Photo Courtesy of Ben Lonergan
The spotlight shines on Pixel, who is not only a talented agility dog, but has an amazing nose. Earlier this year, the Border Collie was crowned the 2023 North American Joriad Truffle Dog Champion, which required her to go into the Oregon forest and locate truffles. Pixel competes on the International/Ph.D. team of PVC and Scream, which her handler & owner Courtney VanDyke captains. Courtney tells us more about this special dog and the cool sport of truffle hunting.
Call name: Pixel
Breed: Border Collie
Age: 3 years
Registered name: Pixel AX AXJ MXF CGC TKP RATN
Owner name: Courtney VanDyke
City/State: Everett, WA
Agility League Team & Division: PVC and Scream (International/Ph.D.), based at Argus Ranch training center
When did Pixel start training in agility and what has she been like to train and run?
Pixel is my first dog so we dabbled in a lot of things initially and then eventually got hooked on agility when she was around 9 months old. She is a quick learner and really loves playing agility with me. Pixel has not been an easy first dog… She is very fast and independent so I really needed to get my act together and learn quickly to keep up and handle her!
Photo Courtesy of Sarah Forde/Pixpup Photography
How did you discover truffle hunting and get involved? Is this sport unique to the Northwest area of the US?
It actually started when one of my friends, who is not at all into dog training, very casually mentioned that I should look into it… Of course it became anything but casual after that, haha.
There are hundreds of recorded types of truffles, but in the Pacific Northwest, we have four culinary-grade wild truffles that grow seasonally (Oregon winter white truffle, Oregon spring white truffle, Oregon black truffle, and Oregon brown truffle) that you can train your dog to search for. In other parts of the United States, other culinary varieties like the Pecan truffle or even the new Appalachian truffle can be found. There’s a lot of research and learning that needs to be done on the subject, and it’s fun to be involved.
Was Pixel a natural for the sport? What has the training process been like and how do you and how often do you practice?
Honestly, Pixel picked it up really quickly; she absolutely loves it. It didn’t take long to train her completely. However, she was trained in the summer, and truffle hunting in Washington is a seasonal activity during the winter and spring months. So, we had to wait to actually test our training but once her first truffle hunting season came around, she was ready to hit the ground running and has been doing absolutely incredible.
Tell us about winning the championship this year: what did she have to achieve and what was the experience was like.
Taking part in the Joriad North American Truffle Dog Championship was a super fun experience. The competition takes place during the Oregon Truffle Festival and has three stages. The first two stages are open to the public to watch. The first stage is a truffle odor recognition test, which must be passed to move onto the second stage. That is an open arena search where the dogs are challenged to locate five underground hides in an extremely odor saturated environment within a 5-minute timeframe. The top five placing contestants are then selected to move onto the championship final, which is an actual wild truffle field hunt. The team to find the most truffles within an hour wins.
Photo Courtesy of Sydney Sizemore
Are there any other sports besides agility and truffle hunting that Pixel competes in?
Our most recent endeavor has been Barn Hunt (we’re really into all the sniffy sports now)! She’s really enjoying it and has earned her Novice title and one leg on her Open title.
What have you enjoyed most about being part of a League team?
Overall, it’s just been a really great experience getting to consistently practice on and run the League courses. It’s helped us brush up on some of our skills and get ready for this year’s competitions.
What are the future goals for Pixel?
Lot of big goals and aspirations! I plan on attending a few national events this year, and I’m also hoping to attend tryouts for Team USA in the future.