That's exactly what I worked on for the past few weeks with my two guinea pigs. I've noticed that they've already learned that the sound of the refrigerator opening is a sign that they will get fed, and will start squealing for food. I got to thinking that I could put this knowledge to good use.
Debbi Noble implies that it's pretty easy to teach your guinea pigs to "come." The command "can be taught using a treat, just like you would with a dog to 'heel' or come here'"(20). That's what I did with Mochi and Bean, but along with a treat, I would click my tongue multiple times, making loud and clear tsk, tsk sounds, after I opened the fridge and walked to their cage with their fresh veggies. Pretty quickly the cavies would associate the "tsk-tsk" sound with being fed, and would approach the one making the sound: me.
Consistency is important so I kept this up for several weeks, every time I went to feed them, which is once in the morning and once in the evening. Fresh veggies are supposed to be treats since a guinea pig's diet should mostly consist of hay and pellets. After I was sure that both Mochi and Bean knew what the "tsk-tsk" sound meant, I tried to see is they could learn the "come" command when they heard it during their playtime/exercise session.
Like with any lesson, practice is important, and the first ones should be simple, then the difficulty should increase over time. In Mochi and Bean's case, the difficulty increased when the distance between them and the food would increase (21). So for our first practice, a few minutes into their play, when I was about five feet away, I clicked my tongue the same way I would when I was about to feed them. Immediately, both pigs began squealing. Bean, the less cautious one, right away trotted her way to me, and quickly Mochi followed.
In other words, Trial 1 was a success!
After they finished half the lettuce, I had the pigs run around some more for a little bit as a break. The second and final trial for our first practice for the "come' command will determine if they really have the ability to learn it.
Once their break time was over, I made the call once again, this time while ten feet away. Surprisingly, it was Mochi this time who approached first! It was a success once again!
For those of you who have pets, what is the most successful experience you've had in training your pet?
Noble, Debbie. Guinea Pig Pets: Train Your Guinea Pig The Easy Way! N.p.: Shaharm Publications, 2014-2015. E-book.
To answer your question, I trained my dog to play dead! It was actually way easier than I thought it was going to be. Great post Pia! It was really interesting to see all of the pictures of your guinea pigs learning their new tricks. Awesome!
ReplyDeleteHey Alec! Thanks for sharing about your dog; she seems really smart and I would love to meet her some time. I wish I could teach my pigs how to play dead too, but that seems way too out of their caliber :P
DeleteGreat posts on baseball;I hope your book helps you become successful in your games!