Liver as the payout in nose work and scent games

Liver treats for nose work can do two jobs. For a beginner, a bit of liver is the hide itself, tucked in a box for the dog to find. Later it becomes the payout, delivered right where the dog finds the source. Either way the bits stay small, and the session's liver counts toward the day's treat budget.

Is liver the hide or the reward in nose work?

Both, and the job changes as the dog learns. On day one the liver is the thing being searched for. The dog has no idea what the game is, so the game has to be obvious: food is in there, go and get it.

Once the dog understands that a search ends in a find, the roles split. The hide becomes whatever your sport or game uses, and the liver moves to the payout. It arrives at the source, from your hand or dropped into the spot, the instant the dog commits to it.

How long that takes depends on the dog. There is no schedule to keep. Move on when the dog is searching with its nose down and not looking back at you for hints.

How do you start a beginner dog searching for liver?

With boxes on the floor and no cleverness at all. Set out a few open cardboard boxes in a row, with a bit of liver in just one. Let the dog in, stay quiet, and let it work out which box is paying. When it finds the liver, let it eat there. Do not call it away or point.

Move the liver around from one round to the next so the dog is not just learning "the box on the left." After a few easy wins, close the flaps partway, then add more boxes, then change the room. Change one thing per session. A dog that fails twice in a row is telling you the step was too big, so go back to the one before.

Keep each piece small. Why dogs love liver gets into what makes it such a strong draw, and it is a strong draw: a beginner will usually try hard for it, which is exactly what you want in the early sessions.

How do you deliver liver at the find?

At the source, and fast. The point of the payout is to tell the dog "that spot, right there," so the liver should show up where the nose just landed, not back in your hand across the room.

Two ways work. If you are close, hand the bit straight to the dog at the box. If you are farther back, drop it into the container or onto the spot so the dog gets paid for the find where it happened. Walking the dog over to you first turns a find into a recall, and that is a different game.

Keep your timing steady and your body quiet. Stand still, let the dog work, and move only once it has hit the source. Your movement is information, and dogs are good at reading it.

How do you stop a dog checking your pouch instead of the room?

Take the pouch out of the conversation. A dog that has learned liver lives on your hip will search your hip. Keep the pouch closed and behind you, or leave it with the gear bag, and load the pieces you need into your hand or into the hides before you let the dog in.

If the liver is already placed, you have nothing to reach for during the search, and the dog has nothing to look at but the room. That is the whole fix. It also keeps your hands still, which helps.

If the dog keeps checking you anyway, make the search easier for a round or two so that the room pays better than you do. Then go back to the harder version.

How much liver does a scent session use?

Less than you expect, because a find needs only a taste. The usual ceiling comes from VCA Animal Hospitals: treats stay at or under 10 percent of daily calories, and complete and balanced food supplies the other 90 percent. A string of finds paid with whole pieces can use up more of that allowance than you would guess.

Weigh the liver before you start and stop when it is gone. Break each piece into bits the dog can swallow in one go, so the next search starts without a pause. Counting pieces is guesswork, so let the treat budget calculator convert your dog's daily calories into grams or ounces of liver.

The bag says: "Always supervise while feeding and provide fresh drinking water." On a day with a lot of searching, put a water bowl where the dog can reach it.

For where this fits among the other uses, the high value training treats guide lays out the ranking of rewards.