Fun Facts About Lagottos

There’s no denying it: puppies are adorable. This Spring, we welcomed 22 Lagotto Romagnolo puppies to our Blackberry Farm kennel! As we love on these new additions, we want to share a little bit of the history of the breed and a few of the things that make this breed special.

• Blackberry Farm welcomed our first Lagotto Romagnolo, Tom, in 2007. At the time, Sam Beall was exploring how to cultivate truffles on the property. He was inspired to bring a Lagotto to Blackberry to utilize their nose for sniffing out any successful truffles. With Tom’s arrival, the team and guests alike quickly fell in love with the breed! Now, we even have an annual event, Il Raduno, to celebrate these smart and loving dogs as well as provide training sessions and learning experiences with our trainer, Jim Sanford.
• Lagotto Romagnolos date back to at least Renaissance Italy. They were used to fetch game from the marshes for hunters. “Lago” means lake in Italian, and in the local dialect of Romagna, “Can Lagot” translates directly to “water dog.” They were used as water fowl retrievers because their coat naturally sheds water and helps insulate them from the cold.
• They began their career in truffle hunting during the 1800s after the Italian marshes were drained and turned into farmland.
• In the early 1900s, the breed was almost extinct because truffle hunters bred the dogs for results rather than breed purity.
• In the 1970s, a group of breeders, veterinarians and fans of the breed worked together to create a program to prevent the breed from going extinct. Because of the breed’s popularity, Club Italiano Lagotto was formed in 1988.
• Lagotto Romagnolo’s are the only purebred dog in the world recognized as a specialized truffle searcher. Their noses make them the perfect search dog, and they are now considered “Italian Truffle Dogs.”
• Their fur usually appears in white, brown, orange or an off-white color. One of our puppies born this year has a rare all-orange coat, and she is the first one we have ever had with a full orange coat.

Next time you’re at Blackberry Farm, be sure to stop by the kennel and visit the dogs. They love to play and enjoy all the pets!