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How to Teach a Guinea Pig to Run Through a Tilting Tunnel

2/25/2018

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I recently added a new tutorial to the guinea pig tunnel trick tutorial page. This video outlines the steps to teaching your guinea pig to go through a seesaw style tunnel. The particular tunnel in the video is called the Cavy Cannonball Tilting Tunnel, and it's made by HayPigs.com. Usually I make a lot of my own guinea pig agility obstacles and training equipment, but it's pretty cool that a company already makes this one, because honestly, I wouldn't have known exactly how to make this kind of tunnel myself.

Anyway, the tunnel is made mostly out of a tough cardboard material, so it's safe for guinea pigs if they do chew it. It's intended to be used as a toy (you can stuff it with hay or hide treats inside, etc.) but with my guys, I just use it for training. I plan to include it in a little guinea pig agility course once I get around to making a few more agility pieces for my piggies. The tilting tunnel tutorial video can be viewed below, and I also have it embedded on the guinea pig tunnel training page.

While this is a pretty neat trick, I would also consider it to be a fairly advanced trick. Try not to push your guinea pig too fast while teaching this, or get too frustrated with your piggy (or yourself!) I would recommend practicing with the tunnel on the ground by itself for awhile before trying it on the seesaw stand. Make sure your guinea pig is super confident with going through the tunnel separate from the stand, and then slowly progress through the tilting tunnel part. With lots of repetition, patience, and treats, most guinea pigs will continue to gain confidence and gradually improve with this trick. You can also teach your guinea pig to go through different types and shapes of tunnels (most of which are easier to teach if your piggy is struggling with this one) on the guinea pig tunnels page.
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10 Christmas Gifts Every Guinea Pig Will Love

11/21/2017

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With Christmas coming up around the corner, everyone's on the lookout for unique gifts for everyone on their list. I suppose I might just be weird, but my piggies always seem to appear at the top of my list. I know they probably don't know the difference between a holiday and every other day, but watching them check out their new stuff usually ends up being just as entertaining for me as it is for them. After all, watching your pets investigate their new toys is the best part of getting them new toys.
A lot of the treats out there for guinea pigs aren't always healthy or safe, and finding toys that a guinea pig won't ignore can be difficult. There's nothing worse than getting a new bed or toy for your guinea pig, only to have them sniff it and go back to sleeping on their hay pile. It can be hard to find creative guinea pig toys that pigs actually show an interest in (trust me, I've found plenty of "toys" they could care less about!) but in this list, I'll go over some of the things that I've found that have really hit it off with my piggies.

1. Wheeky Treat Ball

These treat balls can be found on Amazon. I have one for my piggies, and they love it (but only when it's filled with food of course!) It has a hole on one side, and you can load it with diced up veggies before giving it to your guinea pigs. When they push the ball around, the treats periodically fall out of the ball. My guys figured out how it works pretty fast, and now they recognize that ball immediately when I bring it out. Now I often fill it with kibble instead of feeding them in a bowl, so they can get some exercise and turn their feeding times into a bit of a game.

2. Hay Pigs Toys

Ace and Ceico also have a bunch of toys and beds from haypigs.com that are well used and loved by the piggies. Hay Pigs has an entire range dedicated to guinea pigs, with things like a lounge bed, fleece hidey hut, tunnels, hay wagon, and a veggie kabob.
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It used to be such a clean bed....
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Acey, where's your head?

3. Play Tunnels!

My guinea pigs have a couple different tents and tunnels to navigate and run through. They love them, especially when you move them around periodically or hide treats in them. I would supervise your guinea pigs at first with their new toys to ensure they don't try to chew too much, as these tunnels are not the edible type!

4. Edible Tunnels

Edible tunnels are also loved by piggies (maybe even more so) than non-edible play tunnels, because they can run through them, hide inside, and also eat or chew on them! These tunnels don't last nearly as long as the previous tunnels unfortunately, but they are good for your guinea pig's teeth, don't require as much supervision while they're using them (because they're safe to eat!) and piggies absolutely love to chew them. My guinea pigs love the oxbow hay tunnels the best. They're usually glued to those things until the tunnels are chewed to the ground. It works out well though, because they enjoy chewing those tunnels more than any books, wires, fabrics, etc. that they might otherwise try to hunt down. In other words, it keeps them entertained and out of trouble. ;)

5. Hay Mats


Hay mats (also by Oxbow) are another favorite with my guinea pigs. They absolutely love to chew on any kind of weaved hay toys. Again, this is a great one for keeping pigs occupied and out of trouble. Piggies with chew toys are well behaved piggies! Like other hay toys, they are a great way to help your guinea pigs keep their teeth grinded down so they don't become overgrown.

6. Hay Twists


Sticking to the same theme here, hay twists are yet another great weaved hay toy from Oxbow. Guinea pigs love these things. Once I open the package, I find these little things all over the place. Guinea pigs love to chew them and carry them around. Fair warning though, they may not last long. However, these toys are still great for chewing and they are less likely to be peed on than hay mats or tunnels.

7. Fleece Toys

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Fleece toys are washable, reusable, and cozy for guinea pigs. You won't find many guinea pigs that don't love fleece beds and cozy cuddle cups. Plus, fleece items are often handmade, so you can support crafters and piggy lovers that use the same products for their own pigs. To find fleece items for your guinea pigs, you can search on Etsy or do a google search for fleece guinea pig accessories.

8. Apple Tree Sticks


You can't get much simpler than these, but apple tree sticks are great for your guinea pig's teeth and they love them! My pigs will turn down a much more expensive bed or chewable toy, but they'll gnaw at these endlessly (typical!)

9. Compressed Hay Blocks


Compressed hay blocks are a pretty simple concept, but guinea pigs seem to enjoy pulling them apart and dragging them around. I was surprised by how much my guys carried these around with them. They especially seemed to like the idea of bringing their hay with them to their bed, so they wouldn't have to move when they wanted a snack. :)

10. Make Them a Gourmet Dinner

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The best for last! Everyone knows guinea pigs are ruled by their stomachs over almost everything else, and yummy veggie treats are always appreciated by piggies. I'm not much of a cook, but luckily guinea pigs appreciate simple, raw veggies mixed up into a delicious salad. I like to mix up a bowl of all their favorite veggies, with some romaine lettuce, sweet bell peppers, and shredded carrots on top, along with any other veggies we have in the fridge at the time.
That sums up our list of 10 things every piggy would love for Christmas! Now I'm going to have to narrow it down further for my piggers. Don't forget; when Christmas morning rolls around, the most important thing to do of course, is to get up and hug all your loved ones (and cuddle your piggies!)

(And don't forget their morning treat!)

Thanks for reading!

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Ceico and Ace with their "veggie kabob" toy from Hay Pigs.
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How to Teach Your Guinea Pig 21 Fun and Easy Tricks!

10/12/2017

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There are so many fun and creative tricks you can teach your guinea pig to improve the bond between the two of you and enrich your piggy's life. Some are ideal beginner friendly tricks, such as circle, paws up, or pushing a ball around. There are also some that require a bit more time and practice, but are so much fun to teach, such as basketball, weaving through your legs as you walk, waving their paw, and playing fetch like a dog. The video below shows some examples of what you can teach your guinea pig with a little bit of patience (and lots of veggies!)
All the tutorials shown above can be found on this website (guineapigtricks.com) with detailed step by step instructions and training tips for each trick. The tricks under the Starting Tricks tab are best for beginners, with more trick tutorials like basketball and weave walking also available once your piggy masters the basics. Below is a list of all the tutorials in the video above. Click the links to visit each trick tutorial page and see more information about that particular trick.
Follow a target
Come when called
Spin circles
Give a paw
Stand up and beg
Paw target
Go through a hoop
Go through a paper covered hoop
Paws up
Push a ball around
Go to platform
Follow you around
Run a circle around an object
Jump
Go through a tunnel
Go through a closed tunnel
Weave poles
Basketball
Weave walk
Wave
Play fetch
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Tricks can range from as simple as putting their front paws up on a low object, to more challenging tricks like shooting hoops.
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How to Teach a Guinea Pig to Weave Poles

10/4/2017

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Weaving around poles is a fun and flashy trick for all types of animals. Weave poles are a great addition to an agility course for guinea pigs, or as a stand alone trick. Weaving is usually not the easiest trick to teach though, so it is best to start an agility course simply with some different types of jumps and tunnels before thinking about adding any weave poles or A-frame type of obstacles. Check out the video below for some tricks and tips for teaching the weave poles.
As mentioned above, weaving isn't the quickest or easiest trick to teach, and it does involve patience and repetition to get to the final result. You will likely be working on the weave poles for a couple weeks at least. If you want to make the obstacle a little bit easier, you can teach your guinea pig to go through the poles just once (instead of going down and back) or you can use fewer poles for your finished trick.
It is important that you don't reward the guinea pig at the same pole every time. Sometimes guinea pigs will try to anticipate where they will get a treat, and try to skip other poles so they can get to the "treat pole" faster. If your guinea pig gets certain "sticky spots" where they always try to skip the same pole every time, try to catch them before they run past the pole, and lure and reward at that spot every time until they are better at weaving through that particular spot.
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I find that plastic drinking cups work great for this trick (plus, you can stack them for storage when you're done.) I used a set of green jello cups (shown above) in the video, but anything similar works great for this trick.
For more information on teaching this trick, check out the weave poles trick tutorial page.

Thanks for reading!

www.GuineaPigTricks.com
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How to Teach a Guinea Pig to Go Through a Tunnel on Cue

10/1/2017

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The video below demonstrates how to teach your guinea pig to run through tunnels in a step by step process. Tunnels can be as basic as a short open tunnel, to longer tunnels that even bend and twist in different directions. Once your piggy has mastered the open tunnels, you can also use a bit of fleece or fabric to make a tunnel that is collapsed on one end, and teach your guinea pig to go through a closed tunnel. Open tunnels (of all shapes and sizes) and closed tunnels both make great additions to an agility course if you choose to teach your piggy agility at some point as well.
Tunnels are one of the most popular agility obstacles for all types of animals. They are often a fun obstacle for people and animals alike, and tunnels are typically pretty easy to teach as well. Along with jumps, tunnels are one of the best beginner obstacles to start with if you're going to be teaching agility to your guinea pig.
Agility courses provide great exercise and mental stimulation for guinea pigs. The first steps to getting started with guinea pig agility is teaching all the obstacles individually. Open and closed tunnels, as well as jumps, are great to use together when you start to set up your guinea pig's very first agility courses.
You can find some great tunnels to use for this trick at pet stores, online at Amazon, or even just by using your creative side and scavenging around your house. Anything that is 5" or bigger in diameter (and safe for the piggies) can be used as a tunnel for guinea pigs. Small boxes with the bottom cut open work great, and they are super cheap and easy to use.
For more tips on teaching this trick, check out the Tunnels Trick Tutorial page. You can also check out the Agility section for more information about getting started with guinea pig agility courses.

Thanks for reading!

www.guineapigtricks.com
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How to Teach a Guinea Pig to Jump

9/18/2017

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Jumping is a fairly easy trick to teach to guinea pigs, but it's still a fun trick none the less. Jumps are common obstacles in agility courses, so it's a great trick to start with if you want to teach your guinea pig to run agility courses.

Jumps can be made from all different types of materials; from cardboard, to popsicle sticks, or even rolled up newspaper. You can find a tutorial for DIY guinea pig jumps using recycled cardboard material here. You can also find a tutorial for a freestanding agility hoop jump here.

Some guinea pigs enjoy jumping more than others, so don't push your piggy to jump too much if they don't seem to enjoy it. It's a good idea to keep jumps extra low for older or over weight pigs. If you're curious about how high guinea pigs can (or should) jump, check out the How to Teach a Guinea Pig to Jump page and scroll down a bit for some info and tips on the ideal jump height for guinea pigs.
Thanks for reading!

www.GuineaPigTricks.com
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How to Teach a Guinea Pig to Give a Paw

7/31/2017

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Giving a paw is a relatively simple, but adorable trick that you can teach your guinea pig. This trick is one of the most common dog tricks, and is definitely a cute trick no matter what type of animal learns it.

This trick is typically a good choice to teach a guinea pig new to trick training, as it is usually pretty straightforward to teach. It often takes a bit more repetition than some other tricks though, so be patient when teaching it. It might take several short (3-5 minute) training sessions for a guinea pig to completely master this trick. Some piggies have a tendency to put both paws up on your hand instead of just one, but if you are consistent about rewarding for one paw only, the guinea pig should catch on pretty quickly.

For written steps and more training tips for this trick, check out the Give a Paw trick tutorial page.

www.guineapigtricks.com
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How to Teach a Guinea Pig to Follow You Around

6/11/2017

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Following a person around is probably the cutest guinea pig trick out there. Guinea pigs that follow you around are just undeniably adorable. This trick really has a way of making them feel more like a little 2lb puppy dog than a guinea pig.

This trick is fairly straightforward and easy to teach, as long as you take the time to bond with your guinea pig and get them comfortable with you standing and walking around near them.
The video above outlines all of the steps to teaching your guinea pig to follow you around like a dog, or you can find more tips and the full tutorial on the follow me trick tutorial page.

This trick can be a lot of fun to teach to a guinea pig, but it's important to make sure your guinea pig is totally tame and comfortable around you before trying to teach them to follow you. Trust is an important factor for this trick, because people can look quite big and intimidating from a guinea pig's perspective. Make sure you go slow, and understand that guinea pigs may be nervous to be around your feet at first, especially when you start walking around beside them.

Overall, this trick is really great for guinea pigs, and tops all other tricks for its cuteness factor and puppy dog personality. It's definitely near the top of my list of favorite tricks. I especially love how it really shows off the bond that has developed between your piggy and you.

Thanks for reading!

www.guineapigtricks.com
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How to Make Easy and Colourful Cardboard Guinea Pig Jumps

5/27/2017

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If you're looking for jumps for guinea pigs that are easy and cheap to make yourself, but still sturdy and safe, this tutorial will be perfect. These jumps can be made out of recycled materials (ie. cardboard that would otherwise be garbage) and can be painted nicely to fit in with any colour or theme that you like.
The video above shows the steps involved in assembling these cute little jumps. You can also find more pictures and a written tutorial on on the cardboard guinea pig jump tutorial page. These jumps make a great addition to a guinea pig agility course, or used on their own to teach your guinea pig to jump over them.
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Thanks for reading!

www.guineapigtricks.com
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How to Teach a Guinea Pig to Weave Walk (Tutorial)

5/16/2017

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Weave walking is one of my all time favourite guinea pig tricks. It tends to be a more advanced trick, and works best with guinea pigs that are more confident and outgoing. It takes a lot of trust on the part of the guinea pig, to be comfortable with you standing above them and walking so close to them. Many guinea pigs are not comfortable with this at all at first, so make sure your steps are slow and deliberate, with no fast, sudden movements. Go at your guinea pig's pace, whatever that may be, and be patient. Even if your guinea pig doesn't master this trick perfectly, it's still a good trick for confidence building and to teach your guinea pig that moving around them isn't such a scary thing.
If you think your guinea pig may need some work on the taming and confidence building part before attempting this trick (or if you're getting stuck while working on this trick) visit the guinea pig Taming and Bonding page for tips on helping your guinea pig learn to trust you more.
You can also find the complete weave walking tutorial with photos, written instructions, and troubleshooting tips on the step by step weave walk tutorial page.

Thanks for reading!

www.guineapigtricks.com
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    Welcome to the Guinea Pig Tricks blog! Here you will find articles about guinea pig training that may not be on the other pages of the site, and more detailed posts about common questions and problems regarding teaching tricks to your guinea pigs. If you have any suggestions for topics you would like to see me write about on this blog, you are more than welcome to email me through the contact page on this site with your suggestion. Otherwise, feel free to read through the posts and have fun training your piggy! :)

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