Platform work tutorial
Training a guinea pig to hop onto a platform is an important skill. It's the foundation to training them to load up into a carrier and for climbing into your lap. It also provides practice for both you and your guinea pig with how to use reward placement and training set-up to structure your shaping sessions.
Before we begin, find a suitable platform for your guinea pig to hop upon. Low shallow cardboard boxes are ideal and the easiest to work with. The boxes I use for my guinea pigs are the cases that cat food or dog food cans come in. You can see what they look like to the left. If you do not have a cat or a dog, most pet stores will let you take an empty case home for free if you ask. Another option is a shoe box lid.
1. Click for orienting towards the box
Make sure to place the box in the corner of the enclosure (either training area or the guinea pig's cage) and sit down at that corner. Look at the image to the right to see what this should look like. This makes it easier for your guinea pig because it makes it more likely that she'll make a correct choice. Click her for orienting towards you and the box and reward her in front of her nose. She'll likely naturally start approaching you and the box because you keep giving her clicks and treats.
2. Click for approaching the box
Now, you want to click your guinea pig for being near the box. Offer the reward on the edge of the box nearest to her so she has to reach with her neck to take it. Some bolder guinea pigs will actually put their front paws on the box to beg for more treats. This is good and definitely click that.
3. Click for sniffing/neck reaching towards the top of the box
Your guinea pig should definitely come and run over when you put the box in the cage by now because box = super mega treat time. Wait for her to sniff or reach her head at the top of the box. When she does, click and treat. Offer the treat right in front of her nose.
4. Click for front paws on box
When your guinea pig puts her front paws on the box, give her a click and treat. Give the treat right in front of her nose so she has to stretch a little to receive the treat. Now, don't waste time! If she is still on the box right after taking her reward, immediately click and treat again! You are teaching her that being on top of the box is highly rewarding. Keep doing this until she volunteers hopping off. If she does not volunteer this behavior on her own, say "Off" or "Get off" and lure her off of the platform, making sure to click as she hops off and giving the treat in front of her nose.
5. Click for front paws on box and stretching her neck
When she puts her feet on the box, don't click right away. She should seem to go, "Hey! When's my treat going to appear!" and stretch out her neck to look for it. When she does, click and treat. If she doesn't do this at all, go back to step 4. When she is consciously stretching her neck to earn the click and treat, she's ready for the next step.
6. Click for all four paws on the box
Your reward placement should make your guinea pig orient more and more towards the center of the box. If you are sitting outside the corner of the enclosure, this game is really fun. Animals naturally gravitate towards whatever or whoever is giving them food. Pretty quickly, she should offer hopping on the box. Once your guinea pig is on the box, click and reward her in front of her nose. If she is still on the box after a half second, click and treat again. Keep doing this until she volunteers hopping off. If she does not (highly likely), then say "Off" or "Get off" and lure her off of the platform, making sure to click as she hops off and giving her the treat in front of her nose.
7. Building duration and training the release cue
The next step is to slowly build up the time between clicks and treats while she has all four feet on the box. Instead of a half second, wait a full second before you click and treat. If she doesn't hop off of the box, click and treat. If she does, click her for hopping back on the box again and go back to half seconds between the box again. When she has earned several clicks and treats, say "Off" or "Get off" and lure her off of the box, clicking as she hops off. Wait for her to hop on the box again to start building duration again.
8. Moving the box away from the corner
Of course, you want your guinea pig to understand that she should hop on the box even if it's in the middle of the floor! So, now you are going to start moving the box away from the wall. Go back to whatever step she needs to be confident. Some guinea pigs can straight away work on step 7. Others need to start back at step 3. Each time you move the box, your guinea pig should become more and more confident about what she should do to earn the clicks and treats. The first thing you do to start moving the box away from the corner is to put it so that only one side is up against the wall of the enclosure:
The next step is to pull the box away from the wall, but put it near a corner so that the rules seem familiar and your guinea pig is very likely to get it right. Look at the image below to see what this would look like for you and your guinea pig:
You'll then put the box against one side again, but with distance between that side and the wall. Again, look at the image below to see what it would look like:
Now that your guinea pig understands how to approach and climb a box, you can start to gradually move the box away from the wall.
Most guinea pigs will skip a few of these steps in any given training session. Think of the steps as you'll click for at least step 1 and anything after it. If your guinea pig consistently gives you more than that, of course move on to step 2. Below is a video on training tips and tricks for training this behavior, as well as illustrating what some of steps would look like.
