Training recall with the wonder that is livercake

[thewizenedone]

Morning

So, todays plan is to make some liver cake and take the daft hound to the fields later. I am planning on getting a long training lead this morning. Can I have suggestions please as to method, I am thinking let her go ahead then stop and recall. Sorry if I sound thick but new to this. She is currently snoozing unaware of the fun and games to come. She loves the fields but therein seems to lie the problem, she is keen to chase her ball but once the novelty wears off, she is glancing around constantly for some distraction, preferably dogs and thats it off she goes, it wouldnt be so bad but once she has said hello, she trots back until she sees another one . Any suggestions gratefully received

No advice but good luck! It's a lovely day for dog walking today .

The only thing I can think of is that, once your dog knows you have liver cake, she may be reluctant to leave your side!

I have tried everything else, chicken, sausage, cheese, gammon, it wouldnt be so bad but she is excellent in the house, goes to her bed when told and doesnt beg, I mean fgs a Boxer who doesnt beg for food . I shall probably be a gibbering wreck by this afternoon, methinks it wont be easy

How do you make liver cake then? I have a hound who won't recall, he scrounges food all the time but when we're out even little cubes of liver aren't enough to get him to come back, but if it was cake... well, I'd come for cake.

microwave liver cake recipe. I'd open the windows while you are making it. Sardine cake also a particularly well loved stinky delight here.

Is there anything else your dog really loves doing OP? like playing tug or searching for things in the undergrowth? ime with getting a good recall variety is the spice of life. When she hears you call (or whistle) you want it to be thinking 'ooooh I wonder what fun awaits me now?!' rather than 'liver cake' or 'tennis ball time'.

So what I would mix it up.
Recall - liver cake
Recall- short tennis ball retrieves (don't throw it too far away as they can get distracted on the way back and bugger off). I throw it no more than 5m away from me but in all sorts of directions multiple time so the dog is really focusing on me.
Recall - game of tug
Recall - jack pot shower of liver cake
Recall - running away game
Recall - lots of praise

Repeat

I think if you go out with a really positive mental attitude of this is going to be lots of fun, for me as well as my dog, rather than it's going to be awful and hard work then not only will you enjoy it more but you'll probably be more successful.

Don't forget you can use a release to go and play with another dog "go play" as a very powerful reward for a successful recall.

Just remember recall must not be the end of something for the dog but the beginning of something more exciting and you will have fantastic recall.

What ever you are recalling away from make the reward 10 times better.

Many thanks for all the excellent advice, I think its more thats she "new " to me if you see what I mean. She has her paws firmly under the table, so is testing the boundaries. Usually just rockets off to see if anything happening in the next field. At home, she has a selection of a balls, which are like her own personal nirvana but outside well different story. I have got the long trainer line if all else fails! Hopefully, the liver cake is the answer!! thanks again

Liver cake is positively magnetic for my dog and I like Slubber's idea of mixing it up with other magical treats and rewards that appeal to your dog.

DO remember to take it out of your pocket when you go to non-doggy places though as it smells absolutely foul. (Embarassing incident at daughter's dance class last week when a terrible odour began to overtake the entire waiting area. I couldn't bear to tell anyone that it was emanating from MY pocket )

Bloody liver cake!!

My lovely friend made some (she is heavily pg bless her, she said nobody warned her about the smell!) She made far too much so gave me some for my Pip, I kept it in the fridge.

Every single time I went to the fridge, the dog was at my heels! My fault entirely but even so - grrr!

Thanks for the link to the recipie, I will be making more, not done much training with Pip for a while but was thinking of brushing up. She's a fab dog, excellent recall - she just 'got it' and I never had to do much to encourage her, I know I'm a lucky so and so!

Have always done the training anyway as she loves the interaction. Liver cake, tennis ball and really good idea about letting her 'go' and play, I do tend to stop her from approaching other dogs as she's a bit full on with her bouncy/play-with-me-now tendencies that can be what we work on.

Good luck OP.

I made liver cake for my beardie yrs ago

she didn't bloody like it..I gave it to the lab next door

the stench is disgusting

Ah, 'the lab next door', Pip may only be a half lab but that's the half that governs her appetite/eating habits

Ok, so this liver cake. Am going to attempt to recall train my greyhound

does it have to be made with granary flour?

I made mine with self raising and it worked fine, open the windows damn stuff stinks

Stinks? Understatement! I made it on monday. I thought there was something dead somewhere

But did it work Spaghetti? My Lurchers recall improved once I bought a bag of 'puppy sausages' from Pets at Home. I've tried others, but these must have drugs in them as my boy will do anything for a slice.

I'm too cowardly to make liver cakes.

It did most! Everytime I called him back to me and he turned and looked at me and saw the cake in my hand he charged back to me :o

It's also worked wonders for getting him down the stairs on his own :o

Oh should mention it didn't work when he spied a cat. I didn't see it (grey tabby in a hedge really far away) and he was off, tbh it was the most amazing thing I've ever seen, but a pain in the arse going to fetch him back :o

We started this command in the house and luckily Beau is a dream outside for us. ATM

We use the word 'here'.

So grab some treats and go and hide somewhere like behind a door or couch. Call 'Beau here', at the start we had to say it a few times but she picked it up really quickly.

Cuddle, titbit. Then ignore for a few mins until she lost interest. Hide again and repeat.

She comes all the time now, inside, outside. On a lead or not.

But you MUST treat her every time she follows the command, not just when it's convenient iykwim.

How did you get on today op?

Didnt get on that brilliantly she loves the liver cake but tbh her favourite thing of all is balls, prefereably squeaky ones, so far the only way to get her back is a new squeaky ball! the house is full of them, your watching tv and one lands in your lap as she actually schleps up to you and sort of spits them out! . Shes a smart girl she will learn, originall she was sprinting off out of view shes got better, will chase or go to play with another dog, but they have to be less than 30 feet away, I can recall her from about that distance but she still trots about five feet away from me. If she doesnt come back at all - likes to sit down in the field and chew her ball- I just turn my back and walk off that does the trick! hey ho just have to perservere I suppose.