Guinea Pig – Tricks
Most guinea pig owners I know, want to know how to teach their piggy a trick, or what kind of tricks they can do. This does not harm the piggy in anyway, in fact the piggy usually has a lot of fun doing it once they have mastered the trick.
Remember A hungry Piggy Learns Best
Food is the best motivator for a guinea pig. The reward a piggy seeks after he/she does a trick is not your praise and adoration, but rather the treat in your hand. In example, if you are wanting your piggy to run in a clockwise circle when you tell it to, you should kneel on the floor, and place your piggy on the floor as well, facing you, of course. Fill your pockets with small, light trats, like bits of carrots, and keep a metal clicker in your hand. Say the word “Turn”, and if by any chance your guinea turns his/her head even the lightest bit to the right, click the noisemaker. The sound may startle the piggy and they will probably look up at you in surprise. Give them the reward then, h will soon come to recognize the sound as an indication he has done something right.After they have eaten their treat, put him back in the original position and say “Turn”. Sound the clicker and give them their reward if they respond as desired. As your piggy learns the signal, make it progressively harder to earn the reward. Only reward them if they turn 45 degrees to the right, then only if they turn 90 degrees, and so on and so forth. This trick may take several weeks of daily training, about half an hour a day, training sessions to master.
Note: You do not need a clicker, it just helps. The only real motivator a piggy needs is food. Try calling them by their name whenever you give them a treat, they will recognize their name as a “come Here” sound, in hopes of another tasty treat.
Hoop Trick
What you need: A hoop of some sort and veggie treats
Hold the hoop, standing on end, flat on the ground with piggy on on the side of the hoop opposite your free hand and a treat in the hand not holding the hoop. Hold the food treat just in front of the piggy’s nose and lead her through the hoop with it telling her “Through the hoop” or “Jump” or whatever command phrase or word you choose. Give them the treat. Repeat process a few times. After a few tries, put the piggy on one side of the hoop and show them the treat then hold the treat on the opposite side of the hoop
without guiding them through and give the command phrase or word. It may take a few tries. If they still don’t quite understand, guide them a few more times and then try again. After they are going through the hoop without any guiding, slowly raise the hoop a teeny bit each time (No more than about an inch off the ground, anything higher will be hard for them). Congratulations! Show off your well trained piggy to your family and friends. Remember to always give your piggy his treat when she completes the trick. Otherwise, she’ll decide she doesn’t care to bother anymore. Also make training sessions no more than 10 minutes. Anything longer will cause your piggy to get agitated and disinterested. If you start to get too frustrated, stop the session and try again tomorrow. It will usually take at least a few sessions for the piggy to successfully complete the trick. Don’t get too discouraged. They will learn with patience and love.
Note: I do not recommend teaching tricks to your piggy if that is all you are going to do. Guinea pigs need just as much love and affection as any other pet, maybe more.
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