First Pets:
The Guinea Pig
Written By Lynne Bertrand
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A teacher in a furry little jumpsuit, the gentle, good-natured guinea pig is a terric pet for preschoolers.
Their snouts are cute, as are their tiny feet, their rakish fur, their purposeful waddle, their zealous squeals, their bean-shaped little selves. Miniature beavers? Oversized hamsters? Any way you look at it, guinea pigs are kid-stopping cute. And maybe "cute" gets a guinea pig in your door, but in my experience (years and years of pigs and pigs) the reason to keep these animals around children is that pigs are gentle tutors. Their curriculum is all good stuff: Nutrition. Life cycles. Trust-building. Caring for your corner of the world. Establishing work habits. Learning to see the world from someone else's point of view.
Truth is, you could learn all that from a herd of other pets too. But let me make the case for guinea pigs.
First off, for ease of handling, guinea pigs outclass their pet-store rodent kin. Sturdier and heavier, they lack the lightning speed of, say, gerbils or mice. And the how-to-hold etiquette couldn't be more straightforward: One hand acts as the pig's "floor," while the other wraps around his chest. Or rest the pig on an old towel in your child's lap. The pig may be skittish at first. He expects you, like the three billion predators in his species' history, to attack him at every turn and eat him. His fear can be overcome with time, food, and affection.
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