Olga Marszal ‘04 and Harvi the dog.
Olga Marszal ‘04, PSU alum and adjunct faculty in the Master of Taxation program, has a partner in crime: her golden retriever, Harvi. (Harvi’s full name is Harvi the Happy Who Makes Other People Happy – but more on that later). Last year, Olga and Harvi together won first place in The Joriad North American Truffle Dog Championship. That’s right: Harvi is a truffle dog, and he and Olga are a prize-winning truffle team.
A Talent for Truffles
When you think about what kind of animal is best used for hunting for truffles, it’s likely that you might picture a pig. The use of dogs to hunt truffles, however, has been a common practice for at least two centuries. While pigs will devour a truffle they find, a well-trained pup shows more restraint.
Olga and Harvi hunting for truffles in the forest.
For Harvi, hunting for truffles has been a relatively new pursuit, developed during the pandemic. Olga had recently watched a documentary on truffle dogs and found it intriguing. When a friend offered to train Harvi to find truffles, she agreed. Harvi took to the task immediately.
“Harvi is a natural,” Olga says. “I give him one sniff, and it’s already in his vocabulary.”
The pair began hunting for truffles together, eventually competing against other dogs and their humans. In 2024, they entered the Joriad, the only truffle dog competition of its kind in North America. The competition is notoriously difficult, with three rounds testing the dogs on their ability to locate the fragrant tubers.
“The second round is super hard. Most dogs would fail,” says Olga. “But we secured a spot, and we were one of the five dogs that made it to the final round. In the final round, you go to a secret location in the mountains. You are given just one hour to find the most truffles you can find.”
Harvi blew away the competition.
“The runner-up collected 20 truffles in 60 minutes,” says Olga. “That’s pretty good, right? But Harvi found 41.” But the point of truffle hunting together, Olga says, is not winning a competition, but sharing the experience of being outside in the forest and becoming a part of this community. It's also just fun, she says.
“Harvi has this amazing work ethic, because like in any competition, you have to be focused. But we both have fun with it. We play and have a happy time. It’s not work, and frankly, Harvi found his life purpose because he loves doing it.”
Rescuing Harvi
Harvi and Olga’s origin story goes back a few years before they became a truffle team. Olga met Harvi when she was volunteering with Golden Bond Rescue, an Oregon-based nonprofit that works to rescue and foster golden retrievers and labs until they can find forever homes. She met Harvi in 2017 through this organization, after he had been rescued from a dog market in China. Due to complicated regulations, Harvi was trapped in limbo between countries for several months before finally arriving in Oregon.
“He was only 38 pounds,” she says. “For a one-year-old, that is skinny, skinny. The first night, he ate his dinner, but when you are hungry, you have a psychological need to eat more and more, so he almost broke my pantry door trying to get more. In the backyard, he ate all my flowers — any source of food he could find.”
Over the next few weeks, Harvi settled in, getting comfortable with his surroundings and growing a thick, lush coat of fur. However, he remained keenly attuned to possible food sources.
“Friends were telling me, ‘Wow, it’s amazing what good food and love can do for a dog,’ because he turned into this beautiful butterfly,” Olga says proudly. “He still has this amazing food motivation. He finds all the apple trees, all the pear trees. He knows how to harvest blackberries — how to come to a bush and collect the ripe ones. I mean, it's just amazing. He’s like a scrub jay that remembers 500 different feeding places. This is his street-smart survival technique, even though I told him that in this house, you will never go hungry.”
Truffle Dance
Olga is also a trained dancer and finds many connections between the ethos of dancing and truffle hunting with Harvi.
“It is like a truffle dance with my dog,” she says. “You maintain this playful, rewarding, joyful dynamic. You never discipline your dog – it’s all positive. There is a mystical, spiritual connection with nature, your dog and the movement.”
When Harvi finds a truffle, he shows Olga the spot with his paw, and she responds. It is a truly collaborative effort, she says.
“We are a team, because humans cannot do it without a dog, and dogs cannot do it without a human,” says Olga. “If you really pay attention and spend time with your dog, you learn this amazing language that often we are too busy to see.”
Harvi brings joy to every moment, Olga says, which is how he got his full name. There was a snowstorm in April a few years ago, and the yard was covered in snow. Harvi was happily running around in circles.
“I was reflecting on his happy snow dance when I was thinking about entering the competition, and one of my friends said, ‘oh, Harvi the happy who makes other people happy?’ And it’s so true. Every time he meets somebody, he brings a smile.
”These days, Harvi continues to bring light and joy to everyone he meets. He also remains skilled at finding food wherever he goes — whether it’s a rare truffle in the forest, a juicy blackberry growing over a fence, or even someone else’s lunch.
“He eats children’s sandwiches,” Olga says, laughing, “He takes it so gently, and then everybody’s laughing, and I say, thank you for your service.”
This year, Olga wants to take a road trip and go hiking with Harvi around the Pacific Northwest, but she isn’t planning to enter the Joriad again. “We will rest on our laurels and share our knowledge and joy with others,” she says. “There is nothing else to prove.”