Dog sports
Using freeze-dried liver in agility practice
Updated
Liver treats for agility earn their place in practice and class, broken small and handed over right after the obstacle or short sequence you want more of. Keep the pouch closed and set aside wherever your club wants food kept off the course, and count a long day's liver toward the daily treat budget.
When do you pay with liver during agility practice?
Right after the piece you want more of. If the dog took the tunnel instead of the jump beside it, the liver appears as the dog comes out of the tunnel, not back at the start line. Paying at the end of a run pays the whole run, and the dog cannot tell which part earned it.
Early on, that means short sequences. One obstacle, pay. Two obstacles, pay. Handlers stretch the sequence as the dog catches on, so the reward keeps landing on the newest piece rather than on the parts the dog already has.
Many handlers add a marker word, one short sound that means the liver is on its way. Say it the instant the dog does the right thing, and let the piece follow as fast as your hands allow. Keep the word the same, and keep it short.
How small should an agility reward be?
Smaller than looks fair. A piece the dog has to chew for a while is a piece that stops the session, and in agility the next rep is usually waiting. You want a bit the dog can swallow and then turn back to you for the next one.
The pieces in our freeze-dried beef liver are medium sized and break apart by hand, so one piece becomes several rewards without a knife. Do the breaking at home, over a bowl, before class. A tin or a small zip bag then carries the day's pieces, and the main bag stays sealed at home.
Big dogs are where people slip. A whole piece looks right in a big mouth, so it gets handed over whole. The dog is not grading the size. It reads the fact that it was paid, and a small piece carries that message as well as a large one does.
Where does the liver wait while your dog runs?
Not on you, for most people. A pouch bouncing on your hip while you run a course distracts both of you, and a pouch that comes open mid run leaves liver all over the ring. The usual answer is a closed pouch or a lidded dish set on a chair at the side, where you can reach it at the end of a sequence.
Where that spot is depends on the place you train. Clubs have their own rules about where food can be kept and whether it can be near the course at all. Ask whoever runs the class on your first night rather than guessing. We sell the liver; the rules belong to the club.
Freeze-dried liver makes the waiting simple. It is shelf stable and needs no refrigeration, so a lidded dish at ringside does the job. Back home, reseal the main bag and keep it cool and dry, as the label says.
How do you keep a liver-keen dog from mobbing the pouch?
Move the pouch to your back hip, or off your body altogether, and pay from the hand that is nowhere near it. A dog that gets paid from the pouch side learns to work the pouch. A dog that gets paid from the far hand has to come to the hand, and the hand is wherever you put it.
Load a few pieces into that hand before you set the dog up, so you are not digging in the pouch while the dog watches the zipper. The sequence ends, the piece appears from the hand, and the hand goes back to the pouch only after the dog has swallowed. Dull, and that is the point.
If the dog still heads for the pouch instead of the next obstacle, the pouch is more interesting than the course right now. Shorten the sequence and pay sooner. A dog that is being paid often for working has less reason to go shopping.
How does liver fit a long class or practice day?
A class night or a weekend of practice can put a lot of liver through one dog. The ceiling does not move for a busy day: according to VCA Animal Hospitals, treats should be no more than 10 percent of daily calories and the other 90 percent comes from complete and balanced food. A long day just gets you to that line sooner.
Two habits help. Weigh out the day's liver before you leave, so the pile has a size and you can watch it go down. Then use a plainer treat for the warm-up and the easy reps, and save the liver for the new sequence or the hard contact. The liver training treats guide explains how to run two levels of reward like that.
Water goes with it. The bag says: "Always supervise while feeding and provide fresh drinking water." Put the water bowl down next to the liver dish, and keep an eye on the dog while it eats, which is easy to forget in a busy class.
The same pay-the-piece habit carries over to coming back when called. We cover that in liver treats for recall training.
Questions
Can I bring liver to an agility trial?
That depends on who runs the trial and where it is held, and the rules differ from one event to the next. Read the entry papers and ask the trial secretary before you pack the pouch. We can tell you how the liver travels. The rules for the ring and the crating area belong to the people running the day.
Should I use liver or a toy as an agility reward?
Whichever your dog works hardest for, and plenty of handlers use both. A toy suits a dog that wants to chase at the end of a run. Food suits a dog that wants to eat, and it is quicker to hand over between short sequences. We make the food side of that pairing. Let the dog choose.
How do I carry liver while running a course?
Usually you do not. The pouch or dish waits at the side, and the reward comes at the end of the sequence when you walk back to it. If you want liver on you, a few pieces closed in a fist or a zipped pocket ride better than an open pouch that bounces as you run.
Can liver help with contact training?
Liver pays for a contact the same way it pays for any other piece: handed over at the position you want, right as the dog holds it, and kept small so the dog is not chewing on the board. Where the reward lands matters as much as what the reward is.
Does my dog need water breaks on a liver-heavy practice day?
The back of our bag says to provide fresh drinking water and to supervise while feeding, and that is the line we go by. Set the water bowl down next to the liver dish at the start of the session and offer it between sequences. A dry treat and a dog that has been running are reason enough.
Can a puppy start agility foundations with liver?
Our product data lists the liver for adult dogs and puppies, so the treat itself is not the question. Break the pieces very small for a puppy mouth and count them against a small daily allowance. Questions about when a growing puppy should start jumping or climbing go to your veterinarian, not to a treat company.