Wouldn’t it be so adorable if your guinea pigs could push around a ball and play soccer? What if I told you that guinea pigs can learn to play soccer? Well, they can! Guinea pigs can actually learn to play soccer!
Here are the 6 Steps to Teach Guinea Pigs Soccer:
- Clicker train the guinea pig
- Pick a training method
- Find a suitable place for training
- Grab the materials needed, including treats
- Use the training method you chose to get the piggy to push the ball
- Reward the piggy after a job well done!
Now, let’s dive deeper into clicker training and rewarding the guinea pig and also learn about the basic training methods.
Clicker Training the Piggy
To reward a guinea pig when you’re training it, you will first need to clicker train it.
A clicker is normally a small box that makes a click sound when you push one side of it, but this kind of clicker is often much to loud for a guinea pig’s sensitive ears, so a clicky pen often works better.
To clicker train a guinea pig, you will need a clicker and some treats. First, click the clicker, then give the guinea pig a treat.
Keep repeating this until when you click the clicker your guinea pig expects a treat; once it is at this point, wait until your guinea pig loses interest in the clicker, then click and give a treat. Practice this as often as necessary until the piggy gets it.
Some guinea pigs are afraid of the clicker; if this is the case with your piggy, you should say a very short (one syllable) word or sound instead of using a clicker.
Training Methods
Luring
Luring is training your guinea pig to do different tricks by using a lure (a treat) to guide them into position. This method can be used with many different tricks and is great to use if your guinea pig has a very short attention span since guinea pigs are extremely motivated by food.
Just be sure you use treats that your guinea pigs like and once your guinea pig knows the trick well enough, make sure you fade the lure.
To fade the lure, start by moving the lure faster when you practice the trick so the guinea pig relies less and less on the lure, then, when the piggy is ready, take the lure away completely.
After you take away the lure, only use it if the guinea pig is stuck.
Targeting
Targeting is a training method which is very similar to luring. However, with targeting, you don’t use a treat to guide the guinea pig in place, you use a target that the guinea pig has been trained to follow.
The target could be as simple as a craft stick that is colored on one end. To teach a guinea pig to follow the target, you will need a target, a clicker and treats (make sure he or she likes them).
Take out your target and wait. Do not move the target around at this point. Once the piggy touches the target with its nose, click and give him (or her) a treat. Unlike a lure, though, a target doesn’t need to be faded.
Shaping
Shaping is teaching guinea pigs tricks step-by-step. There are two ways to shape; the first way is shaping with luring and the other way is free shaping. Let’s talk about shaping with luring first.
Shaping with luring is guiding a guinea pig to each step with a lure then rewarding it after each step.
Example of shaping with luring: Teaching a guinea pig to turn around in a circle by luring it a quarter of the way around, then giving it a bite of the lure, then repeating this until it has gone all the way around.
Now let’s talk about free shaping.
Free shaping is waiting for the guinea pig to do each step without help, then rewarding it after each step.
Example of free shaping: Teaching a guinea pig to jump onto a platform by waiting until it puts its front feet on it first, then rewarding; then waiting until it jumps all the way on top of the platform before rewarding.
Getting Ready for Training
Now, before you teach a guinea pig any kind of trick, it should be tame enough to take bite-sized pieces of food from your hand and should be able to follow a lure or target. Also, it will need to be clicker trained.
You will need a calm, quiet place to train your guinea pig. This place should also be familiar to your piggy, for example, it could be the room your guinea pigs’ cage is in or the room where it has floor-time.
Here are the materials you’ll need to teach a guinea pig to play soccer:
- A small, lightweight ball that the guinea pig can easily push around
- Some of the piggy’s favorite treats
- A clicker (if you use one).
Usually, this trick is taught with free shaping, but it can also be taught with targeting. (To teach this trick with targeting, use the ball as the target and teach the piggy to touch the target with its nose at first; then later teach it to push the target–the ball–I will explain this with more detail later). You can also teach this with luring.
How to Teach Guinea Pigs Soccer with Free Shaping
Let’s learn to teach guinea pigs soccer with free shaping first. Get your clicker (if you use one), treats and a light-weight ball and take your guinea pig to the training area.
Put the ball on the ground and wait for them to touch the ball with their nose. Once they do; click and reward them with a treat. Repeat this several times.
Now wait until the guinea pig pushes the ball a little bit with its nose before rewarding it. Keep doing this and have the guinea pig push the ball little farther before you reward them.
How to Teach a Guinea Pig to Play Soccer with Luring
Another method you can use to teach guinea pigs soccer is luring. To teach this trick with luring, grab your clicker (if you use one), ball and treats (make sure to bring other treats besides the treat you will use for the lure) and put the piggy in the training area.
Now start using the lure to guide your guinea pig around anywhere for a little bit, then lure your guinea pig closer to the ball and then put the lure under the ball.
Once the piggy pushes the ball to get the treat, click and reward with another treat. Repeat this until your guinea pig knows that if it pushes the ball, it will get a treat.
How to Teach a Guinea Pig Soccer with Targeting
In order to teach soccer with targeting, you will need to make the ball a target for the guinea pig to push.
To do this, grab your clicker (if you use one), ball and treats. Now take the guinea pig to the training area. Hold the ball and wait for the guinea pig to touch it with its nose. Once the piggy does this, click and reward it with a treat.
Repeat this a few times, then once your guinea pig purposely touches the ball with its nose to get a treat, then put the ball on the ground and don’t reward him (or her) unless he (or she) pushes the ball a little bit with its nose.
Once the guinea pig knows to push the ball to get a treat, make it push the ball a little farther before you reward it.
Rewarding Your Piggy
Once the guinea pig pushes the ball far enough away to be called ‘playing soccer,’ say a cue word–a word that reinforces the behavior that’s 1-2 syllables long (i.e. ‘soccer’).
Click and give it a treat to reward it until it knows that the cue word means that it is time to play soccer.
Once it knows this, say the cue to tell it to start, then reward it like regular.
Once your Piggy can Play Soccer…
- Have your piggy practice playing soccer often
- Give your piggy a treat randomly throughout the soccer game
- Add other fun things to your soccer game
Other Fun Things to add to your Soccer Game
Once you’ve taught your guinea pig to play soccer, here are some fun things to add to your soccer game.
- Add mini soccer goals (you can make them by making a rectangle with pipe cleaners, then holding up the rectangle with more pipe cleaners)
- Teach this trick to two guinea pigs and have them both play each other
- Keep score (this is even better with two guinea pigs playing)
- Time your guinea pig to find out how many goals it can get in a minute
- Make your own soccer playing field for the guinea pigs by covering the ground with green cloth and adding little soccer goals
I hope that your piggy becomes a soccer champ!
