Training Your Guinea Pig

[hopedaisymay11]

Training your guinea pig Is a great way to bond with your guinea pigs it gives them confidence. For a few months of training with my guinea pigs I just mess around with seeing how they react. seeing what they like to I do basic tasks like getting them to follow a piece of grass (grass is a very important tool). Moving when I touch specific areas so if I touch there right front leg they should move themselves to the side. I used to do horse riding and have learnt guinea pigs learn similar to horses eg moving away from pressure and reacting in a prey like way.I then move on to a guinea pig standing up going through tunnels touching an object standing on my leg and other objects walking over pencils to and jumping over objects. I treat all my guinea pigs as individuals and write up what I want from a guinea pig in my training session like for instance river is hyper active and gets bored easily. So I would try to make it a varied lesson so for instance I would do two circles ask her to go on my leg 5 times touch a object 4 times go over pencils 4 times stand up 5 times and jump maybe 6 times this keeps her engaged and happy. Rio is however very nervy and need a lot of assurance for her lesson I just go with the flow getting her used to not being with me. This way she learns to relax I generally hide some grass to draw her away and then maybe do a bit of standing on objects she can get stroppy like other guinea pigs its important to only suggest what they should do not force. Saffron is quite a big girly but loves to work so I do as much as I can with her however she likes to her time and asses what she's doing some people might think she's stubborn but i know she processes a lot slower so mainly focus on one activity to give her a chance. Daisy well she's a bit of a bright spark she's the herd leader and is naturally quite bossy I need to take my time with her and be carful to not do anything that makes her stroppy she also figures very quickly where the source of grass is you have to continually move It cause when she finds the grass its all over. One of my best resources Is to use a big reward when they do something right a jackpot make a specific sound when giving the jackpot so they realize what's happing like bagging the bowl

 

[hopedaisymay11]

 

[hopedaisymay11]

I would love to hear what u think about guinea pig training if you have any queries even if you think they sound dumb please ask me about them bellow I'm more than happy to help any other comments are welcomed thanks

 

[flowerfairy]

I think that any training, if carried out in a positive way by someone who is able to clearly read and respond to the animal being trained is a great way of adding interest and of building up a bond with the trainer.

Ps i find text easier and more tempting to read if it is broken up into smaller paragraphs!

 

[hopedaisymay11]

K thanks I'm new to piggy forums so great tip use that next time I have spent a very long time learning about my guinea pigs and studying there body language its very rewarding just reading them and seeing how they respond to me having a herd of 4 of you really get to see how they behave thanks again for comment

 

[Freela]

I've seen some youtube videos of pigs who can do tricks, and have always said I should try to teach them a couple of tricks, but somehow have never gotten around to trying. Some of our brighter pigs have definitely learned words and basic commands (like 'no' and 'treats!') and one of them would popcorn on demand, which was the closest we ever had to a trick.

 

[Cavy Kung-Fu]

3 of my 5 know a few basic tricks but if I had the time I would love to do more. They're so easy to train, far more so than dogs!

 

[Redribbon]

I've not got patience or physical time for tricks but one thing I have done is during taming of Angus and Stan I always held the first piece of veg out for them to take from my hand when I fed them. They were pretty feral and it took a lot of patience and no intense eye contact to get them to even come near me but the lure of food was too much and it worked.

Even now they are tame I always hold the first piece of food out and they queue up almost hanging out of the enclosure saying me first!
It's extra helpful for shy Angus to remain tame.

 

[hopedaisymay11]

3 of my 5 know a few basic tricks but if I had the time I would love to do more. They're so easy to train, far more so than dogs!

yeah its great to train just mess around and have fun to be honest I do more bonding exercises instead of specific training

 

[hopedaisymay11]

I've not got patience or physical time for tricks but one thing I have done is during taming of Angus and Stan I always held the first piece of veg out for them to take from my hand when I fed them. They were pretty feral and it took a lot of patience and no intense eye contact to get them to even come near me but the lure of food was too much and it worked.

Even now they are tame I always hold the first piece of food out and they queue up almost hanging out of the enclosure saying me first!
It's extra helpful for shy Angus to remain tame.

so lovely to hear id love to hear more about them what situation did they come from etc.

 

[hopedaisymay11]

loved the messages so far thanks for support and messages this community realy does bring pig lovers together I always reply to a message I make it my mission any questions just ask!