1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 12 Losing his wife and losing his troops

With the lessons learned from the previous pigs, the primary goal of training truffle dogs is to teach the dogs to find truffles rather than damage them.

Therefore, when training, be sure to reward the dog's discovery behavior and not let it dig around randomly.

The dog training method taught by Pierre requires putting fresh truffles in an odorless sock and tying the knots to prevent the truffles from falling out.

Then give the socks with a unique smell to the dog as a toy, throw it out, and let it bring it back.

Every time you bring back the socks, give it a reward, such as bread or meat, so that it will let go and put down the socks.

After practicing like this for a while, move on to the next step of training. Hide the socks, first indoors and then outdoors. Train the dog to be sensitive to the smell of truffles and let it remember that anyone who brings back something with this scent will be rewarded.

Pierre said that he used this training method to train more than a dozen truffle dogs with "outstanding achievements". Although the people of Provence like to brag, Ronan believes that this number is not too small if we exclude the exaggeration.

But when he was training Xiao Hei, problems arose in the first step.

Xiao Hei was not interested in socks at all, and even hid far away when he saw them.

Ronan guessed that it didn't like the color blue, so he went and bought a new pair of red socks, but the situation remained unchanged.

Doesn’t Xiao Hei like the smell of truffles?

But Ronan put the fresh truffle in front of Little Black's nose. The guy swallowed it in one gulp and sat up straight, eagerly waiting for the next piece to be fed.

"This one bite consumes our food allowance for a week!" Ronan 'Vision' was in the situation of taking pigs to pick truffles.

Vieri, who was on holiday at the weekend, watched Ronan's dog training process and enthusiastically brought his three dogs over.

"Maybe it doesn't know how to play this game." Vieri gave his judgment, "This is normal. We need to help it understand the world as a 'family'."

"Will it work?" Ronan asked doubtfully.

"Of course!" Vieri threw the socks containing truffles far away.

The three big dogs flew out with a "whoosh", but Xiao Hei fell at Ronan's feet and took a deep breath with a look of despair, as if complaining, "It's so boring, are these three dogs so idle?"
Ronan looked to Vieri for help:

"How to do?"

Vieri rubbed his nose and shrugged.
"It's true that it's a little unusual, but we have to accept that our 'children' have some intellectual disabilities."

Ronan: "."

After that day, Xiao Hei became upset and refused to play with Ronan. It seemed that the relationship between the two would be difficult to repair in the short term.

This dog training method not only confirmed Xiao Hei's poor answer, but also caused Ronan to lose a way to obtain [Happiness]. It was really a loss of both the wife and the army.

He no longer counted on participating in the truffle picking competition in the village. At the current rate at which he was gaining [Happiness], he would definitely not be able to catch up and upgrade before the deadline, but he still wanted to make money by picking truffles.

One afternoon, Ronan went to the old bar again.

One was to follow Pierre's instructions and get acquainted with the farmers in the village as soon as possible, and the other was to find out if there were other ways to pick truffles.

The nth 'Truffle Picking Competition' in Lourmarin Village is in full swing. There are not many people drinking in the tavern today, only seven or eight people sitting scattered around.

Ronan sat at the bar, ordered a beer, and thought about which table to start with.

However, the people of Provence were more enthusiastic than Ronan had imagined. Before the beer even came, someone took the initiative to chat with him.

"A new batch of wine has arrived. I suggest you try it." A young man wearing a plaid shirt, black jacket, dark blue jeans, leather boots, and reeking of alcohol sat down next to him with a wine glass. Ronan was chatting with this man when he came here to find Pierre a few days ago. Pierre introduced them at that time. Ronan remembered that this man was called Theo.

Seeing that it was Pierre's friend, Ronan instantly relaxed:
"Not from the Moli Brewing Cooperative?"

Wine is something that the French cannot live without in their daily life.

According to statistics, the French drink three glasses of wine a day, but Ronan guessed that this figure must not include the people of Provence.

Here, everyone starts drinking from the moment they open their eyes and continues drinking until they close their eyes.

No matter what you do, you should drink alcohol. Driving is no exception.

In the autumn, most of the grapes harvested in the village of Lourmarin are sent to the Moly Winemaking Cooperative, less than five kilometers away, and the whole village can buy wine from there at a very low price.

After moving here, Ronan always drinks wine produced here, whether at private parties or when dining out.

Why does Ronan remember this so clearly?
Because the system gives 1 point of [Happiness] every time he drinks, he is very sensitive.

Theo raised his glass and took a big sip, then closed his eyes and kissed his fingers exaggeratedly:
"More 'sexy' than Moly's wine."

Ronan was accustomed to similar "exaggerated" expressions from the people of Provence, and this was an old tavern where drunkards gathered, so he didn't take it too seriously.

But he still gave his boss face and said:
"I changed my mind. Give me a cup of the same Special Olympics."

"My friend, you won't be disappointed!" Theo came to drink early in the morning and was now slightly tipsy. He asked Ronan in a daze, "Are you here to see Pierre? He's been digging for truffles these days."

Ronan shook his head:
"No."

Thinking that Theo is also a farmer, Ronan stated the purpose of this trip:
"Do all truffle hunters rely on hounds to lead the way? Are there other ways to find truffles?"

Theo tapped his empty glass, signaling the boss for another drink:
"There are indeed people who can find truffles based on their experience. They are the best among the best. It is easier for them to keep their secret bases without animals around. But at least in Lourmarin Village, there are no such people. Everyone uses animals."

Thinking of something, he became more sober:
"Why do you ask these questions?"

Don't underestimate a man's competitive spirit. These days, all the farmers in the village have gone out to dig truffles.

Those who are sitting here drinking now are either not good at truffle picking or losers who have accepted that they cannot achieve any results.

And everyone assumes that Ronan is also on this list.

He was a good tractor driver and did a decent job of fertilizing and weeding, but truffle digging was a different matter.

Even old farmers like them who have been dealing with nature for decades have given up, so why should he persist?

Theo's answer made Ronan extremely frustrated. As his thoughts raced, he failed to hear the surprise and pessimism in the other party's tone:
"Just ask."

He took a sip of wine with a sad face.

I found that the wine was indeed better than that produced by the Moly Winemaking Cooperative. Theo was not lying.

Ronan was reluctant to swallow it all, so he savored it carefully in his mouth. Suddenly, he heard a prompt sound.

[Taste the authentic Luberon specialty wine and increase happiness by 2 points]

(End of this chapter)