September 2024

When police canine handlers Dean Poletta and Warren Rogers decided to set up a truffle dog detection agency as a side hustle, the industry was little more than a hobby in South Australia. Six years on they are in high demand with 24 farms or truffieres across the state. Farmers hire dogs including Mr Rogers’s koolie, Ruby, and Mr Poletta’s labrador, Gus, to sniff out truffles on their properties. “It’s growing exponentially and we are struggling to keep up at the moment,” Mr Poletta says. They are bringing on new staff and training up extra dogs. A range of dog breeds are used to find the truffles. (Landline: Kerry Staight) It takes all sorts While the Lagotto Romagnolo breed is often referred to as the truffle dog in Italy, there are lots of breeds that can get the job done. “We always say that any dog can be a detection dog, it’s the want,” Mr Rogers says. “You can have the best dog in the world, if it doesn’t want to do it and wants to sit on the couch all day it’s not going to be working in the middle of winter.” His regular offsider is a six-year-old koolie called Ruby. “Being a working dog, we didn’t know whether we could actually use her for detection, but she’s taken to it like a duck to water,” he says. “If we are working close to sheep and cattle, she can get a little bit distracted, but with some timely Schmackos, she’s back on track.” Dean Poletta says finding what motivates a dog is the key to training them. “Gus is my big blonde excavator,” he says. “He is a six-year-old labrador, highly driven by food, so pretty easy to keep on task. “And once you pair the reward or the motivator with the odour, that’s where you kind of start.” Dean Poletta and Gus. (ABC News: Kerry Staight) How are truffles found? For the dog handlers, it’s a very different working environment from their main job with the police service where they are often indoors looking for things like drugs and explosives. “The conditions [on farms] are definitely harder because we have no control over them,” Mr Poletta says. White and black truffles from the Kelleys’ farm. (ABC News: Kerry Staight) “But it’s [truffle’s] a big odour, which is probably a little bit easier.” A truffle is a sought-after edible fungus that’s related to mushrooms but grows underground, living off certain types of trees in a symbiotic relationship. “The dogs are finding these things that can be up to an inch or six inches [2.5 centimetres to 16cm] under the ground,” Warren Rogers says. “I still get a buzz out of it to see how incredible they are.” The tricky part is stopping the dogs from damaging the sought-after fungi, which sells for up to $2.50 a gram. “We want the dog to to dig to an extent or to mark the ground where we have to dig to find the truffle,” Mr Poletta says. “But we want them to stop when they’re close to the truffle.” Pivoting to truffles Among the growers relying on the detection team are Sabina and Ben Kelley, who took up truffle farming in the Barossa Valley five years ago. It is a big tree change for the couple who used to own award-winning fish and chip shops on the New South Wales central coast. Sabina and Ben Kelley pivoted from fish and chips to truffles. (ABC News: Carl Saville) “We were working 85 hours a week and it was just too much,” Mrs Kelley says. “We watched a show [where] they had a truffiere and they had a pig and dogs and I was like that’s it, that’s what I want to do.” Pigs vs dogs  Peggy the failed truffle pig. (ABC News: Kerry Staight) Female pigs have traditionally been used to hunt truffles because of their sense of smell and because truffles contain a pheromone, which is found in the saliva of male pigs. But Mrs Kelley’s idea of using her pig Peggy in the truffiere hasn’t gone to plan. “It hasn’t worked out at all,” she says. “She grew and grew and grew some more, so trying to get a truffle out of her mouth wouldn’t be fun.” Mr Rogers says dogs are easier to train and “much easier to handle”. “Pigs are natural foragers so will eat truffles unless they’re trained to eat something else as a reward,” he says. As for the growers’ dogs, one of whom is appropriately named Truffles, they’re handy if not as thorough as Ruby and Gus. “They’ll find truffles that we just can’t find with our dogs,” Ben Kelley says. “They’re obviously doing it weekly and our dogs are still couch potatoes.” The Kelleys’ dogs are handy but not quite as experienced as Gus and Ruby. (ABC News: Carl Saville) Early crop Mr Poletta says the couple has a knack for growing truffles, producing their first crop after just three years. “Ben asked us to come out and I tried to encourage him not to use us yet because it was too early but he insisted,” Mr Poletta says. “So we came out and we found a couple of kilos I think in that first hunt on three-year-old trees, which was the earliest we’d ever found truffles at that point in South Australia.” Mr and Mrs Kelley digging up truffles. (ABC News: Kerry Staight) While turning truffles into a profitable business is still a work in progress, Mr Kelley is pretty chuffed at what’s now coming out of the ground. “It’s really cool that we did something that some people said, ‘You’re mad doing’ and we did it and it works,” he says. Read More

A dog has been left fighting for his life after suffering two bites while protecting his owner and canine siblings from a rattlesnake. Maverick, an English bulldog, was attacked on two occasions by the western diamondback rattlesnake while playing in his garden in southern Arizona. His sibling, Finley, was bitten once on the cheek by the reptile, but has since been recovering well despite the fatal risk of such an encounter. Maverick is showing slower signs of improvement, and the shocking ordeal has left his owner feeling “heartbroken.” “They were bitten and we were able to get them to put emergency vet within 30 minutes,” their owner, who asked to keep their identity private, told Newsweek. “The snake had come through our fence opening and our dogs did not really freak out until I freaked out.” Finley, a grey-shaded Merle Frenchie, was hit once and responded to treatment quickly, with his owner saying that he showed significant improvement by the end of day one. Maverick, who sustained two bites to his face, has had a more challenging recovery and did not respond as quickly to the treatment provided. “They spent one and a half days in the hospital and then were able to come home to continue to get well,” their owner said. “They are on the mend, and now we are just working on keeping the bite sites from getting infected as the venom left funnel-shaped holes in their faces.” The incident, which has since gone viral on TikTok, showcases the aftermath of the ordeal and the dogs’ ongoing recovery. The video, which was shared to the platform under the username @maverick_peach_finley, captures Maverick and Finley wearing plastic braces around their necks and bandages over their bites. These braces are attributed to their recovery process, administered by the veterinary team. The overlaid text on the video provides a chilling account of the early morning incident. “Both Maverick and Finley were bitten by a rattlesnake that made it onto our backyard. We rushed them to the emergency vet and immediately started them on antivenom and blood transfusions,” their owner wrote. Maverick and Finley receive antivenom treatment at a veterinary center in Arizona after being bitten by a rattlesnake. Their owner says that they are “on the mend,” but that one canine is healing faster than… @maverick_peach_finley The dogs were quick to respond to the threat, despite having received rattlesnake avoidance training, a product of living in a state that is home to a variety of venomous snakes. Their owner said that Maverick was acting in defense of his owner and dog siblings, Finley and Peach, with the latter escaping the situation unscathed. “Maverick has rattlesnake avoidance training and will always stay away from them, but was in this case acting in protection and trying to keep us safe,” the owner said. Dr. Terry Fossum, a board-certified veterinary surgeon, spoke with Newsweek about the dangers of rattlesnake bites in dogs. “These bites can be fatal,” she said. “Time is crucial and it is important to get your dog to a veterinarian for antivenom treatment as quickly as possible. “Your dog has a high survival rate if the antivenom is administered in a timely manner. Don’t attempt at-home care. If your dog has been bitten or you suspect a rattlesnake bite, go to the closest veterinary clinic.” Several factors can influence the survival rate of a dog bitten by a rattlesnake, as Fossum explained. These include the time to treatment, size of the dog, location of the bite, and the amount of venom injected. With prompt treatment, survival rates are generally high, ranging between 80 to 90 percent. The rapid response of the owner, who managed to get Maverick and Finley to the emergency vet within 30 minutes, played a crucial role in their ongoing recovery. “We’re heartbroken and hope tomorrow will bring us some better news,” their owner told viewers online. “We love [Maverick] for his loyalty and protectiveness.” Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup. Read More

A dog has left the internet in stitches after he was busted by his owner for making a mess of his balcony. In the video shared to TikTok, the 13-month-old pit bull, called Ace, can be seen rolling uncontrollably around on the outdoors couch, knocking off all cushions in his way. That is until his owner caught him in the act and he feigned ignorance to any wrongdoing by pretending to nap. “POV: dog plays ‘sleep’ when he’s caught acting up,” his owner who uses the Tyler Sabino (@tsab1313), from Los Angeles shared the tickling video on the platform which garnered 36,300 likes and 690,200 views. More From Newsweek Vault: Compare Affordable Pet Insurance Plans “Yo. Yo, what are you doing? Oh, you were sleeping,” Sabino said to his mischievous pup. Ace instantly stopped rolling around and pretended to sleep when he clocked on to his owner watching him. “He always plays ‘dead’ or ‘sleep’ whenever I catch him doing something he’s not supposed to do. He does get really bad zoomies every day at around 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. after his last meal where he’s like bouncing from wall to wall. “I get nervous, I’m like bro you’re going to injure yourself. He truly, genuinely, does not know how big he is. He always pretends he wasn’t doing anything, he’ll give me like a side eye. He snores loud as hell he is a snorer. He’s like a little grown a** man,” Sabino told Newsweek. More From Newsweek Vault: Pet Insurance 101: How Much Does It Cost and Is It Worth the Price? Ace Boogie and Tyler Sabino. The pit bull has a tendency to play “sleep’” or “dead” when he is caught being naughty. @tsab1313/@tsab1313 Dogs might pretend to sleep when being told off to avoid conflict or stressful situations, according to Dr. Eloise Bright, an animal behavior specialist and founder of Canberra Behavior Vet. This behavior is often a response to negative reinforcement, where the dog seeks to escape further reprimand by appearing disengaged or non-threatening. Dogs are sensitive to their owners’ emotions and actions, and pretending to sleep can be a way to diffuse tension and avoid additional scolding, according to the Australian Veterinary Association. The best way to discipline dogs involves using positive reinforcement, consistency, and clear communication, experts advise. Owners should ignore unwanted behaviors to avoid reinforcing them, and use calm noise interrupters to stop such behaviors and redirect their pooches to an appropriate activity and praise them for good behavior. According to the AVA, punishment-based methods such as shouting should be avoided at all costs since they can increase fear and anxiety and harm dogs’ well-being and trust in you, thus damaging the relationship. Though, Sabino’s soft reaction did not seem to induce anxiety from his pet pooch. Commenters were hysterical over the pup’s fake slumber. “He was sleep the whole time idk what u talking about,” said Rachell Comme. “Damn near started smiling after too,” said Brandon. “That’s what pittys do,” said Diana. “That’s what pittys do,” said another commenter. Some TikTok users were scared that the dog was in a precarious position on the balcony. “Omggg why is this such an easy balcony for a dog to jump over,” said one user. For owners wondering how to make their balconies dog-friendly, the American Kennel Club has shared the following advice: Install barriers, such as rail guards or screen-door netting, to prevent dogs from squeezing through railings. Ensure there is a shaded area to protect your pooch from exposure to the heat and sun. Maintain safety by regularly inspecting balconies for hazards such as loose railings. Sabino said he adjusted his balcony after reading the comments but was adamant Ace would not jump over. “The truth is, he’s very smart and terrified of heights. 100 percent he’s out there he’s monitored. I never leave the house with the balcony door open,” Sabino added. Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? We want to see the best ones! Send them in to life@newsweek.com and they could appear on our site. Read More