I cut my training treats quite small, about the size of a pea. I do this for a few reasons. It's quicker for the dog to eat which saves time as you don't have to wait long for the dog to be ready to go again. Dogs don't really seem to care if they get a treat the size of a pea or the size of a marble, a reward is a reward. The smaller you cut the treats the more rewards you have, meaning you have more chances to reward behavior and you're also able to give more treats for the same cost. A marble-sized treat is one treat, but if you cut it into 4 pieces you can use it to reward 4 times, and instead of using 4 treats you only used one. To me it's worth the time it takes to cut the treats up small, but you certainly don't have to.
Liver is a bit smelly. When it's raw it isn't too bad (to me) but when it starts cooking it can get smelly. Open the kitchen window and turn the stove fan on. The final product is not stinky or smelly at all, and is not squishy or gross either.
This was 2 lbs of liver (2.07 to be exact) and ended up making about 12oz of treats. Raw meat is mostly water, so after boiling and baking most of the water, and therefore the weight, is gone.
Step 1: Cut up the liver. I usually use beef liver. Chicken livers are a bit small to deal with. You can use any type of liver though. Pork, sheep, goat, venison, elk, and so on. Liver is slimy and bloody and can take some getting used to. I cut it up into pieces about the size of a playing card, maybe a little smaller, just to make it all fit better in the pot.
Step 2: Boil it about half an hour. A brown foam forms on top, I skim it off periodically.
Step 3: Strain and cool. I pour it into a colander and run cool-warm water on it to rinse any of the foamy gunk off.
Step 4: Get cutting. Cut the chunks into treat-sized pieces, however big you want them to be.
I butterfly any pieces that are thicker than I want.
Some chunks may be oddly shaped. Butterfly and cut any odd bits off as needed to cut them down to size.
Step 5: Preheat the oven to 250*. You can also use a toaster oven for smaller batches. Spread the treats on a baking sheet in a single layer.
Step 6: Bake for about an hour. I like the treats to be dry and firm and a bit crisp on the outside, and the inside still a bit soft and chewy. These were baked for an hour and ten minutes.
Store the treats in the fridge. They're fine to be left out a couple hours and won't get funky, but do keep them refrigerated.
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