# Noelle has her TKN



## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

Noelle, Noelle, you little trickster you. She got her Trick Dog Novice title this afternoon Easy peasy and lots of fun. We went to Petco and met with the CGC evaluator. I paid a $10 Petco fee. They billed it as a CGC test, whatever. 

Noelle touched my hand with her nose.
Noelle sat with a hand signal, downed with a hand signal, and did a flashy flip finish with a hand signal.
Noelle gave me a high five.
Noelle gave me her paw and we shook hands.
And Noelle spun in a circle.

Since she has her CGC, five tricks was all it took. So, she has her TKN. That was fun. We'll polish up some more silly tricks and come back and go for the TKI Trick Dog Intermediate. That's 10 tricks, what fun!

So much easier than training for the CGC or in Novice class. We'll be back.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Who's going to be surprised that you were successful? I think nobody. Congratulations on your great teamwork.


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

Great job, Click and Noelle! We're working on Intermediate too. It's actually quite a step up from Novice, but I know Noelle and Frosty can do it easily


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## chinchillafuzzy (Feb 11, 2017)

Congratulations!! Keep making your name longer and longer by adding those titles Noelle! You rock!


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## Asta's Mom (Aug 20, 2014)

Congratulations! Have fun training more tricks for Noelle.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Congratulations to the both of you. Of course we all knew you could do it - Noelle and you are such a wonderfully trained team. 

I'm glad to see you are moving on to the intermediate - it's lots of fun to train tricks.


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

Awwww what a nice gift to you from Noelle! Good job kiddos, I know intermediate will be just more frosting on your cake!


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

Thanks everybody! This was a fun day and I needed some fun.


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## Muggles (Mar 14, 2015)

Great work guys! I’m sure you’ll smash intermediate


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## twyla (Apr 28, 2010)

Well done done Noelle


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## Axeldog (Aug 29, 2014)

Way to go Noelle!! Congratulations! 

I have recently become interested in trick training, and taught the poos to 'wave bye bye' this weekend when it was raining. Since poodles are so smart, I find the biggest limitation to trick training is my imagination on what to train them! I need ideas  

Anyway, congratulations on another title, with many more to come, I'm sure!


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Axeldog said:


> Way to go Noelle!! Congratulations!
> 
> I have recently become interested in trick training, and taught the poos to 'wave bye bye' this weekend when it was raining. Since poodles are so smart, I find the biggest limitation to trick training is my imagination on what to train them! I need ideas
> 
> Anyway, congratulations on another title, with many more to come, I'm sure!


If you go to AKC website, look up Trick Dog. You’ll find three checklists used for testing for trick dog titles. You’ll find lots of ideas there. Plus if you decide to get tested, you’ll know what you need to achieve for each level. Plus there’s tons of videos there and on YouTube etc. showing you how to train those and other tricks. To be a performer you have to submit a video and many of those are on YouTube too. 

When looking for tricks keep in mind what your dogs like to do and avoid those they don’t. For example my dog doesn’t like to roll on her back so I never taught her roll over or play dead which are popular tricks. OTOH she likes putting her 2 front paws on a ball to roll it so I also taught her to barrel roll which is similar. Go with their strengths and have fun.


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

The AKC has training videos for tricks on Youtube, too! Tricks are fun to train. Next we need 10 tricks. This could be interesting!


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

I found the intermediate harder then the advanced.


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

Skylar,

I was looking at the skills and I think intermediate is harder than advanced or even performer! This is going to be a challenge. What tricks did you train?


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## galofpink (Mar 14, 2017)

Congratulations to both of you on your trick title!


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Click when I get home I’ll look up our checklists and post back


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Here is a link on AKC with some trick training and info Dog Training - Tricks - American Kennel Club

This link has links to the checklists for anyone interested in seeing the various choices in case they want to get their dog tested. I didn't take a class - I did all the training in about a month when I heard that my club was going to do testing - we already had some tricks from obedience and agility training so I wasn't starting from scratch.

We had a CGC so we too only needed 5 tricks instead of 10 for Novice.

1	Gets in box	- brought a shoe box
2	Get on (low platform or step – 4 paws)	brought her blue bone or their agility pause table
3	Jump (thru a low hoop or over a low bar) - used their obedience jump
4	Paws up (2 front paws on low stool/step) brought the bowl I used to train pivot
5	Touch it (hand or target stick)	Hand 
From the list - there were several other tricks we could have done.
Shake hands	
Spin in circle	
Balance beam – low board few inches off floor	
Tunnel (agility tunnel)	
Hand signals (down, sit or come)	
When we arrived for testing, I, and everyone else was surprise that they were making us use their weird wood box and this odd looking three steps up and three steps down - instead of our own props. Some people were upset and I think this was the choice of the evaluator - so ask ahead before you come so you're prepared. Also for those considering whether or not to do this - you can use food or toys to lure your dog in novice making it easier.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Intermediate 10 tricks - No food or toy lures. May use food rewards/clickers. Each trick has to be done twice
1	Balance treat on nose or head for 5 seconds	I felt it was cheating to just stick food in her top knot where it would stick, so I had Babykins lay down and she had treats on both front paws and on her head. I could never get her to balance food on her nose.
2	Fetch it (20’) throw toy – say “fetch” and return toy within 2’ of handler so handler can take the toy	This was a real challenge for us and I was proud that we could do this - I actually had been training this for a year, since I got my dog because she never returned anything and would make me chase her.
3	Game interactive puzzle with treats	bought a nice one on Amazon and still use it. 
4	Paws up on handler’s arms 
5	Push a button on sound toy - bought small one on clearance at TJ Maxx - I thought she could just paw it to turn it on, but she was too gentle and too light weight and I found the only way she could turn it on was to put both paws on it.
6	Shell game (3 cups) touch or knock it over - Click you helped me on this when I posted. I finally trained her with small paper cups and was surprised they made us with this large heavy plastic cups from a fast food restaurant that didn't tip easily.
7	Weave poles (6 weave poles) 0 Babykins can do weave poles and I wanted to use them in the Advanced so here I used food as a lure.
8	Wobble board – balance 10 seconds	This was another huge challenge for us because my dog does not like movement and she had to use theirs and it moved differently from hers that I brought from home to use.
9	Handlers choice – Dolly walks with paws on ball	yellow ball - 5 and under stores sell nice fully inflated ball park balls.
10	Handlers choice- heeling with automatic sit - this means she heels and then using my body language (not verbal or hand signal) she sat - this is from obedience training.
We were also prepared to do Hand signal only sit, down, stand do 2x no verbal	command as a back up.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Advanced needed 5 tricks - No food or toy lures. May use food rewards/clickers Do each trick once (interesting that intermediate you had to do them twice)
1	Barrel Roll on two feet rolling at least 5’ - I made a barrel by buying a cheap yoga foam cylindar. It was a little slippery so I covered it with that slightly sticky shelf liner - I literally used needle and thread to sew the liner around the barrel.
2	Light	Light I bought cheap push lights from the hardware - and they are small - like the small musical toy, I had to get her to step on with two feet to get it to light up, she's just too gentle and light weight to turn it on with a foot tap.
3	Weave poles (6 poles) no food or toy lures - she had this from agility training
4	Handlers – sit and stand on blue bone	Blue bone- this is an exercise equipment for dogs that is shaped like a bone and filled with air so she had to balance on this while sitting and standing - so it's more challenging than doing it on something that is stable like a table.
5	Handlers– Weave around legs while I walk	- I saw later AKC had a video where someone just stands and their dogs weave in and around their legs - Babykins does this naturally when she greets and is exciting. What we did was I was walking and she had to weave in and around one leg, then I stepped forward and she weaved in and around that leg - etc. and I did this walking 10 feet distance.

We were also prepared to do these as well
Back up (walk backwards 10’ - she tends to go a little crooked on this)
Handlers– go through agility tunnel with bend - this was so easy since she loves agility tunnels that there was no challenge for us in this one.
Circle right, circle left – one time in each direction	
Another trick I thought would be good as handlers choice is the novice obedience (which is changing) Sit Stay while Handler Walk Around the Ring - where you sit your dog in the middle of the ring, then you walk away and walk all around the perimeter of the ring before coming back to your dog.

Anyhow I hope this helps anyone considering doing the tricks. I never tried to force her to do things she hated. I didn't want to spend much money so I bought things on clearance or cheaply if I couldn't use it for other purposes.

It was a lot of fun to do - very rewarding for me because you get this wonderful feedback that your training is effective when you see your dog doing tricks. Plus some of these are fun to use if your dog is a Therapy dog - I do some of these in nursing homes. Kids love the food on paws and top knot trick - they love to put the food on her.


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

Thank you so much for this list of awesome tricks. I'm going to teach Noelle:

Carry a basket 
Fetch a toy and bring it to me
Interactive canine game to get treat
Go to your mat from 10 ft.
Hand signals 3 in a row
Leg weave 
Paws up (on handler’s arm)
Push button on sound toy
Shell game (find treat under 1 of 3 cups)
Handler’s choice #1 Salute 

Of these, I think the hardest one is going to be carry a basket. But we will see. Thanks for the encouragement. I really needed it.


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## galofpink (Mar 14, 2017)

That's a wonderful list of tricks! Thanks for sharing! 

I'm not sure I'll ever get around to actually doing any titles with Shae, but it is great to have some ideas of tricks we can work on in the future. Shae really loves our morning trick half-hour and now I have some more great ideas to add to the things I want to teach her.


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