Pet Habitat South Africa

<< Back To Blog List

14 Apr 2015

Training Your Guinea Pigs

Posted By : Guest

Filed Under : Guinea Pigs | Pet Care

Did you know that it can be pretty easy to train your guinea pigs to do tricks? Guinea pigs can’t really be trained in the same way as a dog can but, with a bit of patience, time and a couple of treats your guinea pig will be able to carry out tricks at a basic level. It may take you a little while to teach your guinea pig to jump through a hoop but the important thing is to make sure you have fun with it! You’ll probably be better sticking to one trick at a time to avoid any confusion.

Repetition and consistency is the key! So make sure you show your guinea pig the same way every time – even your body language needs to stay the same! You may need to show your guinea pigs 3 times or 15 times or even 30 times, but, once your guinea pig has mastered it you’ll both feel great! The key is not to lose your patience, try to relax and enjoy bonding process with your pet.

If you’re struggling to teach your guinea pig new tricks then this could be down to a number of things:

You’re guinea pig could feel scared or uncomfortable

Your training technique could be wrong

It’s important to build up a relationship before attempting to train your guinea pig. If your guinea pig is too shy to take food from your hand straight away then start by placing food in his/her cage. Hold your treat over their food bowl and wait for your guinea pig to come to you, don’t follow your guinea pig around the cage as this could potentially scare them – wait until they are comfortable coming to you.

Know their behaviours

Before you attempt to train your guinea pig you should keep a close eye on their behaviours, really get to know them! Do they prefer moving things around or they may be more active on their feet? Start with an activity you know that they’d prefer.

If your guinea pig has a tendency to come to the door when they know it’s feeding time then start calling their name if you do not do so already. This is a way of teaching within the behaviours that your guinea pig is familiar with.

Responding to their name

It’s easy to teach your guinea pig to come to you when you call. Again, try saying their name when you go to feed them and when you’re playing with them. You may be surprised on how fast your guinea pig will learn to relate their name to positive things such as treats and praise.

Teaching your guinea pig to talk

Guinea pigs are rather vocal creature and if they don’t receive a treat when they’ve completed their task then they’ll not be scared to let you know!

Jumping through hoops

Firstly, you’ll need to get your hands on a hoop that is big enough for your guinea pig to jump through. A good size will be round about 6″-10″ in diameter but this will obviously depend on the size of your pet. Make sure you have plenty of space for both you and your guinea pig to carry out this activity safely. Hold the hoop in front of your guinea pig (you may require a helping hand), start to entice your guinea pig through the hoop whist offering plenty of praise. It may take a little bit of practice in order to get it right but it’ll be worth it! When your guinea pig gets comfortable then lift the hoop up slightly and make sure you reward them once they are successful.