Lizard Trick of the Day

7/ 7/ 13

Hey guys!  I've had another request from Cole Beasley on how to train a lizard to do tricks.  I will be now posting a daily trick with directions on how to train it to your lizard!  Like with the other trick of the days the tricks will get harder as you go on.  You may think it's dumb to train a lizard, but training a lizard can be a fun way to entertain guests.  Even if you have a little sister, or someone who's not exactly fond of lizards they will still get a kick out of lizard doing tricks! Training your pet is also a good thing to do when you get bored!  A good time to train is when you are giving your lizard their meal, because you already have treats.  You can train their whole meal!  To train a lizard to do something at request I would do something with your hands, because using your voice would be absolutely useless with your lizard.  To tell your lizard their being good you can also use clicker training.  You can get a clicker at most pet stores for like $1.  A clicker is something you use to train all kinds of animals, but at first they may get a little afraid of it.  To make them know that the clicker is a good thing you can do something called Clicker Training.  Clicker training is something your pet will learn to love and you only have to do a few sessions of Clicker Training until your lizard, or any pet, know that it's a good thing.  To do it you simply click on your clicker and give them a treat.  Do this about ten times and then do something else!  If your lizard doesn't get the trick right away don't get down.  Some take longer than others to do things.  I would train in three, five minute intervals each day, so that your lizard doesn't get bored with you and stop doing the tricks.  To start with we'll do something simple, but first I will tell you what you need.  It's really not much.

Supplies:

Your lizards favorite treats (If the treats are a little too gross and you don't really want to hold them just put them in a small cup and use it as the bearer of the treats.)
Lizard
Yourself

Luring Your Lizard to Move:

1. Get your lizard's favorite treats out and try to get the lizard to move to your hand.  If you lizard does come to your hand give him/ her the treat.

2. Repeat step one until your lizard is moving to your hand automatically.

3. Start moving your hand and try to get your lizard to move with it.  Give your lizard the treat.

4. Repeat step three until your lizard is moving with your hand automatically.

5. Yay!  Your lizard is now moving around with your hand!

Now that wasn't hard at all was it?  If you liked this how to please tell me in the comments below!

Fish Trick of the Day

7/ 7/ 13

Hey guys!  I've had a recent request from Cole Beasley on how to train your fish!   I've decided to put a daily trick on here, so everyone can train their beloved pet!  Like with dogs we'll start with simple tricks and then over time we will make them more difficult.  Fish will be a bit harder than dogs, because they can't hear you or understand you.  Now by now your probably going why int he world would I want to train my fish, but there are many reasons why.  Do you have a fish that is very shy?  Is your fish always hiding in the back of the tank and when people want to see it they never can, because it's always in the back hiding?  Well fear not, Katie is here!  These tricks will help with this.  Your fish will get happy when they see people, because they know food is on the way to their tummies. They will enjoy training not because they get your attention (Lets be honest.  Do you really know a fish that adores people and loves it when they stroke their backs?  No.),but because they get food.  Therefore, when they see you, you become the food lady and then you become a good thing.  However, training is not without restrictions.  Just like you fish don't wan to be learning all day, so I would recommend training your fish in three, five minute sessions each day.  If you do anymore than that  your fish will definitely get bored with you and just swim away and do whatever it wants.  Now the first trick I will teach you is really quite simple, but first I will tell you the supplies you need.  (There's really not much!)

Supplies:

Fish
Yourself
Treats

Getting your Fish to Follow your Hand with Treats:

1. Feed your fish a few flakes of food to get them really excited!

2. Put some of their food in your hand and show them by placing your hand in the water.

3. Drop the food in your hand.

4. Get some more food in your hand and try to get your fish to eat from your hand.  (Please skip this part if you can't touch your fish.)

5. Repeat step number four until your fish is rapidly eating from your hand.

6. Stick your hand over the water with a treat in your hand.  If your fish swims up to the top of the tank to look drop a treat in.

7. Repeat step six until your fish is rapidly checking out your hand.

8. Move your hand a little bit and see if your fish follows.  If your fish doesn't follow to begin with stick your hand in the water with the treat and move it and wait for the fish to follow.

9. Repeat step eight until your fish is following you hand slightly.

10. Move your hand more and more until your fish is following your hand.

11.  You've trained your fish their first trick!

Park County Fair

6/ 27/ 13

The Park County Fair is quickly approaching and if you haven't entered your dog yet it is due soon!  The events will be agility, rally, obedience, and showmanship.  We have gone over all of these parts and hope you will try to participate in some of them.  Please be aware that agility is not offered at the state fair, so this is just a fun trial for that.  Below is a list of things you should have prepared for each of the events.

Agility:

For Novice please bring a long leash.  Your obedience leash will work.
If you are above Novice just bring a leash that you can easily slip on and off.
No collars in the ring, but please put one on your dog outside of the ring.
I would recommend tennis shoes and a pair of pants.  These are the best things to run in. 
Dog and you!

Rally:

Bring a decently long leash if in Novice.  6 foot is preferred.
No collars in the ring, but please put one on your dog outside of the ring.
Wear some nice clothes.  No open toe shoes.
Dog and you!

Obedience:

You need a 6 foot leash in Novice.  Anything above doesn't matter.
No collars in ring, but please put one on your dog outside of the ring.
What you wear for rally will work for obedience.
Dog and you!

Showmanship:

I recommend a decently short leash, but long enough that you're not pulling your dog around.
Wear something slightly nicer then you wear for obedience or rally.
Bring a brush to groom your dog with at the show.  Do not bring the brush in the ring.
Trim the hairs between the pads underneath your dog's feet.
For wash the dogs a day before the show.  If it's a lab don't wash.
Dog and you!

These are the basic things that you would need at the show.

Now lets talk about things to remember while showing.

Agility:

Even if your dog is on leash give each obstacle a command, so you're ready for off leash.
Be fun!

Rally:

Stop before the signs.
You can tell the judge you want to redo something and they will let you!
It's always a good idea to walk with someone else in case you don't know a sign.
Talk to your dog a lot and be as fun as possible.

Obedience:

Sadly, you can't talk to your dog, so try not too!

Showmanship:

Never be between the judge and the dog.
Pay more attention to the judge then to the dog.
You can bring treats!

Remember these things and you all will do fine.

Try to practice as much as possible.

Now lets review what we did at the last class.

At the last class we did some agility to start and introduced the weaves and the dog walk.  After that we did a small rally course consisting of 6 things to do.  Then we did the stays for obedience and were done!  If you missed this class feel free to contact me for the full lesson. 

Can You Come?

Our next PEOPLE meeting, please don't bring any dogs, is this Monday, March 11.  The meeting will be at the bubble.  However, it has come to my attention that there is also a concert at that time.   I know that Katielyn and Sophia can't come, and I was wondering if any other people have run into this problem.  If so, we will have to reschedule.  Will you please post or contact me if you can't come?  If we do still go on with the meeting there will be cookies and refreshments.  We will be making a club name and having elections.  There will be a president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and reporter.  If you are new to 4- H and you don't know what these are I will tell you.  The president shall preside at all club meetings, appoint committees, call special meetings, assist in planning programs and other duties of a presiding officer.  The vice president shall be chairperson of the program committees and shall preside in the absence of the president.  The secretary shall: (a) Keep minutes of regular club meetings and other club records as outlined in the Secretary's Book, (b) call or check the roll and read the minutes at each regular meeting, (c) serve on the program committee and as chairperson of the club history committee, (d) handle correspondence (e) preside in the absence of the president and vice president.  The treasurer shall (a) prepare a budget for approval by the club, (b) hold and pay out all  moneys of the club as designated by the adopted budget, (Any expenditures over $  ______________ not included in the budget, must be approved by the executive committee), (c) keep an accurate record of the receipt and expenditures of all funds, (d) present a financial statement when requested to do so, (e) serve as chairman of the finance committee.  The reporter or webmaster shall prepare news items on the activities of the club, which should be sent to either the county Extension office or directly to the newspaper or on the 4- H website.  The reporter shall serve on the club history committee, if the club has this committee.  Those are the spots!  Think if you would like to serve one of these spots or not!

Updates

Wow, there's a lot of snow outside! If you're participating in our next dog class please note that we are still having class on Sunday.  It is it's about 4 days away, so hopefully by then the snow will be melting away.  If half of the snow's still there, unless the roads are dangerous, we will still have class.  Remember our class is this Sunday.  That will be the third and our next meeting is the following week on the eleventh.  For our next class we will focus on having fun training with our dogs and making your dog excited!
Last class we had some pretty bored dogs (It may have been of the lack of training they got to do without everyone having a clicker.).  Also, I hope you have been practicing the things we went over earlier.  Over here we are working on this some more with our dogs, and we usually do It's Your Choice when giving them their food.  This is the best time to train a dog, because they are hungrier.  Please when you come to our next lesson to tell us if you didn't get the information packet from us!  It has some things that are good to have around.  Now we also had homework and that was to get a clicker, practice the things we went over in class, and find the treats or items that your dog just needs!  We will need the clicker as it is a HUGE part in clicker training!  Then we need you to find something that motivates your dog.  Examples of this are you, treats, or a toy.  I think that's all for now!

Don't forget about my other doggy page over at mydivapets. yolasite.com!  Here you will find nice yummy dog treats to make for your dog and the lovely dog trick of the day.  They homemade dog treats you can make for your dog are a good kind of treat to give to your dogs when they do something extra special.   To go along with, I also have the writing blog!  You can find it at mostlyfantasywriter. blogspot.com!  Here you will find excerpts of an amazingly good book written by me!  Please check it out!  If you also love to draw or like anything crafty, you may want to try entering the book cover contest!  This contest is to get a cover for The First Wizard, my book.  At this moment my book is without a cover.  If you would like to enter the contest just post a comment below and I will give you more details!  Next we have the crafty suprisinglycraftyme.blogspot. com blog!  Here you will find so many crafts to make your house look amazing!  All of the crafts on the blog have all been tried by me.

Please post a comment below if you like to see all the updates on our class and also comment if you have any questions.  I will try to answer any questions as soon as possible.

Dog Lesson Update

Yesterday I had some little notes to hand out to everyone, and I'm pretty sure that every one didn't get one.  If you are one of these people who didn't get any, can you please post below?  This is so I can get you one at the next lesson!  Plus, if you can't make it to the next lesson please make sure you contact us before the lesson, so that way we have a good idea on how many people will be coming!  Don't forget that the next lesson is on March 3 at 2:00 and our next meeting is on March 11 at 6:15 in the bigger room where the freedom riders meet!  At the meeting there will be cookies and refreshments and there may be cookies and refreshments at the lessons!  Also, don't forget about your homework!  Your homework is to find what your dog absolutely loves (EX. Treats, toys, or just you!), to get a clicker in time for the next meeting, and to keep on practicing with you dog!  The things you need to go over are the It's Your Choice, Loose Leash Walking, Clicker Training a Sit, and just watching you the owner!  If you are wondering how all these things will lead to a well trained dog, just watch this video it will explain a lot of things: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNw9tbdKr6A&feature=player_embedded.

If you are confused on what I was asking just post below and I will answer your questions as soon as possible.  If you have any questions concerning anything else please post below as well.

Before you go I would still like to remind you of my other websites!  The first of which is my writing blog which you can find here: http://mostlyfantasybookwriter.blogspot.com/.  Here I give you excerpts from my latest story The First Wizard!  This story is about the time before wands; magic was all sorcery.  Although, one girl finds some things about herself that intrigues those close to her.  If it sounds interesting, please check it out!  Plus, there is a contest in affect over there!  If you are very creative try making a cover for the book!  For right now my book is cover less and needs one!  The reward will be a free copy of the entire book when it's finished!  Hurry, get your work published!  Next we have my crafting blog, which you can find here:  http://thesurprisinglycraftyme.blogspot.com/.  I post new crafts often and there's always a way to decorate your own blog!  These ways are totally free!  Also there are some yummy desserts that you can make to tame your taste buds!  What are you waiting for?  Go there now!  Lastly, we have the sister to this blog at: mydivapets.yolasite.com.  Here you will find all the Dog Tricks of the Day as well as some Fido friendly dog treats!  You know how you love the taste of a homemade cookie?  Well your dog does too!  Go make them happy by finding some great recipes at this site!

1st Dog Lesson

Today we had a huge success!  It was surprising that we were able to round up 8 people!  We are going to have our next lesson on March 3 at 2:00.  If you didn't know, March 3 is a Sunday.  Please get
a clicker in time before our next lesson, so you won't have to wait for it.  If you just can't get one in time don't fret you can borrow one of ours for the duration of the lesson.  If you liked the lesson and want to come again please try coming to out meetings!  Our next meeting is on March 11 at 6: 15 at the bubble church.  When you're there there will be cookies and refreshments!   While you wait for our next lesson please try to keep on training your dog!  There is no need to go over the Loading of the clicker (Loading the clicker was the one where you just click and treat.) for this one was just a way to get your dog to know that the clicker's a good thing.  Please keep on working on It's Your Choice (It's Your Choice is the one were you put treats in both hands and wait for your dog to stop sniffing your hand.  Once they stop messing with your hand you click and treat with the other hand.).  If you are still slightly confused on how to do It's Your Choice still try going here and watching the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipT5k1gaXhc.  This is a good example on how to do it, but you can also just treat the dog for not attacking your hand with the treat.  Clicker Training the Sit is another thing we worked on today.  If you are still confused and need some help try looking at this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGPSCvmXyRg.  This video goes over exactly what we were doing, but just in a bit more detail.  Next, we also learned about Loose Leash Walking.  When doing this behavior you don't want your dog to pull on the leash.  If you're confused, please watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TAF5Fyd7NA.  This is pretty much exactly what we learned in class.  Just turn directions when your dog pulls on the leash.  Plus, try to give your dog treats every now and then during this exercise, so they won't get discouraged.  Lastly, we learned about Eye Contact.  During this we just rewarded the dog for looking at you and nothing else.  If you're confused watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiMGJBxRtBw.  This video tells you exactly what you ne
ed and more!  That would be everything we learned today!  Also, if you went to out lesson today could you please Comment the name of you and your dog?  This would help us get to know you better.  Another thing we would like you to go over with your dog is finding out what they absolutely loves.  This is what you will reward your dog with when they do a behavior correctly.  If you have any questions please Comment them!