Hi! Welcome to our website! I thought I would start this blog off with a post about me and the guinea pigs that taught me so much over the last few years. There are four of us altogether so far (me and 3 piggies). I'll start by sharing a bit about my background, and lead into each of the piggies.....
So my name is Jenna. I live in Canada and I am an animal trainer, and have been training all kinds of animals since I was really young. Training animals is something that has always clicked with me. It feels more intuitive to me than anything else, and I often learn as I go when working with my pets. I love animals of all kinds and have been told I've always been exceptionally patient (particularly with animals!) I love creativity, unique ideas, and I usually have a knack for crafting and making things. I believe every animal is intelligent and has potential to learn much more than they are given credit for. My goal with all my animals is to teach them as much as I possibly can to show people this potential that is so often overlooked. Animals really are much more intelligent than they get credit for, they just need someone to help them reach that potential. :)
So my name is Jenna. I live in Canada and I am an animal trainer, and have been training all kinds of animals since I was really young. Training animals is something that has always clicked with me. It feels more intuitive to me than anything else, and I often learn as I go when working with my pets. I love animals of all kinds and have been told I've always been exceptionally patient (particularly with animals!) I love creativity, unique ideas, and I usually have a knack for crafting and making things. I believe every animal is intelligent and has potential to learn much more than they are given credit for. My goal with all my animals is to teach them as much as I possibly can to show people this potential that is so often overlooked. Animals really are much more intelligent than they get credit for, they just need someone to help them reach that potential. :)
Anyway, I first started getting into animal training when I was only 9 or 10 years old, when I casually began training my guinea pig, Teddy. I absolutely loved Teddy, and she was probably the most tolerant guinea pig ever. She was a brown guinea pig with a white crest on her head, and she was the absolute sweetest piggy ever. She was my little baby, she loved being with me, and would always come to me for attention. She also put up with my every mistake as I was learning, didn't run off, picked up on things even though I kept switching to different tricks and didn't work with her on a regular basis, etc. Just the best teacher you could ever ask for. :) She ended up learning only a handful of tricks; circle, stand up, push a ball around, and go through a tunnel. Maybe a couple others, but those were her best tricks, and the ones I videotaped. I included the video of Teddy doing these 4 tricks in the video below. Please forgive the lack of video quality and yes, I know her nails are long. I used to be terrified of clipping the quick, so often let them go. Thank goodness I am over that now, because I can't believe how long I used to let them grow. :/ Anyway, this video is several years old, only 49 seconds long. It does make me smile to see Teddy doing all her tricks though, she was such a sweetheart. <3
Teddy gave me the ever so important foundation with animal training that is priceless in most any situation; from building a house to learning to read. Teddy passed away at 4 years old. I miss my sweet girl and am so grateful to have had her in my life. <3
My next piggy also touched my life in an incredible way, and took my training to a whole new level. Spartan, another white crestie, and my amazingly smart, confident, sweet, and all around incredible little guy is a bit difficult to talk about still, as I lost my little baby on Sunday, December 14, 2014. It still feels like yesterday though.... I usually try not to think about him, as it brings tears to my eyes every time (it is already). Spartan was like Teddy in the way that I was super close to him and he was more like a little puppy than a guinea pig. He was always next to me, always under my feet, I couldn't walk across a little room without being followed, and he was always climbing all over me, trying to get into everything I was doing. :) Whenever he couldn't follow me outside the room and I had to close the door on him, he would stay right by the door and squeal loudly in protest, he really would have followed me everywhere if he was allowed. I actually miss tripping over him and constantly chasing my naughty little rascal away from eating books, houseplants, wires, shelves, and anything else remotely edible (or not). He had a total dog-like personality in so many ways and a high level of confidence that is not often seen in guinea pigs. Spartan was just really special in a way I can't exactly describe.
As we progressed in our training, and his trick repertoire grew substantially, I swear he picked up new things faster than a border collie. His last new trick that he ever learned involved flipping up a hoop and going through; he didn't know any tricks that were too similar to this, but I only had to lure him once with a treat to show him what to do. After that, he was doing it all by himself without any further guidance from me. The speed at which he picked that up even surprised me. My other guinea pig, Ceico, who is still with me now, is pretty smart and typically picks up new things fairly quickly in comparison to other guinea pigs, and it took him 3-4 sessions to learn the same trick.
Spartan was truly the most amazing animal I have ever met in my life, and a true trick piggy. Watching him do all his tricks mesmerized me, thinking up new things to teach him was a blast, and watching the videos I put together of his tricks amazed me all over again, even though I was there every step of every trick he ever learned. Most of the tricks I taught Spartan were unique; there were not many other guinea pigs that knew tricks at the time, and even watching trick videos of dogs did not help much, as there are really not very many dog tricks that guinea pigs can learn due to their extreme differences in physical abilities. A lot of the trick ideas I tested out with Spartan were things that I had no idea how he would respond to, or whether or not he would even physically be capable of doing them. He always took on every challenge I could throw at him though, no matter how big or small, even though it was new to both him and me.
My goal for Spartan was always for him to learn 100 tricks; as time passed, I thought he would actually reach it. Unfortunately, by the time his 4 short years were up, his repertoire totaled at 50+. Still impressive, but he had so much potential still..... Another 2 years and I'm sure he would have reached it though. He really was getting closer, and I just knew he would be able to do it. I think his purpose in life was more to teach me though. I'm sure if I had the same knowledge and experience when I started working with him as I have now, he would have been able to learn way more. I was still very new to animal training when I got Spartan, he was with me as I learned everything and taught me nearly everything I know up to this point. It is honestly heartbreaking to know he's gone.... He was such an incredible piggy who I miss immensely. Words really can't describe the feeling....
I unfortunately never got the chance to record and put together a full video of all his tricks though. I was actually in the process of reviewing everything he had learned so we could make a video of it, but that is when he passed away..... I am forever grateful to have had Spartan in my life though. He was my little angel and was so special to me in so many ways. Even with all the tricks he learned, I think I still learned way more from him than he did from me. Working with Spartan showed me that guinea pigs are much smarter than they are given credit for and are capable of learning amazing things, besides super simple tricks people regularly teach them. Believe me, they definitely can learn pretty complex "wow factor" behaviours that are just truly amazing. :) And now that Spartan has shown me what is possible, I will be sure to keep reaching for the impossible....
Below-- A couple of Spartan's most recent tricks he learned before he passed away.....
As we progressed in our training, and his trick repertoire grew substantially, I swear he picked up new things faster than a border collie. His last new trick that he ever learned involved flipping up a hoop and going through; he didn't know any tricks that were too similar to this, but I only had to lure him once with a treat to show him what to do. After that, he was doing it all by himself without any further guidance from me. The speed at which he picked that up even surprised me. My other guinea pig, Ceico, who is still with me now, is pretty smart and typically picks up new things fairly quickly in comparison to other guinea pigs, and it took him 3-4 sessions to learn the same trick.
Spartan was truly the most amazing animal I have ever met in my life, and a true trick piggy. Watching him do all his tricks mesmerized me, thinking up new things to teach him was a blast, and watching the videos I put together of his tricks amazed me all over again, even though I was there every step of every trick he ever learned. Most of the tricks I taught Spartan were unique; there were not many other guinea pigs that knew tricks at the time, and even watching trick videos of dogs did not help much, as there are really not very many dog tricks that guinea pigs can learn due to their extreme differences in physical abilities. A lot of the trick ideas I tested out with Spartan were things that I had no idea how he would respond to, or whether or not he would even physically be capable of doing them. He always took on every challenge I could throw at him though, no matter how big or small, even though it was new to both him and me.
My goal for Spartan was always for him to learn 100 tricks; as time passed, I thought he would actually reach it. Unfortunately, by the time his 4 short years were up, his repertoire totaled at 50+. Still impressive, but he had so much potential still..... Another 2 years and I'm sure he would have reached it though. He really was getting closer, and I just knew he would be able to do it. I think his purpose in life was more to teach me though. I'm sure if I had the same knowledge and experience when I started working with him as I have now, he would have been able to learn way more. I was still very new to animal training when I got Spartan, he was with me as I learned everything and taught me nearly everything I know up to this point. It is honestly heartbreaking to know he's gone.... He was such an incredible piggy who I miss immensely. Words really can't describe the feeling....
I unfortunately never got the chance to record and put together a full video of all his tricks though. I was actually in the process of reviewing everything he had learned so we could make a video of it, but that is when he passed away..... I am forever grateful to have had Spartan in my life though. He was my little angel and was so special to me in so many ways. Even with all the tricks he learned, I think I still learned way more from him than he did from me. Working with Spartan showed me that guinea pigs are much smarter than they are given credit for and are capable of learning amazing things, besides super simple tricks people regularly teach them. Believe me, they definitely can learn pretty complex "wow factor" behaviours that are just truly amazing. :) And now that Spartan has shown me what is possible, I will be sure to keep reaching for the impossible....
Below-- A couple of Spartan's most recent tricks he learned before he passed away.....
*Above* A collection of video clips I had previously that I put together. This still does not show everything he learned, but some of his best and more advanced tricks are included. :) Video clips range from 7-8 months ago (shortly before he passed away) to incredibly old.
Anyway, I'm sorry for that insanely long write up about Spartan.... I know that could have been a blog post all on its own. I could honestly write a book about Spartan. I have so much to say about my boy. Especially because I miss him so much still. But there is still one more piggy I haven't yet introduced....
Anyway, I'm sorry for that insanely long write up about Spartan.... I know that could have been a blog post all on its own. I could honestly write a book about Spartan. I have so much to say about my boy. Especially because I miss him so much still. But there is still one more piggy I haven't yet introduced....
This is the little rascal that lives with me now. ;) Ceico has been with me about 3 years now, and is a smart little guy, in a different way than Spartan though. He can be independent and sometimes likes to invent his own fun games. For example, he loves to play "catch me if you can" where he will try his best to not be caught, but not in a frightened way of course. :) He truly loves this game. He will start when it gets close to the time to go back to his cage. He'll sit beside a shelf or something he can get under, and wait for me. He will even let me pet him and scratch his back, but no matter how quick I am, he will wiggle away before I am able to pick him up. :) Once gone, he will make sure to sit in the one tiny corner I am not able to reach him. If I ignore him for any period of time though, he is back out within 2 minutes waiting in the same spot to repeat the exercise. That's my silly pig, lol. :P He is quite skilled at knowing the exact spots to go to where it is most difficult to get him. Plus, if I move to the other side of the shelf to get closer to him, he will adjust his location accordingly, and be waiting for me in his new impossible-to-reach spot. So that is Ceico's intelligence type in a nutshell. :) He is very intuitive though, and will respond to quieter, less obvious cues. He also picks up on your emotions easily (which can be a good or bad thing). He loves to run around and play, and likes to popcorn around while he is out exploring every day. :) While he can be a bit unsure of some things, he does love hearing "Good Boy!" and often that is all it takes to get him back on track if he is lacking confidence with something. :) Ceico also has the cutest little "doll" face. :) He has a few other quirks as well that are unique. For example, he prefers to eat food from your hand rather than the floor, and he also has a ticklish spot on his side (and he purrs and kicks his foot if you touch his ticklish spot :P)
Ceico is a bit more nervous about noises and such than Spartan was (we are working on that :) but he has still developed a decent repertoire of tricks to date, about 35-40+ tricks approximately. Despite this, he seems to be more confident with agility courses than tricks. He seems to enjoy the courses more too, sometimes he doesn't even want to stop, lol. :)
Ceico has helped me to learn so much more about training guinea pigs, as he needed a different approach than Spartan for nearly everything I taught him. His learning style is so different from the other 2 piggies I've had, and it definitely made me more aware of how different animals (whether they are the same species or not) can require totally different approaches for the same trick. Ceico has really helped me to recognize many things and "balance" me out so to speak, in terms of adapting to working with 2 guinea pigs of totally opposite personalities. I wouldn't consider him more difficult or challenging to work with though, but it was very much different than what I was used to. I still love my little piggy, though, and although he picked up a few of Spartan's "silly habits" he knows when he is not supposed to be doing something. (you should see his guilty look when he's chewing something he's not supposed to. Lol :P)
Ceico is a bit more nervous about noises and such than Spartan was (we are working on that :) but he has still developed a decent repertoire of tricks to date, about 35-40+ tricks approximately. Despite this, he seems to be more confident with agility courses than tricks. He seems to enjoy the courses more too, sometimes he doesn't even want to stop, lol. :)
Ceico has helped me to learn so much more about training guinea pigs, as he needed a different approach than Spartan for nearly everything I taught him. His learning style is so different from the other 2 piggies I've had, and it definitely made me more aware of how different animals (whether they are the same species or not) can require totally different approaches for the same trick. Ceico has really helped me to recognize many things and "balance" me out so to speak, in terms of adapting to working with 2 guinea pigs of totally opposite personalities. I wouldn't consider him more difficult or challenging to work with though, but it was very much different than what I was used to. I still love my little piggy, though, and although he picked up a few of Spartan's "silly habits" he knows when he is not supposed to be doing something. (you should see his guilty look when he's chewing something he's not supposed to. Lol :P)
Anyway, bringing this to a close, my hopes with this website is to be able to help others who are interested in training their piggies too. It is really awesome to see your guinea pig progress and learn new tricks, and is truly rewarding to watch, not to mention a great way to spend time with your piggy. :) I love seeing others that teach their guinea pigs tricks, as well as have a strong bond with their piggy, and I want to try to reach out to help others that want to, but don't know how to achieve this with their guinea pig. There really is nothing better than having a guinea pig that follows you around like a dog. :)
Anyway, if you read through this whole super long monster post, congrats. :) I hope you liked reading a bit about us! 'Til next time, have fun training with your piggy!
~Jenna and the piggies. :)
GuineaPigTricks.com
Anyway, if you read through this whole super long monster post, congrats. :) I hope you liked reading a bit about us! 'Til next time, have fun training with your piggy!
~Jenna and the piggies. :)
GuineaPigTricks.com
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