Introducing Bugsy the Trained Guinea Pig and his owner Jenna!

So last week, I went to pick up my daughter from her guitar lesson. As usual, I went in at the end just to listen to the end of her lesson and see how things went. There were a couple of things about this visit that were not "usual" however. First of all, this family shares custody of an adorable little Shih Tzu dog named Oscar, and Oscar was there. This was the first time I'd met him, so Jenna, our guitar teacher's daughter, asked if I'd like to see his "tricks."  I told her I would, so she proceeded through the repertoire of doggy tricks that you would normally expect. During this little show, the normally quiet guinea pig, Bugsy, began to squeal loudly and run around in his cage. He normally just stands inside his cage, nibbling on food, drinking water, etc. This was far from usual.

I asked Jenna what in the world had Bugsy so wound up, and she proceeded to tell me that he "probably just wants to show you his tricks." She said it just like that...as if that is something you'd hear every day. I don't know about you, but I for one, have never heard of a "trained" guinea pig. I even owned a guinea pig when I was about 10 years old, and I only recall that it ate, drank, slept, pooped and made a lot of noise. It certainly was never trained to do anything, so I'm pretty sure I looked at sweet little Jenna like she was a wee bit crazy. I said something like "your guinea pig does tricks?" and she responded again by asking if I wanted to see them.

How could I pass this up? So...she put Oscar back in a bedroom, and got out Bugsy. She brought out some carrot chips and went to work. First, she said, "Bugsy, shake." Bugsy stood up on her hand with both of his little front feet. (I have to admit that I wasn't that impressed by that...wouldn't any guinea pig climb in your hand for a carrot chip?), but it's what happened next that floored me. She took out another carrot chip and with no motion of her hand or anything, leaned in close to him and said, "Bugsy...circle." Would you believe that little guinea pig started turning around and around in a circle?  

Now you've impressed me! She went on to have him "stand" on his hind legs for his grand finale. I was just amazed that she could teach a guinea pig, of all animals, anything. I can barely get my dog "sit!"

She did put Bugsy back in his cage so that Oscar could come out of his temporary jail. Once free, Oscar...who had paid no attention at all to Bugsy prior to being put in lockdown...suddenly started jumping against the cage and barking at Bugsy. I'm pretty sure he was telling Bugsy off for stealing his thunder and something about how dogs are the animals people train, not guinea pigs...but I can't be sure. All I know is that I saw a dog do tricks (usual), I saw a guinea pig do tricks (unusual), and like a jealous sibling, I saw a dog reprimand a guinea pig (not usual).  

It was a funny end to my evening. After sharing this story with friends, I realized that I wasn't alone in saying this was a first for me...a trained guinea pig! So I just had to share it with you!