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How To Teach a Guinea Pig to Weave Poles
Weave poles tend to be a bit more difficult and time consuming to teach than other agility obstacles, but they still make for an interesting obstacle and a great addition to an agility course. You can use as many poles as you wish, although I usually only use 3 poles in an agility course because the weave poles for guinea pigs generally take up a lot of space. If you have enough space in the room you are working in, you can use 6 poles or any other amount you want to put in your course. Weave poles also make a great stand alone trick on their own, especially if you can teach your guinea pig to do 5 or 6 poles all together.
First of all, to start teaching this obstacle, you will need weave poles suitable for a guinea pig, ideally where you can add and remove poles as necessary. You can choose to build a weave pole base and use dowels for the poles, or you could simply use plastic cups as weave poles. I find that cups make great poles because you can arrange them however you'd like, and they stack away when not in use. Whatever you choose to use, make sure it is safe and suitable to use for guinea pigs.
First of all, to start teaching this obstacle, you will need weave poles suitable for a guinea pig, ideally where you can add and remove poles as necessary. You can choose to build a weave pole base and use dowels for the poles, or you could simply use plastic cups as weave poles. I find that cups make great poles because you can arrange them however you'd like, and they stack away when not in use. Whatever you choose to use, make sure it is safe and suitable to use for guinea pigs.
How to Teach a Guinea Pig to Weave Poles (Video Tutorial)
For this trick, you will need....
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I'm using a set of plastic jello cups for this trick, but any kind of plastic cups work great.
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Step 1
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Start with 2 cups. Lure the guinea pig in a figure eight around them. Once the guinea pig seems comfortable following your hand around the poles, start to fade out the lure. You can do this by gradually moving your hand faster, ahead of the guinea pig. If they get stuck at all, slow down again and practice a bit more. |
Step 2
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After awhile, try taking your hand away and see if they will do the figure eight on their own. Keep your hand nearby so you can get them back on the right track if needed. Practice until the guinea pig can do figure eights without any guidance. |
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Step 3
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Add a third cup and repeat the same process as in step 1 again. Fade out the lure until the guinea pig can weave through all 3 poles without any help from you. |
Step 4
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Once the guinea pig can weave 3 poles on their own, you can continue to add one more pole at a time and follow the same process for each new pole. Eventually, you can even work up to weaving 6 poles down and back! (if you choose to teach that many poles) |
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Variable Rewarding
It is important to vary the times/locations that you reward your guinea pig while teaching the weave poles. If you always reward your guinea pig in one spot every time, such as at the end of the of the weave poles, the guinea pig will learn that they only get a treat in that one spot, so they may rush through to that spot or skip the rest of the poles in an attempt to get the treat faster. To prevent this, you want to make sure you reward them in different places each time to keep them guessing where they will get the treat next. For example, one time you may give them a treat right near the beginning after they go around the first pole, then again after the fourth pole. Next time you may choose to reward them after the second pole, then after the fifth pole. The pattern you choose doesn't really matter, as long as it is varied and not too easy for the guinea pig to predict.
Additional Tips For Teaching This Trick
- Be very patient while teaching this obstacle. You will likely need to have lots of repetitions over the course of teaching this trick. Always stay patient and consistent.
- Guinea pigs often have "sticky spots" at one particular pole (ie. they always try to skip that one pole.) If you come across this problem, try to catch the guinea pig before they get to that pole and lure them through that particular spot before they get the chance to skip it.
- Also make sure you reward in different places each time. If you only treat in one spot, the guinea pig might try to skip other poles because it's easier. Read the "Variable Rewarding" paragraph above for more information.
- It's normal for guinea pigs to skip a pole, change directions, run off once in a while, or otherwise break the pattern. Don't get frustrated with your guinea pig, just patiently redirect them in the right way and reward them when they are back on track.
- This trick can be hard and time consuming to teach. If you want to make it a bit easier, you can use fewer poles, or teach your guinea pig to just weave through the set of poles once instead of going down and back.
