Wouldn’t it be adorable if your guinea pig could jump onto the stage to perform a trick? Well, you can teach it to do that!
Here are the 6 steps to teach your piggy to hop onto the stage:
- Clicker train your piggy
- Pick a training method
- Find a good area for training
- Grab the materials and treats you need
- Use the method you choose to get the piggy to hop on the stage
- Reward your guinea pig after a job well done!
Clicker Training
In order to reward your guinea pig after doing a trick, you should clicker train it. Clicker training is teaching your guinea pig that whenever they hear the clicker, they are going to get a treat, which is great news for a guinea pig.
A clicker usually is a small box that makes a loud, ‘click’ sound when you push one side of it, but because of guinea pigs’ small, sensitive ears, this kind of clicker is often too loud. A better alternative to this is a clicky pen.
Some piggies are scared of (or just don’t like) the sound of a clicky pen and if this is the case with your guinea pig, you can use a verbal marker, which is a sound or a one-syllable word that is used instead of a clicker.
To clicker train your pet, get a clicker (if you use one) and some treats that your piggy likes. Click the clicker, then immediately give the guinea pig a treat. Repeat this several times until the piggy knows a treat is coming when he (or she) hears the clicker.
Now, wait until your guinea pig loses interest in the clicker before clicking. Repeat this several times. Once you’re sure that your guinea pig knows that ‘click = treat’, your piggy is clicker trained!
Training Methods
Luring
Luring is training your guinea pig to do tricks by using a lure–a treat that your piggy likes–to guide them into position. This method can be used with many different kinds of tricks and is great to use if your guinea pig has a very short attention span.
Just be sure you use treats that your guinea pig likes, or it may not follow the lure. Also, 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 over time, then, when the piggy is ready, take the lure away completely.
After you take away the lure, only use it as a little help if the guinea pig is stuck.
Targeting
Targeting is a training method that is very similar to luring. However, with targeting you don’t use a treat to guide the guinea pig into place, you use a target that the guinea pig has been trained to follow.
Depending on the trick, the target is either something the guinea pig has to touch with its nose or with its paw. In this trick your guinea pig will have to touch the target with its nose. With this trick, you will have to use a target stick.
Unlike a lure, a target doesn’t have to be faded.
How to Make a Target Stick
You will need:
- A wooden dowel
- A soft foam ball
- A pencil
- Glue
How to make a target stick step-step:
- Use a pencil to put a hole in the ball where you want the dowel to be.
- Twist the dowel into the hole.
- Take out the dowel then put some glue (this includes hot glue) into the hole then put the dowel back in.
- Once the glue dries, start using it!
Shaping
Shaping is teaching guinea pigs tricks step-by-step. There are two different kinds of shaping. Let’s talk about them.
The first way is shaping with luring.
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 stand on its back legs by luring it so that its front paws are just off of the ground, and giving it a treat. Now, reward it as it progresses higher and higher.
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 give a paw by waiting until it puts both paws on your hand first before rewarding. Then wait until it puts only one paw on your hand before rewarding it.
Getting Ready for Training
Before you start teaching your guinea pig tricks, it should be tame enough to eat bite-sized pieces of food from your hand and should know how to follow either a lure or a target.
To train your guinea pig well, you will need a calm, quiet area for training, which should be familiar to your piggy, such as the room you keep the cage in or the room you give them floor-time in.
The materials you will need to teach a guinea pig to get on the stage are:
- Colored paper (to make the stage)
- A cardboard box (to make the stage)
- Treats that your piggy likes
- A clicker (if you don’t use one, use a verbal marker)
- A target stick (if you are going to teach with targeting)
How to Make a Stage
You will need a piece of colored paper and a cardboard box. Turn the box over, so that the bottom of the box is facing up. The box shouldn’t be taller than 4 inches (about 10 cm) tall. Now, glue or tape the colored paper to the top of the box. Once the glue dries (if you used glue) you can start using it!
How to Teach Your Piggy to Go on a Stage with Luring
After you’ve made the stage, lure your piggy onto the platform; once it’s on the platform, click and give it a treat. Practice luring your guinea pig on and off of the stage. When the guinea pig gets on the platform, reward it by clicking and giving it a treat but when you lure your piggy off the stage, do not reward it.
Once you’ve practiced this a lot, start fading the lure. To fade it, first start moving the lure faster, then later on take the lure away completely. Once your guinea pig gets on the stage without the lure’s help, reward with a cue (I will tell you how to do this later on).
Now, slowly start making the piggy walk farther to get to the platform. Practice this several times.
After teaching your pet to walk farther to get to the stage, start teaching your guinea pig to stay on the platform for a while. To teach this, give it a piece of food every once in a while for staying on the platform.
How to Teach Your Piggy to Go on a Stage with Targeting
Guide your piggy onto the stage using a target and once it’s on the platform, click and give it a treat. Practice using the target to get your guinea pig to go on and off the stage. When the guinea pig gets on the platform, reward it by clicking and giving it a treat, but when you lure your piggy off the stage, do not reward it unless it hesitates.
Practice this a lot, then start making your guinea pig walk a little farther each time to get to the platform. After doing this, start teaching your piggy to stay on the stage for a bit longer by giving it food every once in a while.
How to Teach Your Piggy to Go on the Stage with Free Shaping
Wait for your guinea pig to put its front paws onto the stage. Once it does, click (or say the marker) and give it a treat. Repeat this several times.
After you’ve practiced the first step several times, wait until your piggy gets all the way up onto the platform before rewarding it. Practice making your guinea pig get on and off the stage. When your piggy gets on the stage, reward it with a cue (I will tell you how to do this later on), but when it gets off the stage, do not reward it unless it hesitates.
Now make your piggy walk farther to get to the platform. Practice this several times.
After this, teach your guinea pig to stay on the stage for a longer period of time. In order to do this, give your piggy a treat every once in a while for staying on the platform.
How to Teach Your Piggy to Go on the Stage using Shaping with Luring
Because free shaping and shaping with luring are so similar,–the only real difference is that shaping with luring uses a lure–train the same way you would with free shaping, but make these few changes:
- Lure your guinea pig so that it puts its front paws on the stage
- Lure your piggy all the way onto the stage
- Fade the lure once your guinea pig goes all the way up onto the stage
- Reward with a cue after fading the lure
Rewarding Your Piggy with a Cue
Once your guinea pig has learned to get on the stage (but before you teach it to walk farther to get to the stage), you should reward it with a cue word. A cue word is a one to two syllable word that you will introduce after your piggy has learned the trick you are teaching.
The cue tells your piggy that they have to do the trick now. (If you teach your piggy to get on the stage with targeting, you will not use a cue, instead, you will guide it with the target when it is time to do the trick).
To reward your pet with a cue, once your guinea pig has learned to hop on the stage, say the cue word you picked, click and then give it a treat.
At first, your piggy will not know that the cue means they have to do the trick (during this time, use a hand motion to help it), but once they do, say the cue to tell them when to do the trick, then reward them by just clicking and giving a treat.
Once Your Piggy Can Get on the Stage on Cue…
- Host a guinea pig tricks show
- Take pictures of them on stage
I hope your guinea pig learns to hop on the stage and entertain!
