Truffle's on the nose for this pair

They have their own Facebook pages and they tweet regularly. They are the truffle dogs of Manjimup: Sunny, Izzie and Bella.

Not that they know it but the three truffle sniffers from Manjimup’s Wine and Truffle Company are participating in the age-old business of cavage, the hunt for the exotic, expensive black truffle.

And it takes just a few seconds. Their handler Fran Lee – who’s been training dogs since she was a nine-year-old – quietly issues the command, “Izzie, where!” and in about three seconds she, Izzie, not Fran, is desperately snuffling at a piece of dirt that looks just like any other piece of dirt. Buried in this particular piece of dirt are three walnut-sized truffles, weighing about 10 grams each.

“They’re the perfect retail size,” Fran says. “They’ll sell for about $30 each.”

Sunny is the head dog. She was responsible for sniffing out 1.6 tonnes of the black truffles in the 2010 season. On the day of this truffle hunt this very productive and consequently very pampered dog was shod with little booties to protect her feet as she recovers from a foot infection. Booties, in fact any level of pampering, are no big deal when you’ve sniffed your way to $4.8 million worth of exquisite truffles.

Sunny is an intelligent – almost sad looking – kelpie lab cross who takes her work very seriously. But the pin-up girl is Izzie. She gets fan mail and when visitors come to the trufferie it’s always Izzie they ask to see. She even has her own range of post cards.

“She is the princess,” Fran says. “Complete with fan club.”

Izzie is a three-year-old Beagle who was last year responsible sniffing out just 40kg of truffles. Fran expects her productivity will rise when she gets a little older and more focused.

During the season Fran will walk the 70 rows of trees every day – a daily 42 kilometre trek through the oaks and hazelnuts as the dogs sniff, snort and snuffle their way through the leafy loam searching for the faint perfume of truffle.

The 2011 season is expected to be a bumper with “the girls” expected to recover $7 million worth of truffles.

Picture: John Mokrzycki