Do want to learn how to train guinea pig? Do you need to have a social pet that is cute and very little? If yes then you should consider having a guinea pig or if you already have one, you can train your pet to be more intelligenet and pick up more tricks, as guinea pigs are very good at learning new tricks.
Guinea pigs are very intelligent and they need space and a quiet environment for them to function well. As a pet owner, you need to know the very basics of taking care of your pet before giving your guinea pig training.
How to start?
When you bring your guinea pig home, let him have a couple of calm days to change in with the new surroundings before you begin taking care of him, don’t attempt to lift up your pet at this moment, your pet needs time to adjust to a new owner, with time, your guinea pig will come to understand your voice and commands.
Guinea pigs adjust well to room temperatures not more than 80°F with moderate lighting conditions.
The fact that guinea pigs are very little does not mean they should not be cared for by little children. Small animals are very delicate, more reason they need a good environment, good hygiene, and veterinary care, so they do not fall sick often or die.
Pet owners who feel that little creatures are simpler to deal with or more affordable than other animals like cats or dogs are in for a severe shock.
Endeavour to give your guinea pig lot of toys to play with, a calm environment to enjoy their cheerful, adorable, and fun-loving personality.
You can make some toys for your pet with everyday household items such as paper sacks, envelopes, boxes, and other creative things that would not put your guinea pig at risk. Usually, guinea pigs live for 5-6 years, yet some may live more.
Best ways to train your guinea pig
Do you know that guinea pigs do not require much stress from you? The best way to enjoy their social personality is always to teach them new tricks, as these tricks can be achieved while training your pet. This is my guide with lots of information! Easy to read and understand!
Guinea pigs incredible pets since they are very charming, clever, and appreciative. With some tolerance and training your pet in a calm manner can make your guinea pig can get familiar with some astonishing trick, you must understand that a reward system is the best way to get your pet to learn things easily.
The most significant thing to get right when raising a guinea pig is nutrition. Your pet needs pellets, hay, fruits, and vegetables in the right proportion.
Give your pet a variety of carrots, apple, celery, broccoli, strawberries, lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, kale, parsley, modest quantities of spinach and pod-peas.
20% of crisp vegetables should be in your guinea pigs feeding routine, avoid vegetables that contain a larger portion of phosphorus, calcium, and Vitamin, as such a large number of these can cause stomach upsets or even death for your pet, remember they are very delicate.
If a guinea pig appears to be reluctant to eat any vegetables, try cutting them up into smaller pieces, your guinea pig needs a boundless supply of feed consistently, as their stomach require a high-fiber diet so as to keep things running easily, also know that their teeth are continually developing, and biting is something they love to do.
Guinea pigs ought to get varieties of various products of the soil each day, while some guinea pigs love more of carrots others may love more of celery or any other fruit or veggies, but they must be served in the right proportion at all times.
How to train your guinea pig?
Guinea pigs are also known as cavies have nothing at all to do with pigs, they belong to the family of rodents they are in the wild and very much love to live in groups; however, you as a pet owner need to have a companion for your pet.
You can make your guinea pig do a wide range of things, as they are amusing to watch, however, you need to be patient and consistency if you want to train a very smart guinea pig .
Finding the right environment for your guinea pig whether you are intending to keep your guinea pigs inside or outside, you need to ensure that all zones or corners are very much ventilated, dry and without any form of danger for your pet.
Safety is paramount for guinea pigs; their habitat should be protected, secure, and free from risks. When you need to take your guinea pigs outside, make sure you place them in a very quiet place that has no cats around because they could easily become prey to other animals.
Their cage ought to be shielded from direct sun when temperatures drop to beneath 15°C; guinea pigs ought to be housed inside.
If not, they should be given adequate sheet material all through the entire period of extreme weather conditions. Your guinea pig needs space for them to be able to exercise.
Trim your guinea pigs nails
Always take care of your guinea pig by giving it good pedicure, your guinea pigs’ toenails need to be trimmed. A vet also can teach you how to cut the toenails of your guinea pig; there is something you must know guinea pigs are very good at hiding their sickness, so you need to watch out for indications of any form of sickness.
Make sure all guinea pigs are treated simultaneously as certain sicknesses will spread from one guinea pig to its other friends. Check male guinea pigs’ genital areas, as the genital part of male guinea pigs can easily be affected.
You need to always clean the genital area of your male guinea pig with a cotton bud in other to ease him of any discomfort Keep your guinea pigs from rabbits because they normally carry bacteria that can make guinea pigs extremely sick.
Rabbits are also very strong and can easily harm your guinea pigs more reasons for you to keep them far away from each other as they cannot be playmates, due to their differences.
Regularly check the weight of your guinea pig to ensure they are not overweight or underweight. A weight variance of up to two ounces is ordinary yet beyond what that can mean genuine dental or other medical issues that require the help of a gifted veterinarian.
Pre-training
Guinea pigs that have been introduced into a wonderful environment are very good at learning new tricks once they feel much secured, a good environment with so much love is the best way to get your pet ready for a pre-training exercise.
At pre-training level you need to ensure your pet is ready to begin learning, then gradually introduce to your guinea pig the lessons for each day, for instance, you can begin with the name you want it to bear, new stunts or a reward system, but do it one step after the other to get them familiar with this new phase.
At this stage you can show your pet what you require from him or her to do whenever you mention his/her name, you could tell your pet to do a simple task like turn in circles or blink at you or make a sound or how to answer you when his/her name is being mentioned. For your pet to know his/her name hold out a treat and call him or her by that name.
Understanding your commands
Always hold a treat and mimic what you want your guinea pig to do, for instance, to instruct your Guinea pig to turn in circles, you need to be very close to him so that you can guide him or her to 'Turn Circles’ and afterward hand over the treat.
Prior to beginning to preparing your pet to understand your command make sure you fully understand the threat that is loved more by him or her as this can enable your pet to learn faster, you also need to study the behavior of your pet and know the best command that works best for him/her.
Regularly, the sit order will be one of the simplest order for your guinea pig to understand; subsequently, you can introduce other commands to your pet. Choose what practices to prepare your pet to perform by watching your pet’s regular exercises.
Does your guinea pig love to pick on new things? Give him/her a reward when they have picked up a new trick. Try always to support your pet; they should not be yelled at so they do not feel insecure and hide in their cage.
Simultaneously, teach your guinea pig how to pause, this is one of the most significant crucial commands you could teach your guinea pig with the time you can proceed to other complex commands or tricks.
Keep in mind that every guinea pig is special and it might require some investment for him/her to get on to your directions during instructional courses. Make sure you as a pet owner is caring, understanding, and calm to your guinea pig because that is the only way they can truly understand your commands.
Learning behaviors
As you keep on working with them, they get on to „no.” Make sure your pet truly understands what the words mean, the learning behavior phase is the stage when you are no longer that pet-loving owner, but now a disciplinarian.
When you state „no,” don’t alter your perspective, don’t give a treat to the guinea pig, don’t move, or smile because you need your pet to understand your body language.
The manner in which you instruct your guinea pig matters a lot, you do not want to sound serious, and your body language is not in accordance with what you want your guinea pet to understand, this same principle applies to how parents train their children by letting them know the punishments they would face whenever they deviate from the agreed standard of behavior.
Litter box
You can train your guinea pig on how to use the litter box; this takes a great deal of tolerance litter box could serve as a washroom for your pet or the toilet facility for your pet.
When the litter box is set up, your guinea pig would eventually get used to it requires practice and patience, guinea pigs to do their business in a litter box.
To litter train your guinea pig, place a litter box in the spot in his/her confine where your pet goes to the restroom frequently, put litter box where you have seen that your guinea pig likes to do their business that would help them learn very fast and save you from the stress of always cleaning their poop.
When you see your guinea pig use the litter box, give a treat as a way to encourage this good behavior. When training a guinea pig, consistently use his preferred treat.
Give a reward the minute he plays out the conduct you need. Disregard him when he commits an error or misses the point.
When you see your guinea pig using the litter box, give him or her a treat as recognition. After some time, your pet would fully understand the purpose of the litter box.
Train your guinea pig not to bite
Guinea pigs are positively adorable and are normally amicable pets, just like other animals they can bite when they feel fear or threatened to try not to mistake their fear for stubbornness or wickedness.
Guinea pigs are extremely inquisitive animals, and they need to become acquainted with you simply like you need to become more acquainted with them. Your pet may bite you just to know more about you or call for your attention.
To stop your guinea pig from biting you or other people, you have to understand what the cause of these behavioral patterns is, it could be fear they could smell that triggered fear to them, for example, cats or rabbits.
Other potential explanations behind biting have to do with how your guinea pig is being kept.
When they bite the bars of their cage, at that point this can show that your guinea pig is lonely and needs a companion, you just have one guinea pig, at that point regardless of whether you’re the warmest pet owner on the planet the solution is to get another friend for your guinea pig.
Communication
As a pet owner it is your duty to teach your guinea pig how to communicate, you need to try your very best to teach your pet the best way to connect to you and other people, you can connect with your guinea pig in a normal discussion, it could be about how your day went or your plans or career goals, they may not be able to give you feedback but you are gradually teaching it certain behaviors like active listening, empathy, patience, and friendship.
Although this sounds funny your pet can give you feedbacks like murmurings or other sounds or gestures as a way to offer his/her assessments on these encounters as you get familiar with your conversations with each other.
Guinea pigs are social animals, and great listeners these are one of the advantages of having them around as your pet, they do not judge you or offer you bad advice they just look at you with their cute face.
Guinea pigs clearly don’t talk human language yet that doesn’t mean they don’t communicate, there are things they do that have a genuinely clear significance, and that can enable you to help understand them better.
For instance, frequent wheeking made by guinea pigs could mean expectation or high energy levels, while teeth chattering could be an indication of an upset guinea pig.
Communication is the best way to help guinea pigs that have trust issues, or the ones that are shy or scared, when you talk to them more often they tend to come out from their insecurities with time.
Create a routine
You need to create a schedule of activities for your guinea pig, you need to know when your pet needs quiet time, and at times you need to give your pet a little space to breathe.
Your pet must have a nap schedule, get your guinea pig, and hold it on a towel in your lap while sitting on the floor.
That way, your pet will be trained to learn how to sleep based on the schedule of events you must have mapped out for him/her.
Guinea pigs love the schedule. Eating simultaneously every day, playtime two times per day and resting precisely at 8 pm, all things considered, a strong routine encourages a guinea pig to adjust to another condition easily and effectively, a strong schedule must be consistent so that your pet is not confused.
Conclusion
Guinea pigs always love to eat and love a reward system, make sure the treats you give to your pet is included in the schedule of activities, you should interchange the treats with different food options that are best for your pet.
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Lydia King is a huge animal lover and has always been fascinated with learning about the animal kingdom. She enjoys writing about anything animal related from scientific information about rare species to animal references in pop culture.
