Rolling a ball around is an easy and fun trick to teach any guinea pig, and makes a great first trick. Guinea pigs often catch onto this trick quickly, and seem to enjoy rolling a ball around in exchange for treats.

Once your piggy gets good at rolling a ball around, you can also add on to this trick and teach them to play soccer. To do that, you would have to find a guinea pig sized soccer net, or even something simple, like two plastic cups set a few inches apart, for the guinea pig to push the ball between. To teach a guinea pig to play soccer, simply start by placing the ball directly in front of the net, and reward when the guinea pig pushes it into the net. Gradually increase the distance that the guinea pig has to push the ball to the net.

To get started teaching this trick, watch the tutorial video above, or read more on the page,
How To Teach a Guinea Pig to Push a Ball.

Thanks for reading, and happy training!

GuineaPigTricks.com

Target sticks are super useful for training, and super easy to make as well. All you need is a few inexpensive materials, and a couple minutes to assemble them. They're one of the simplest and least time consuming training pieces to make for your guinea pig. The tutorial for these mini target sticks is intended for small animals, but you can also use the same steps with a bigger ball and thicker dowel to make a target stick for dogs and bigger animals.

Touching and/or following a target stick is pretty easy to teach, and a great beginner trick to teach to new piggies. Check out the How to Teach a Nose Target page for info on teaching this trick, or read more about making a target stick here.

Thanks for reading!

www.guineapigtricks.com

Running a circle around an object is an easy and simple trick to teach. There is also lots of potential for making different fun props for the guinea pig to run around, or the trick can be kept simple by just using a plain plastic cup or similar object. This trick is a good option for confidence building with younger piggies or those that are new to training, as most guinea pigs tend to pick up on it fairly quickly.

The video tutorial can be viewed right above, or you can read more about this trick on the How to Teach: Circle Around Object page.

Thanks for reading!

GuineaPigTricks.com

Platform (or pedestal) training is an important foundation behavior for many types of trained animals, from lions to dogs, and everything in between. Going to a platform is typically an easy trick to teach, and can help when training other types of tricks (for example, wave.) This trick is especially great for younger piggies or those new to training because it is easy to teach and encourages the guinea pig to look for cues instead of relying too much on a food lure.

A platform for guinea pigs can be any fairly low object that is sturdy, safe, and has enough space for the guinea pig to get on and turn around comfortably.

You can watch the video above for the tutorial, or read more on the How to Teach a Guinea Pig: Go To Platform page.