Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Getting Started

4 fun tricks you can train a guinea pig to do

Mary Johnson
By

Guinea pigs, members of the rodent family, come from the Andes region of South America. Originally wild animals, they were first domesticated by the residents of the Andes, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru as far back as 5000 B.C.E. These days, guinea pigs are most often found as adorable companions. More than 800,000 guinea pigs are kept as pets, and it’s easy to see why. Not only are they cute and friendly, but also you can train guinea pigs to do tricks. Interested in training a guinea pig? Read on.

A tan and white guinea pig in the grass.
Vantage Point Graphics from Pixabay

Fun tricks for guinea pigs to learn

Did you know you can teach your guinea pig to give you a high-five? How about jumping through a hoop? Let’s look closer at some of the cutest tricks you can teach your furry friend. 

Recommended Videos

Follow the leader

It’s best to start with one of the simplest tricks: teaching your guinea pig to follow you. Because guinea pigs don’t have the best eyesight, we recommend using fragrant treats like herbs (basil and mint work well) or fruits like oranges and strawberries. Start by sitting on the floor and waving a treat around to encourage her to approach. Once she learns to come to you successfully, you can back away a few feet, dropping treats on the floor to encourage her to follow you. Say “come here” as you lead her. Soon, you’ll be able to tell your furry friend “come here” without a treat in your hand. 

Sit up

While your guinea pig is on all fours, hold a treat above her head high enough that she has to sit up to reach it. When she’s sitting on her back legs, tell her “sit up” and then give her a treat. She may not understand the first few times, but the desire for a tasty treat should provide proper motivation. Pretty soon, your guinea pig will respond to the “sit up” command before you offer her a treat. 

High-five

Place your hand on the floor palm upward, holding a treat over your palm in your free hand. Your guinea pig may place both front paws on your hand to reach the treat, but that’s okay. Gently move her back and try again. Once your guinea pig places a single paw on your hand, say “high-five” and give her a treat. Eventually, your guinea pig will place her paw on your hand without a treat. Make sure to follow up with lots of praise and affection so she’ll know she did well. 

Jump through hoops

This trick seems a lot more challenging than it really is. Start with a hoop that’s at least three times larger than your guinea pig so she won’t feel trapped going through it. Encourage her to poke her nose through the hoop by holding a treat on the other side. Once your guinea pig is willing to take the treat, move it back a couple of inches to encourage her to step through the hoop. You can tell her “jump” and then reward her with a treat when she steps through. After she catches on, you’ll be able to direct her through the hoop without a treat in sight.  

A gray guinea pig near a white flower.
Yvona Fišová from Pixabay

How to make the most of training

Just like cats and dogs, guinea pigs can form bonds with their owners. Building trust is the first step in training your guinea pig to do tricks. If your guinea pig feels comfortable in your presence, she’ll be much more receptive to learning. With patience, persistence, and plenty of rewarding tasty treats, you’ll be able to teach your furry little friend how to do a variety of tricks. These are the top four tips you should keep in mind when training your guinea pig.

  1. Guinea pigs are quite clever, but they have shorter attention spans than we do. When you’re first starting off training your guinea pig, stick to 15-minute intervals. As she becomes more familiar with what you expect, you can lengthen your training sessions to around 30 minutes every day. 
  2. There’s a simple equation for training guinea pigs: Repetition plus consistency plus reward equals success. The more you repeat your commands — and give your furry friend a treat each time she does a trick — the more often she’ll successfully follow through. You should be consistent with your guinea pig. If you tell her “sit up” one day, you should always tell her “sit up” instead of simply saying “up.”
  3. Give her a treat only when she’s successful. No matter how adorable she is, reward her only when she’s completed the trick. This teaches her what she’s supposed to do. If you reward her all the time, she’ll have a much harder time learning. 
  4. One last thing: You’ll want to monitor your guinea pig’s diet during training. Because you’ll be treating your furry friend when she does a trick, you don’t want to overfeed her the rest of the time.

Training your guinea pig may take some time and effort, but it’s well worth it in the end. Not only will your furry friend look adorable while doing tricks, but training sessions also provide much-needed bonding time. Remember to keep sessions positive and brief, always reward successful completion, and — most importantly — have fun with your guinea pig.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Mary Johnson
Mary Johnson
Contributor
Mary Johnson is a writer and photographer from New Orleans, Louisiana. Her work has been published in PawTracks and…
Sorry Labs, you’re no longer America’s favorite dog (here’s what replaced them)
The French bulldog is now America's favorite pure breed
A French bulldog holds a leash in their mouth while standing in the grass

Every year, the American Kennel Club (AKC) releases a list of the most popular breeds in America. For 31 times in a row, the Labrador retriever stubbornly held onto the number one spot, like a dog with a chew toy. However, this breed has finally been ousted and slipped to number two while the adorable French bulldog secured the top. The 2022 most popular dog breeds shook things up, but why has this changed?

Why are Frenchies so popular?
The Lab continued to reign as number one for so long, likely because this breed is known for being friendly and versatile. What better pooch for a family? But as people, especially younger adults, continue to flock to cities, big family-oriented dogs might become less popular (though we should note that the top 10 still includes many large dogs).

Read more
Howling dog went viral for sounding like an opera singer — we can’t get enough
This video shows a pup who has mastered the art of music with his perfectly on key howling
A dog lies in the grass and howls at the sky

Many of us think that our dogs talk way beyond the average woofs and barks that we all hear. Some seem to be particularly good at human speech, mimicking our sounds to try to be more like their pet parents. While most beasties never quite make it to speaking to us in our language, others go a step further and decide they will learn to sing too. Singing pups have taken over the internet, and this diva is no different.

If you've ever been to the opera, you know to listen for the tell-tale vibrato, which is really just moving between two pitches very quickly. There's nothing quite like it, and most of us will immediately think of that sound when we listen to this melodious dog.

Read more
New Year’s resolutions that can make you a better pet parent in 2023
5 ways you can become the best pet parent this year
A woman strokes a blue-eyed white dog while outside

We all kick off the new year with resolutions, but for pet lovers, the goal to be a better pet parent is a resolution worth keeping. From teaching your fur babies to get along to helping your cat kick a treat addiction, there are plenty of things we can do to improve our four-legged friends' quality of life. We'll take a deep dive into the top New Year's resolutions pet parents should make to ensure their furry companions stay happy and healthy throughout 2023.

How to set a New Year's resolution you'll keep
We all start off the new year with the best of intentions, vowing to eat healthier, get more exercise, and spend less time doomscrolling on social media. However, by the end of January, the vast majority of people have already started to backslide -- or have given up on their resolutions altogether. But when you're setting resolutions with your fur babies in mind, keeping them is more important than ever. Try:

Read more