Wave

Your dog lifts a paw and waves hello in mid-air, touching nothing — learned out of a high five, but finished without contact.

🐾🐾🐾 · ~10 days · 5 min/session

Learn first: High five

Step-by-step

1. Start from the familiar slap

   Ask your dog to sit and request a few high fives so the paw comes up fast and confident. Reward three or four clean reps. The wave grows out of that lifted leg, so it has to come without hesitation.

2. Pull the palm away at the last moment

   Offer the upright palm as usual, but the instant the paw starts up, draw your hand back five centimetres. The paw is left hanging in the air — that is the moment to mark with “Yes!” and reward. Move your hand back smoothly, not sharply, so the dog isn’t startled.

   💡 If the dog gets confused and stops lifting the paw at all, do two or three easy reps with real contact and only then try again — frustration switches the trick off.

3. Hold the paw up longer

   Wait half a second longer before you mark, until the paw stays up for a second or two. Most dogs start moving it up and down on their own, searching for your palm — that is already a wave. Save your most generous rewards for exactly those double movements.

4. Shrink your hand into a gesture

   Move the upright palm a few centimetres further back each time, until you are no longer offering a hand but simply waving at waist height. The dog mirrors the movement — the smaller your gesture, the cleaner their wave. Don’t rush it, the shrinking takes several sessions.

   💡 Keep the gesture at waist height, not above your head — a hand held high makes the dog jump and rear up, which loads the lower back and knees. With a growing, overweight or arthritic dog, ask your vet how far is sensible.

5. Add the cue “Wave”

   Once the wave comes on the small gesture alone, say “Wave” right before it. Use a clearly different word and a clearly different gesture from your high five, or the dog will guess. Gradually wave less and less with your hand until the word alone is enough.

   💡 Don’t ask for the two cues back to back at first — alternate them day by day until each one is solid.

6. Wave from a distance

   Step back one pace and ask for a wave, then two, then from across the room. The dog should stay sitting and wave rather than travel to you — reward by carrying the treat over to them. Use the trick for hello and goodbye at the door and it will maintain itself.

Common mistakes

• Pulling your hand away too early, before the paw has started up — the dog can’t tell what you want and stops trying.
• Rewarding after the paw is already back on the floor — that rewards the drop, not the wave.
• The same gesture for high five and for wave — the dog can’t read minds and starts guessing which cue it is.
• Taking hold of the paw and waving it yourself — the dog tenses up and stops offering the leg voluntarily.

Problems & solutions

My dog stopped lifting the paw at all since I started pulling my hand back.

You jumped from contact to thin air too abruptly. Go back to five easy reps with a real slap, then draw your hand back just one centimetre and reward instantly. Only widen the gap once the paw comes up without hesitation.

My dog only waves if they can see a treat in my hand.

The treat has become part of the cue. Keep it in your other hand or your pocket, give the signal with an empty palm and reward after the wave. The first few reps may be slower — that’s normal and passes in a day or two.

My dog stands up and walks over instead of waving.

The sit has fallen apart, and walking is easier than waving. Ask for a sit, reward the sit itself once, then ask for the wave without stepping back at all. Add distance only once the dog waves from a sit ten times in a row.

Reward ideas

Soft treats given while the paw is still in the air or the instant it comes down. Sometimes the reward can be a wave back — many dogs take that as a game of its own.