Hi

Am in desperate need of something really appetising to get my dogs head up whilst trotting, I noticed Julie Brown with Max the top winning boxer at Crufts using a big lump of brown something, but it was just there for him to lick and sniff at it not giving him to eat?!?!?! (not sure if this is liver cake?) does anyone know what it is?

Also am thinking of making some liver cake, does anyone have a recipe for it, or otherwise something really out of this world that he might go mad for, have tried sausages, cheese, fridge raiders, diff biscuits, have tried liver which he does like a lot but am thinking maybe need something really stinky to get him mega excited

Thanks

Vicki

it looked like a lump of liver to me ?

google liver cake and you'll get a recipe straight away (i can never remember quantities lol)
also tuna cake.

My bitch will only show and works for cooked heart (which garlic) and morrisons dog sausage treats lol

I just slow bake the liver then cut it into different size pieces, the longer you bake it the harder it gets

oh ok will try baking some normal liver too, have only ever boiled it but it gets quite bitty, didn't think of other ways to cook it LOL

Thanks :0)

I wouldn't go so far as to call this a recipe, but I mince up a pound of liver with one of those dreary little half moon bladed things, takes forever but those dogs sure get all my efforts :). I add a couple of raw eggs, two or three cloves of crushed garlic and some plain flour, wholemeal if possible, stir the whole smelly mess into a paste, pour a tablespoon of olive oil onto a baking tray and shove the tray with paste spread thinly into the oven for about 30 minutes. Even picky eaters go wild for it. At a show 6 weeks or so ago I had one fat lump left and two dogs to get round the ring, so I knew what I had to do...I bit off a corner and I had the taste in my mouth for the rest of the afternoon...bleeaahhh!

8 oz liver (lamb or chicken)
4 oz self raising flour
2 eggs
2 tsps garlic powder (the more the better)

Put all the ingredients into a blender until the mixture is smooth, pink and runny (not too rigid a requirement depending on how chunky you want the cake). Pour into cake tin or swiss roll tin and place in oven at 180 C for around 30 - 40 minutes.

Leave to cool and cut into bite size pieces.

These can be split up into enough pieces for one show / training session and placed in separate bags for freezing.

You can clicker train getting the head up. The trouble with using a piece of food, whatever it is, as only bait to NOT eat is that dogs will eventually learn it's pointless looking at it as they won't get it anyway. Boxers are baited in the ring but for many other breeds it would look really bad if they were especially when moving. What you do is simply wait for a moment when the dog DOES have the head up, then quickly either use a clicker to click or use a single word to mark the dog has done right, STOP moving, then give the reward straight away. Move off again, if head is up, click and stop and reward again. If head is down, wait until it comes up -you can make a noise or whatever to make it happen, it doesn't matter if it is only for a split second that it goes up as long as you mark it as being right.  If head is down nothing happens. Little by little you increase the time the head has to stay up until the click and reward appears, until eventually you can finish what you are doing eg. a triangle or whatever the judge has asked for, because the dog will know that only by keeping the head up will the reward appear. And yes liver cake is excellent for it. :)

I hate to see Boxers baited (or stuffed with food is a more accurate description) in order to 'get them on their toes'.  They are a working breed for goodness sake and should be able to show themselves off without being constantly bribed! (I speak as a boxer owner).  I think the majority of boxer handlers do it because a) everybody else does and b) they can't be bothered, or don't know how to train their dogs to show without it.  I agree with Marianne's advice regarding teaching them to move with their heads up.  Clicker training is an excellent way of training and results can be achieved quickly if it is done well. 

I use a similar recipe to Lucydogs, but with one egg, and plain flour not self-raising as I found it was too crumbly with SR. I also add a generous helping of dried oregano - gives it a lovely strong herby smell and makes it less 'liver-y' to human noses, especially while cooking!

if cooking just liver boil it first as normal when cooked drain and pat dry place on baking sheets do not stack or overlay bake it in a low oven until hard when cool cut in bit size bits into plastic bags in amount needed then freeze until wanted and just take out night before a show i do it in five pound batches and the dogs get the liver water added to there food

Try Black pudding

It will probably be a boiled and then baked in the oven bit of liver.
But know some use kidneys etc.

I've found my Boxer girls like tuna cake as I have one that has dietry
intolerances. I use gluten free flour to make it as 'allergy free' as possible.
Touch wood it's been fine and tolerated well.

The really stinky part is garlic....and people add that to the water when boiling the liver
or sprinkle on to the liver for baking in the oven or I add mine to the tuna cake.

Mine normally respond to 'head up' command unless bitch inseason dripping on the floor
or tasty treats all over the floor and then it becomes a bit more challenging.
Some train so that the dog knows that they have a piece of food in the closed hand, but the dog
doesn't get the reward until it has moved up and down, triangle and join on the end..

> oh ok will try baking some normal liver too, have only ever boiled it but it gets quite bitty, didn't think of other ways to cook it LOL
>
>

What liver are you using.

The one that is the firmest is Ox/Beef, Pigs is OK, but Lambs is too delicate I find and anything smaller is useless for bait.

Nuking in the microwave and then cutting up and drying in the over works for me.

I also make liver flapjacks, to make it cleaner to handle and make the liver go further (stop them getting too much and getting loose).

For the flapjacks I blitz a pound of liver add a pound of porridge oats, 3 eggs, spread on a baking tray cook in hot oven at gas mark 6 until brown at the edges and cut up.

Store in a container in the freezer and take out how many pieces you need.

I keep the pieces whole and the act of breaking a bit off keeps the attention in the stand with mien with a crumb or two given if attention about to be lost.

Patting my pocket or bum bag before moving off and them knowing they will get a bigger bit at the end is enough to keep their heads up usually.

It does seem that they use huge chunks of liver to bait boxers.