Just Wondering.....

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Abi372

Abi372

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Hi i was just wondering do guinea pigs learn their names? I have noticed when i call my pigs name the one i have called will stop what they are doing and look, while the other will carry on with what he is doing. Is it my wishful thinking haha Just thought i would ask :D
 
I think mine know their names, but they seem to be selective and they often wait to hear/smell what food I'm offering in conjunction with the name before decide to respond!
 
Mine know their own names, they even look up if name is spoken casually in conversation rather than called. I'm amazed at how they respond to us. I've had guinea pigs before but never in the living room, I've missed out on so much in the past. Certainly not just a guinea pig.
 
Ours certainly react to tone of voice more than anything. With Cookie and Treacle we could say 'girls,girls,girls...' and they would both run over to the side of the cage for food :)
 
Comet recognises his name, I think. He pauses zoomie time if I call it and earlier he fell asleep with his butt poking out the end of the tunnel...called his name and he backed out like "wha?"

Blitzen doesn't know his name though. Or more likely he just ignores it. Neither of them will come to me if I call though, they just react.
 
Some of mine know their names. They know three things from my human language and roughly what the word means.... "Treat" (veggies) "only me" (I use as a calming noise when I approach for the benefit of my naturally skittish one, and to let them know all is well if a sound or sudden movements spooks them, and three mine respond to their names.
My Freddie came from another home and was already named Freddie. He has actually taken over a year to learn the word "treat" but always responded to "Freddie", to him it means food. I don't think he realises it means a word associated with him specifically, he's firmly learned that when someone says "Freddie" food appears. I used to call out "treat" to the others and Freddie would just carry on with what ever he was doing (unless the others started wheeking), so I had to call him by name for him to know food was being offered, as that's what he had learned previously :)
Ruby and Penny respond to their names, I'm not sure about Rosie, but she is my skittish one and only wants to respond to me when I say "treat", but she will often visibly relax when I say "only me" when she's nervous.
I also never give them food when I'm saying "only me". Don't want to get them mixed up :)
 
Abi372 said:
Hi i was just wondering do guinea pigs learn their names? I have noticed when i call my pigs name the one i have called will stop what they are doing and look, while the other will carry on with what he is doing. Is it my wishful thinking haha Just thought i would ask :D
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As far as I know they can learn their names
 
Mine know things like
'dinner time' : furious wheeks for food
'bed time' : rush up to the side of the indoor cage to head out to the shed after evening cuddles
'clean out time' : move to the other end of the cage whilst I start cleaning the top half

Mischief also knows the word 'no!' When she tries humping the others (!) I call out 'Mischief NO' and she stops dead (the others completely ignore this). If she waits and then tries again I say the same thing and she gives up completely and walks away, stalking off with a healthy dose of 'stink eye' .

As for names rather than phrases, I am not sure. Not yet I don't think, as I tend to refer to them as a group anyway I.e 'piggies'!

They are fascinating.

My hamster definitely knows her name and comes when called especially when she is rolling around in her ball!
 
Mine know words like "brekky", "dinner", "treat" and "baby bed time" because they associate those words with food. I'm try to use their name whenever i'm talking to one of them. Coco knows her name but Patchy still thinks she's Coco and Patchy lol. Coco will look around if I ask her "where's Patchy" at lap time because she's trying to locate her (they don't play well with each other at lap time so I bring them out separately) but If I ask Patchy where Coco is she looks at me like "I'm right in front of you, you daft woman".
 
The trigger phrase in my house is "what's mummy got?" or the gentle whisper of a rustling bag/fridge door thud :))
 
Oh how funny haha I literally just walked into the piggy room (my living room lol) and said "look, it's mummy" and on 'mummy' all 4 went absolutely bananas. They DEFINITELY associate that word with food :))
 
Fudge is deaf these days... She just responds as soon as she sees/smells me! But she communicates really well in other ways, I know when she's sore, she tells me when she needs a wee by pulling on my clothes, she literally goes between the food pot and water dish when having assisted feeding to tell me what syringe she wants... She moved her hideys to the other side of the cage for weeks until I realised she wanted them facing the other way (hasn't moved them since)...

The babies (14 months and 10 months, not exactly babies anymore!) respond to my voice in general, not their names exactly. But just earlier tonight, I gave them an oxbow treat each. It's not their favourite kind, as that one is running low so was trying to use this kind up. Poppet took hers and trotted away to her hidey to eat it.. Rowan took it off me, threw it away then squeaked at the top of her lungs... She didn't want that kind and new there was another flavour. I gave her the one she wanted and she pop corned around it before eating it! Iv honestly never saw Anything like it, she held off eating something as she knew there was something nicer in the drawer!

Crunchie knows her name, for sure! She is naughty and likes to chew puppy pads if they sneak up at the side of her vet bed, sometimes she annoys her sister.. I only have to say her name once and she runs away and rumbles... Literally goes in a huff for being told off!

These wee guys are far more intelligent than people realise!
 
Linney definitely knew her name and would react to it. She also understood, 'no,' so if someone said, "Linney, no!" she would stop and look vaguely guilty until she thought I stopped looking. Frenzy, on the other hand, never learned her name or 'no' and we would say, "Frenzy, NO!" dozens of times while she happily chewed on the doorframes and wondered what the humans were blabbing on about!
 
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