# Trick Club: October 2020



## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Welcome to month two of Trick Club! (Missed month one? Head over here.)

This month's trick is from the AKC _intermediate_ trick dog checklist:

*Wave Good-Bye/Hello*

As you'll see in this video, "High Five" from the novice checklist is the foundation for this trick:






So it's really a 2-for-1 deal!

As with last month, progress photos and videos are just as welcome as polished photos and videos. We can learn a lot from each other's challenges and successes!

And if your poodle's already a pro at this one, try proofing it in a new location, or add a fun twist. Just don't forget to brag a bit to motivate the rest of us. 

Happy training!

Robin & Peggy


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## FloofyPoodle (May 12, 2020)

I LOVE IT!!! Can't wait to start!


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

FloofyPoodle said:


> I LOVE IT!!! Can't wait to start!


I'm excited, too! It'll be an interesting challenge for us. 

Peggy recently learned to shake a paw, albeit unintentionally. (I was teaching her to paw her Jolly Ball and she quickly generalized the command.) So I think she'll be frustrated at first, wanting to offer up her paw in the usual way. 

Definitely a job for the clicker.


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## For Want of Poodle (Feb 25, 2019)

This will be fun! 

Annie knows wave, but is much better with her right paw than her left. I taught it by generalizing "shake" to a paw target of my hand wherever, then a paw target of my hand high up, then clicking and treating for her bringing her paw up before my hand reached her, more distance, etc. 

I'll work on the left, and also doing it from more distance - the DMWYD trick dog titles have a "trick" that's 6 tricks from a certain distance away, and wave sounds like a good one to add to that repetoire.


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## Fenris-wolf (Apr 17, 2018)

Can’t wait to get started!


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

For Want of Poodle said:


> This will be fun!
> 
> Annie knows wave, but is much better with her right paw than her left. I taught it by generalizing "shake" to a paw target of my hand wherever, then a paw target of my hand high up, then clicking and treating for her bringing her paw up before my hand reached her, more distance, etc.
> 
> I'll work on the left, and also doing it from more distance - the DMWYD trick dog titles have a "trick" that's 6 tricks from a certain distance away, and wave sounds like a good one to add to that repetoire.


Waving from a distance will be adorable!


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Well, we jumped right in! And sure enough, Peggy was _frustrated. _She was hitting me and making such loud moaning and groaning sounds, my husband came in to make sure everything was okay. Lol.

I soothed her by going over familiar trick territory, and then snuck in a few more attempts at the end of our 5-minute session. She was much better.

We quickly progressed to her pawing the air if I wave my hand gently out of reach (instead of offering it solidly for a shake). But if I back up at all, she launches at me with both paws outstretched like a grumbly canine Superman. Ack!

Distance will come with time. I'd also like to get her stretching her paw upwards rather than straight ahead. (This is where teaching a high-five first would be beneficial.)

I've chosen a waving gesture as my physical cue and "G'bye!" as my verbal cue.


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## For Want of Poodle (Feb 25, 2019)

PeggyTheParti said:


> Well, we jumped right in! And sure enough, Peggy was _frustrated. _She was hitting me and making such loud moaning and groaning sounds, my husband came in to make sure everything was okay. Lol.
> 
> I soothed her by going over familiar trick territory, and then snuck in a few more attempts at the end of our 5-minute session. She was much better.
> 
> ...


If you want to feel better, just ask Annie how many weeks-months (not days) it took me to teach "cross your paws". Very frustrating for poodle and human and paws were ALL over the place.


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## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

We're in! The boys already high five fairly well and shake, if you count sort of hitting the offered hand. I try to think of variations on what they already know and today, I got a crazy notion of trying to teach them to high five each other LOL.

I think this trick has a far better chance of success .


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Rose n Poos said:


> I got a crazy notion of trying to teach them to high five each other LOL.


Ahhh! Now you _have_ to try!! I'm already picturing it and the cuteness is off the charts.

Then again, the image I've got in my head of the two of them waving goodbye in unison is also pretty darn sweet.


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## AbBen (May 31, 2020)

I’m excited to start joining in these. We have just started an intro obedience class so are not quite to the point where we can participate but I’m enjoying following along!


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## DNi (Apr 12, 2020)

So cute - Just tried this out. His "shake" is a new trick, so he offered it up when I had my hand out. Moving it higher turned it into a "high-five." Worked to make sure that he's reaching up and not forward - Great. Moved it back a little to get him to wave. He stared at it...and decided that I meant a "down." It's a work in progress, lol.


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## For Want of Poodle (Feb 25, 2019)

AbBen said:


> I’m excited to start joining in these. We have just started an intro obedience class so are not quite to the point where we can participate but I’m enjoying following along!


Try it! No advanced obedience needed, purely for fun. I find with Annie, the more things we have underway, the sharper and faster her 'real' obedience is. I guess she doesnt get bored. Plus, if you are in class and your dog starts to get bored (cough, Annie, cough) you can throw in some fun tricks as a mental break. If you can teach him to sit, you can teach the other trick commands!


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

DNi said:


> So cute - Just tried this out. His "shake" is a new trick, so he offered it up when I had my hand out. Moving it higher turned it into a "high-five." Worked to make sure that he's reaching up and not forward - Great. Moved it back a little to get him to wave. He stared at it...and decided that I meant a "down." It's a work in progress, lol.


Ha! Very relatable. It's all about clear communication, isn't it? Learning to speak poodle.

That's great that he understood your request to reach higher. If you've got the patience for it, I'd just pull your hand a little further out of reach each day...like an inch or two. (Unless, of course, you're using a clicker. I find a clicker lets you go quite a bit faster.)


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

AbBen said:


> I’m excited to start joining in these. We have just started an intro obedience class so are not quite to the point where we can participate but I’m enjoying following along!


No rush, but you can definitely join in any time! Just a few minutes of trick training a day is a good way to drain a poodle brain and strengthen your poodle communication skills. It's also just plain fun. 

Hope the obedience class is off to a good start!


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## Phoebe’sMom (Mar 15, 2020)

We're in and it will be interesting since she already knows shake as well. I wonder if I should try teaching it to her using her left paw, since she mainly shakes with the right i've noticed. Maybe this will keep her less confused?


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Phoebe’sMom said:


> We're in and it will be interesting since she already knows shake as well. I wonder if I should try teaching it to her using her left paw, since she mainly shakes with the right i've noticed. Maybe this will keep her less confused?


I persevered with the same paw, just practising in very short sessions (fewer than five reps) and then quickly jumping to some tricks she knows well to keep her confidence up. She can now differentiate between the two physical cues: just an extended, static hand (palm up) for shake or a waving hand for wave. 

Progressing to standing up while giving her the cue has helped. (Yesterday I was sitting on the floor with her.) It also helps to keep my waving hand at my hip rather than extended out in front of me, and keep the wave very controlled. No big movements, as they seem to invite her to jump forward.

She's wiped out now:










_"I surrender."_


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## Phoebe’sMom (Mar 15, 2020)

I’m so proud of Phoebe! We started training for wave with high-five like the gal suggested and this happened five minutes into our session. Definitely just the start but it’s looking good so far.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Phoebe’sMom said:


> I’m so proud of Phoebe! We started training for wave with high-five like the gal suggested and this happened five minutes into our session. Definitely just the start but it’s looking good so far.


She's awesome! And clearly you are, too. Way to go.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Not easy to capture! I'll need to get video:



















And here she is from my perspective:










This is by far her cutest trick yet, and the transition from shake to wave went surprisingly fast. The hardest part was getting her to stay put when I backed out of reach, but I think that will vary a lot according to each dog's temperament. 

Peggy's the type that, if she doesn't get it right the first time, she'll throw everything she knows at me in the span of about three exasperated seconds. So it was up to me to slow her down and hold her focus. For the first time ever, I did that with eye contact. 

Very cool feeling our bond deepen.


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## FloofyPoodle (May 12, 2020)

All these pictures and videos of dogs waving... 🥺 I need more, you understand? Moorrrrreeeee!

Fluffy is doing pretty good with the visual command, but yet again, the auditory one is taking a while. I wonder if it’s either just the way he thinks, or maybe the way I teach it?


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

FloofyPoodle said:


> All these pictures and videos of dogs waving... 🥺 I need more, you understand? Moorrrrreeeee!
> 
> Fluffy is doing pretty good with the visual command, but yet again, the auditory one is taking a while. I wonder if it’s either just the way he thinks, or maybe the way I teach it?


Good job, Fluffy!!

I'm shelving the verbal cue for now, which seems to be the best approach with Peggy. 

My verbal cues are a little sloppy, I think. They tend to confuse her. I'm guessing she hears variations in my tone and enunciation that I'm not aware of. I also tend to change the verbal cue as the trick develops. For example, I wanted this to be a wave goodbye, but found myself just naturally saying "Hiii Peggy!" Silly, inconsistent human.

The issue we're facing now is that Peggy seems to think she's supposed to jump forward after every wave. I think she's still trying to reach my hand, even though I'm now consistently standing five feet away.

Correcting this is proving challenging because I'm using a clicker. So I click for the wave and _then_ she moves. I don't want to not click for the wave.... But maybe that's what I should do? Start clicking the moment afterwards, if she stays put?


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## AbBen (May 31, 2020)

Training has really clicked for us this week, pun intended. 

We’re starting with shake and getting this solid might be as far as we get this month but we are going to try!


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Perfect start! And I love seeing photos of your boy.


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## EnnoTheRedhead (Oct 4, 2020)

I started teaching Enzo wave a few days ago. He was frustrated the first few times I held my hand out of his reach, even trying sit pretty to see if that was what he wanted. He can wave if I give the visual cue, so I'll have to work on adding the verbal cue. Like when I taught him to go to his crate and lie down, Enzo would let out a big _huff_ and a bark. I don't think he likes waving as much as he likes pawing everything in sight when I say "paw" haha.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

EnnoTheRedhead said:


> I started teaching Enzo wave a few days ago. He was frustrated the first few times I held my hand out of his reach, even trying sit pretty to see if that was what he wanted. He can wave if I give the visual cue, so I'll have to work on adding the verbal cue. Like when I taught him to go to his crate and lie down, Enzo would let out a big _huff_ and a bark. I don't think he likes waving as much as he likes pawing everything in sight when I say "paw" haha.


So funny! And interesting....

Peggy's doing that huff/bark combo almost every time I ask for a wave. She definitely seems frustrated, whereas "paw" elicits a perfectly calm response, regardless of how many times I ask for it.

Any other poodles out there finding "wave" exasperating?


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## DNi (Apr 12, 2020)

It's also a challenging one for Loki. He moved very quickly from "shake paw" to "high five" but we're having trouble with "wave." I think for us, it's because I'm having trouble using a consistent visual cue for "wave" and what I want his final "wave" to look like (e.g. exclusively just paw reaching up vs. pawing forward vs. a modified high-five). Our current "wave" is "forward-sweeping high-five/dramatic slap-the-ground."


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

DNi said:


> Our current "wave" is "forward-sweeping high-five/dramatic slap-the-ground."


I like the sound of that!


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## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

Based on the poodle see poodle do principle, I'm making sure we make contact for our high fives and moving slightly out of reach while waving my hand in a normalish gesture for wave. I'm getting a response that could be considered a wave .

I'm getting pretty good results with both boys on this, so yay. I decided to use the verbal of just "wave", figuring if I toss in "wave...hi" or "...bye" they'll key on "wave" regardless.

I like Loki's version, tho . I had a moment of wondering how to teach a royal wave but quickly realized the unlikely chance of success lol.


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## DNi (Apr 12, 2020)

Rose n Poos said:


> I like Loki's version, tho . I had a moment of wondering how to teach a royal wave but quickly realized the unlikely chance of success lol.


To be honest, I think it's him reaching the point of exasperation and merging "shake paw" and "high-five".... if individually they don't work, adding them together must be right, right? /poodlemath 😂


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## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

I keep forgetting to take some video but both boys sorta mostly have Wave down. They both were pretty good with Shake (right paw) and High Five (left paw) so I tried to introduce a repeated motion for Wave.

Remo will give a couple of leg and paw motions, almost looking like a wave but Neo's is a bit stiffer, a bit more of a salute lol. I'll set a reminder for myself to see if I can a video up before the deadline.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

As we approach the end of October, I'm wondering how everyone else ultimately fared? Were you able to get some video, @Rose n Poos? I can't get enough of Remo and Neo.

On our end, I scrapped the verbal altogether and am consistently getting a "wave" back when I wave my hand at hip level. At one point I actually had to retrain SIT (lol) as Peggy had started sitting _and_ waving. This has definitely been the most challenging trick we've worked on yet and I'm still not entirely sure why.

As always, if you've got any input on next month, send it my way. I'm thinking something super basic to help us recover from this one.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Oh, and here's an example of a frustrated poodle:






This is what happens if I do one too many reps. She starts getting "creative."


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## For Want of Poodle (Feb 25, 2019)

Here's our submission. My super confident goal was to work on doing this at a distance. Yeah well.... Instead i discovered at a distance my wave cue looks way too much like 'down' so have been working on a verbal cue instead. "Hmm, you didn't want a down? How abouts I flop over instead?" Uh, nope. "Cross my paws?" Nope. 

Both of us kinda suck at verbal cues, and i, ahem, forgot about this for most of the month, so here is Annie's submission. Now on a verbal cue. Oh! And then because she is so visual cue based, photographing this motion while kneeling was a PAIN (obviously me holding a phone is a cue, right?)

Annie 'Say Hello!"


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## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

Here's my boys. Finesse, we don't got . I didn't get this filmed in the daylight so Neo doesn't show up too well.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Rose n Poos said:


> Here's my boys. Finesse, we don't got . I didn't get this filmed in the daylight so Neo doesn't show up too well.



Ha! I love them so much. Such wonderful impulse control. 

You really nailed this one, Rose!


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

For Want of Poodle said:


> Here's our submission. My super confident goal was to work on doing this at a distance. Yeah well.... Instead i discovered at a distance my wave cue looks way too much like 'down' so have been working on a verbal cue instead. "Hmm, you didn't want a down? How abouts I flop over instead?" Uh, nope. "Cross my paws?" Nope.
> 
> Both of us kinda suck at verbal cues, and i, ahem, forgot about this for most of the month, so here is Annie's submission. Now on a verbal cue. Oh! And then because she is so visual cue based, photographing this motion while kneeling was a PAIN (obviously me holding a phone is a cue, right?)
> 
> ...


She looks so elegant. Such a pretty wave!


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