. He’d touch the Mushroom with his nose, and we’d play fetch for a couple of minutes.

We did this maybe ten or twelve times - rinse and repeat. He seemed to getting the hang of it.

As a reward for finding Mushrooms, we’d play fetch for a while.

Eventually, I found a beautiful Bolete Mushroom and showed it to him. He leapt at it so eagerly that he broke it into two pieces. Well, okay. That was at least  a crime of enthusiasm.

Then he stared at me while he emphatically stamped on it a few times with his front feet.

It was time to go live with this operation.

Jack was standing at alert, ears forward, ready to go. I signaled him with a sweeping motion of my hand and told him “Find Mushrooms!” Our Canine Assisted Mushroom Hunt was underway.

Jack ran off with his nose to the ground, snuffling loudly.  He quartered around  me in about a 25 yard radius. Much of the time all I could see of him through the undergrowth was his little stub of a tail, wagging frantically as he searched.

Oh, this was totally working!!

He disappeared into the undergrowth. All I could see was the frantic wiggle of his tail.

I thought that since this was going so well, perhaps I should write a dog training book.

Because, you know,  dog training is actually quite easy.  One just needs to understand the Canine psyche. I supposed that many other people could learn how to train a Mushroom Hound using the book. Though perhaps not, since I was clearly such a talented dog trainer…

As I concentrated on the introduction to my hypothetical training book, I lost sight of Jack and I could no longer hear him rummaging in the bushes. Had he run off?

Then from about 25 yards away, I heard a brief, high-pitched scream - “Eeeeep!” - cut short by what sounded like a rag being shaken, fast and hard.  Wap! Wap! Wap!  What was that?

And then silence. Not even insects buzzing.  No sound, no movement…nothing. 

With foreboding I called - “Uh…Jack? Did you maybe, uh, find a…Mushroom?”

Stillness for about two heartbeats, then the world came back to life.

Jack came bounding towards me out of the undergrowth. He was carrying a Rabbit by its throat. The Rabbit’s limp body  was slung across Jack’s shoulders and was bouncing up and down like a sack of Christmas presents.

Jack slid to a stop front of me, dropping into a “Sit” position. With a gleeful toss of his head, he threw the dead Rabbit up in the air. The Rabbit turned over once or twice, then hit the ground at my feet with a lifeless ‘plop’ noise.

Jack sat there with an enormous grin on his face, staring at me. As if to say - “See? This is what we should be hunting. Not those bits of Fungus.” So…I need to rework my Mushroom Hunting Dog plans. Probably the book tour, as well.

And I have a renewed respect for those Truffle Hunter guys, and their dogs.