Something happens in the forest when a dog finds their first truffle.
The dog’s whole body changes — nose locked, certainty rising, every instinct suddenly aligned with purpose. And the human watching? Something shifts in them too. The invisible thread between them — always there, often unnoticed — suddenly becomes undeniable.
That moment is why I do this work.
My name is Kristin Rosenbach. I’ve spent nearly two decades teaching truffle hunting with dogs, and what I know after all of it is this: people come to me wanting to find truffles. What they discover is a relationship with their dog they didn’t know was possible. A partnership built on genuine communication, deep trust, and a shared language that grows stronger every time they step into the forest together. That transformation — not the truffles — is what I’m here for.
I didn’t arrive here in a straight line. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, deeply connected to nature and animals, and spent my early career as an educator and sports medicine professional — building programs, developing curriculum, teaching people to understand themselves and move through the world with more awareness. I also spent years in the dog agility world, where I introduced the concept of functional fitness for handlers long before it became the norm. I have always been drawn to the edges of what people haven’t discovered yet.
Truffles found me in 2010 — an Italian vacation, a meal I couldn’t forget, and the startling discovery that they were growing right here in the forests of the Pacific Northwest. I began training my dogs to find them. What I didn’t anticipate was how profoundly the work would change us. Truffle hunting demanded something different from me as a handler — a quality of presence, observation and communication I hadn’t brought to training before. It deepened my bond with my dogs into something I still struggle to put into words. And it became the vehicle through which I now help others experience the same.
I bring something to this work that goes beyond technique. Years of studying the subtle language between humans and animals — learning to read what’s happening beneath the surface, to notice what a dog is communicating before their human does — shapes everything about how I teach. Students feel it, even when they can’t name it. It’s why so many of them say that working with me changed not just how they hunt truffles, but how they understand their dog in every part of life.
My approach is grounded in connection, communication, and cooperation. Not as buzzwords, but as a lived practice — one I’ve refined across 16+ years, hundreds of students, and more mornings in the forest than I can count.
I created the first online truffle dog training program and have since taught on three of the world’s leading dog training platforms, trained the trainers who now teach others, directed Washington’s only truffle expo, and been recognized in print by some of the most respected voices in the dog world. The field has grown significantly since I began. I’ve been here since before it was a field.
But none of that is why you should work with me.
You should work with me because I will meet you and your dog exactly where you are. Because I will help you build something real — a partnership rooted in trust, lit up by purpose, and capable of more than you currently imagine. And because I genuinely believe that the forest has something to give you that you can’t find anywhere else.
It’s not about the truffle. It’s about you and your dog.
Ready to begin? Work with me.