How many words do your guineas pigs understand?

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Delaine

Delaine

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I am amazed by how many words my two girls understand. I have been adding new phrases and then matching it to an action. "Are you hungry, want some supper" means jump into the transfer box so you can go to the play area. There you will have your evening greens, get cuddled and brushed while sitting on mom's lap. "Back to your cage" means lay still so you can get picked up and returned to a clean cage and a pile of fresh hay. Last night my red and white girl actually jumped up on my lap when I said this. I was pretty excited. I told her what a good girl she was and immediately returned her to her cage. They know other words such as "Pat you", "Be brushed", "Treat". Before I started doing this they really didn't know what was coming next and therefore were not as trusting. As long as I am consistent they know when my hand comes into their cage what is going to happen. I would be interested into hearing some of the words your guinea pigs understand.
 
Bumble knows what "up top " means - when I am going to give him veg or want him to come onto the second level of the hutch I shout up top and he races up the ramp - he also knows what lady pigs means when i say it - he gets all excited as the girls from the other side of the room get let out for floor time:(|)
 
I'm jealous. I don't think our piggies understand any words except possibly their names.

My wife is a linguist, so it's about time we started in on some intensive training!
 
Squiggles and Apollo know:

'through' (go to the other side of the cage)
'no'
'come here'
'good boys' (they start popcorning, they know they did something good)
'snuggles' (they run to the side of the cage to get lovins
and I'm teaching them 'spin'
They get halfway around but then get bored and walk off, haha!
 
Harvey understands 'tap tap' on the floor - which means come here there is food, he'll run from one end of the room to the other if he hears the tap tap of my finger :)

But thats about it lol!
 
Harvey understands 'tap tap' on the floor - which means come here there is food, he'll run from one end of the room to the other if he hears the tap tap of my finger :)

But thats about it lol!
 
Mine understand 'munchies' means they are getting their evening hay. They understand if I shout veggies and open the fridge it means the are getting their veggie rations. Cue popcorning and squeaking loudly! Very cute. We're trying to teach them tricks but they're pretty lazy.

Amy
x
 
I'm not sure if mine are genius's or plain daft, but as soon as i open my mouth, stand up or go near the fridge they are there wheeking at the top of their voices....... But as far as doing as they are told, there is no hope!

The only thing they understand is run, run run, said at 100 mph when they are having floor time, whenever i say it they go mad and start running really fast.
 
I'm not sure if mine are genius's or plain daft, but as soon as i open my mouth, stand up or go near the fridge they are there wheeking at the top of their voices....... But as far as doing as they are told, there is no hope!

The only thing they understand is run, run run, said at 100 mph when they are having floor time, whenever i say it they go mad and start running really fast.
 
Piggies can understand quite a few words, although they generally seem to listen to the tune and tone of them more than the words themselves. Creating a different "melody" for each word/expression is more effective. It can also help if you form a picture of what you are talking about in your head.

I had an interesting experience once when one of my first piggies Mischief didn't want to go into the transfer pigloo until I said "Minx (her companion) walkie. Missy walkie too?" In she went after five minutes of stalling!

I could also direct her with my voice when she went blind with cataracts. She'd learned to come to wehrever I was in the garden whenever I was calling her and we worked out a way for "going right" ("good girl, come on" ) and "going wrong" ("uh, uh, uh" ). It actually worked over a distance of several yards, so Mischief could still enjoy her usual free (supervised) roam in the garden!
 
Mine know the word 'treat' and their names... one of them responds to 'No!' but it may be tone of voice. And Linney will popcorn if we say "Popcorn Linney!" so that's her little trick that we show off!
 
Naughty... they stop what they are doing (usually fighting), think about it for a second, then go back to what they were doing :)
 
Mine don't know any words, because I've never taught them to relate anything to words. They think every bag rustling means vegetables and that's about it haha
 
In the summer, I taught mine to give me a nose-butt. I hold food in my hand and say 'nose- butt' and he comes forward to touch my nose with his in order to get the food!
He did it time after time, YouTube has some amazing videos showing piggies doing clever things on command. :)):))
 
this is really interesting, i never thought piggles could understand any words, only rustling of bags and running taps. :)). i'm gonna give it a try.....
 
Wiebke

I agree that a lot of it has to do with the tone of your voice. I taught dog obedience for many years and have trained many different kinds of animals and changing the tone of my voice was definately part of the communication process. If my black and white girl Abbey is bullying her sister I just have to lower my voice and say "Abbey, don't be so mean." She stops immediately and gives me the "Who Me?" look. When this happened the other night her sister ran over to me so I could pat her. It was like she knew I would save her from her sister.
 
Mine don't understand words, but they sure as hell understand the fridge door opening! rolleyes
 
You beat me to it no words, but definately the fridge, the food bags rustling, someone else gettin a treat and quite hysterically the sound of my car on the drive. I've been home a few times when hubby has borrowed my car, and they really kick off and the next thing the front door opens (I've not even heard the car arriving).

Paula
 
5 ish I think....

My boys do:
-Come here: Guinea comes to you, and expects food for his efforts
-Circle: run around in a little circle, and expects food for his efforts
-Hands: guinea steps onto your hands to be picked up
-In-pig: guinea hops into his hutch
-Stand up (Bertie only!): stand on hind legs like a rabbit. Very cute! Parsley is required obviously :))

I used to be able to get them to "go home" from my living room to their hutches outdoors, but we've since moved home and I've learnt that guineas don't seem to be able to transfer the skill!

We managed to get the our plumber to help fix their guinea shed for free by showing off their pig tricks, as he didn't believe me at first! I'm a very proud guinea Mummy:(|)
 
Bertie's opinion

Bertie guinea pig says that he knows more human words than I know Guinea, yet I claim to be the higher being.....
 
Shall I go and see= treat
come and see Archie= treat
Get in Archie= bedtime and treat too.
No Archie, speaks for itself
Knows his name, Archie aka Mr Whiskers.
Also knows his way back home to the front room from the back of the house.
 
Ditherpig:

That is amazing. You really must teach me how to do the "hand" trick. The best I get is they lay still and don't run when I pick them up, which is definately a step up from "heading for the hills". Once Abbey jumped in my lap when I said "Back to your cage", but that only happened once, just a coincidence I am sure. I was pretty excited at the time, though.
 
Mine understand
there names, Chirpy and Patches. (sometimes)
They whistle back if you whistle at them
If you clap or snap they will stop doing what they are doing. (extremely helpful when they are being bad)
The fridge opening means food.
 
Not really a word, but my two start popcorning and wheeking whenever they hear a bag rustle :))
One of mine also wheeks when he hears me say "Bubbles" (his name)

Not piggies, but my chickies come running from wherever they are in the garden when they hear me say "Chickies" (they associate it with food) and they also go back in their pen when I say "Bedtime".
xx
 
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