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Have you heard the business expression, "What gets rewarded, gets repeated?" Well, this could not be more true for your guinea pig. The problem is humans don't always realize they are rewarding unwanted behaviors, some of them may be unwanted behaviors. Unfortunately it is easy to reward poor behaviors such as trying to jump off your lap, biting, or chewing items that it should not be.
For example, your guinea pig scratches at the pen door and
you let your guinea pig out. Who told who what to do? As soon as your guinea pig
learns a behavior makes you respond, this behavior will endure. You
might only give your guinea pig the "evil eye" but this is reward enough. Have you
heard the expression used in child rearing, "Negative attention is
better than no attention?" Welcome to your Pet's
world!
So, you must be VERY careful what attention you give to
your Pet's unwanted behavior and be VERY consistent in giving attention
to those desirable behaviors you want to see endure.
Here's another example of how we confuse our Pets:
 Your
guinea pig
chews the leg of the chair and you yell, "No!"
In response, your guinea pig stops on a dime and looks at you. Instead of
saying, "Good Boy!" for this wonderful response, you say, "Bad guinea pig,"
because you are still stuck on the guinea pig destroying furniture - which has stopped.
Ooops! You have just
reprimanded your guinea pig for
stopping and looking at you.
When you respond after the fact, you treat guinea pigs like
humans who understand a lecture on what
they did. Your guinea pig only learns from the cause and effect of the present
moment so be careful what you teach!
What to do
Verbal praise and treats should be offered when your guinea pig is doing something you like such as being calm and quiet on your lap or chewing on approved items.
Punishment Options
In psychology, punishment is the reduction of a behavior via a stimulus which is applied or removed. Thus you can have positive punishment or negative punishment. An example of negative punishment is taking away your attention when your guinea pig plays too rough. An example of positive punishment would be yelling at or spraying with a water bottle. Guinea pigs can be very timid since they are prey animals. So we suggest you use only negative punishment and positive reinforcement when working with your guinea pig. No physical (positive) punishment should EVER be used. Physical punishment and raised voices will only result in a scared Pet and scared Pets can become aggressive and fearful. Treat your guinea pig with kindness and a comforting voice and you will be rewarded with a Pet that is comfortable being around you and others.
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