Teaching And Helping Your Guinea Pigs Do Tricks
Posted: Friday, January 22, 2010
by Peter Dranitsin
Petes Original Art Inc.
Guinea Pigs are very intelligent creatures. Like most mammals, your cavy can learn a number of tricks in a short span of time. Patience and hard work are the main ingredients to a successful trick training. If you failed a couple of times, don't give up. Remember that the joy an owner could experience after seeing his hard work pay off is immeasurable. Harm to the cavy during tricks is a common misconception. Guinea pigs enjoy doing mastered tricks and aside from that it is a good form of exercise for them. You would also have good bonding time with it, making both of you familiar with each other.
A famous quotation states that the hungry rodent learns fast. This is a fact proven by scientist and researchers who study animal behavior. In pure instinct, animals will do anything for food.
The reward system is implemented by giving lots of treat if a trick is successfully executed. This enforces their behavior and lets them understand what is expected of them. Treats are primarily food. But in other cases, a tap in the head, a gentle caress or a simple verbal praise is considered a treat. Just remember that what you are dealing with is a rodent, so food is the best treat for them.
Potty Training
This preconditioning process is the best trick your pet can learn. Take note that this is mastered after a long time of training so be extra patient. This however does not assure that your cavy will never leave its dropping on the floor again, but it clearly shows a great reduction to its frequency.
Place a bathroom section in the cage. Litter boxes are the ones usually used and are very affordable in your local pet store. Every time you clean your piggy's feces, make sure you place some of the droppings in the litter box. It will condition your pet that the litter box is specified for excrement. Do this also if you change the beddings of the cage. Another thing is that if you remove the guinea pig in the cage for some reason; make sure that you remove the litter tray as well. Place it near your guinea pig for this will show him that litter trays should also be used outside the cage.
Hoop Trick
The goal of this trick is to make your guinea pig jump or walk through the hoop. First, hold the hoop in front of your cavy. The hoop should be standing on the end, flat on the floor or can be slightly elevated. With the other hand, hold the treat in front of the piggy, near its nose and guide her through the hoop. You may call its name or tell her to jump. Give the treat and repeat the process again. Training should be done in short periods of time like ten minutes or less. Just make sure you don't exhaust or excessively feed it.
Play Dead
- Place the palm under the cavy's belly. This would let you hold the guinea pig on the stable mid section with one hand making sure the thumb is facing the cavy's head. Have a firm hold. Don't let your piggy feel unsecured by holding her with a shaky hand.
- Place your other hand at its back and make it flat so that it can rest in your other hand in supine position. Remove the hand that holds her. Normally the guinea pig will sit like a human.
- Place the free hand on the forehead and push him slightly backwards. It will have a reflex of countering your push but this is just an expected result. Continue to push him backwards until your hands are parallel to each other. He will be on an upside down position on a flat safe surface with your hands supporting the upper and lower part of the body. Remove your hands make sure to do this slowly to avoid startling it
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