How do I start training my guinea pig?
Training should be broken into small chunks of 10-15 minutes a day. Always use positive reinforcement (your guinea pig’s favourite treat combined with praise and strokes) and never punish a guinea pig under any circumstances.
Pick which trick you want to master first (we recommend starting with something easy) and consistently reward your piggy for getting the trick right.
What sort of tricks could I train my guinea pig to do?
Come to recall: This is one of the easiest tricks to perfect with very little effort. Get a handful of treats and sit on the floor opposite your guinea pig. Call their name and once they arrive for a treat, reward them. Pretty soon the guinea pig will come to the sound of their name even if no food is on offer!
Litter training: This is a really useful trick and will save you hours of cage cleaning time. Just put some soiled litter into their litter tray each time you clean the cage. Guinea pigs are extremely intelligent and will soon make the association of where the dirty litter is and will begin to use the same area.
Hurdles/Jumps/Bridges: With some obstacles and a treat waved in front of their nose, your guinea pig can learn to jump over things and go through others in return for some food! Some of the tricks on the video below use the bendy sticks available in our shop – this is a particularly easy trick to start with as your guinea pig will follow the smell of food as you are training them.
More complicated tricks: By breaking the tricks into smaller bits, once you have mastered the basics your guinea pig can move on to more difficult tricks like “pin the tail on the donkey”
What tricks can your guinea pig do? What is the best trick you have seen a guinea pig perform? Let us know on our facebook or twitter pages.
