As for treats- if you do stay with Zuke’s, do vary it, so she isn’t getting the same, say Salmon flavor every time. Dogs will lose an affinity for one kind of treat if that’s what you use a lot, so try to vary it. String cheese tends to be easy and a hit over here most of the time.
I am in the middle of trying to create other discussion forums that have lots of information on truffles (and answer questions like this, so you can see how to store and prep and ask other questions ). Hopefully they will be soon.
I hope it has been keep mostly frozen- feel free to send us/ post a photo of it (cut it se we can see the interior as well) not that we don’t doubt it is one, but it tells us a lot about the state of the truffle’s life. Whites can range in color on the outside from very whitefish to yellow tinged to more common buff or beige/ rust. I’ll attach some photos in another reply.
Frozen truffles (especially if it has made its way from Oregon to Telluride to you) won’t be marbled inside due to the cell walls breaking down the gleba (that’s the inners). That isn’t necessarily the end of the world, but you want to be careful you don’t train Daisy on VOCs associated with decay. If it still smells like an oregon white, you’re likely just fine!
Storage:
I have uploaded our basic guide for species for using frozen specimens- this is an all purpose doc and if made to refer to many species, but applies to Oregon whites. Not noted on this Doc, but a good idea, is you can also store cotton (Qtips etc) in with your frozen truffle and use those in training. This way you don’t have to expose the truffle at all to oxidation and degradation. When starting to use a real source like that, the VOCs it contains will be slightly different than any oil based solution.
Most dogs will make the association quickly, but some dogs are incredibly literal and you may need to practice this a few times. Being that she is a pup and doesn’t have a lot of life experience drawing conclusions from similar associations (not that she hasn’t made many cognitive associations already), I would recommend you prime Daisy so she has that A-ha! it’s the same thing, moment. This can just be two or three repetitions (or more if you think her indications are somewhat less confident) of the paw or nose targeting with the cotton/Qtips that had been stored with the real truffle such as you have been using.
Eventually you’ll want to use whole real truffles for training, but for now, if you want to use the real thing you recieved and not cotton, cut it into pieces. It will last longer.
Again, not a cause for concern, but if you handle the white truffle be aware that your hands will then possibly transfer those VOCs to other locations, so we would recommend washing your hands after handling. Again, unlikely to crop up as an issue, but just so you are aware.
