I know you are annoyed with Clover right now, but you,ve just got to love that Golden joy for life and curiousity! "Down" is a very effective command, but the most powerful command you can use is "Down Stay". If you're dogs are fully trained with a "down stay", they will learn to lay down and not move until you release them. You can also teach them the command "No Paw". At 2 1/2 years old, your dogs are probably still adolescents with lots of energy. Try giving Clover a good, long work out (fetch or however you exercise them). Then when she is tired out, try the down stay next to the cage . If you would like a few golden and guinea giggles keep reading.
We have a ten year old Golden. Even though she is a senior she is full of playfullness. Her first experience with a guinea pig was 4 years ago when we babysat a cousin's female guinea pig. "Bailey" was quite used to dogs. We safe proofed my daughter's room, put our dog in a down stay and let Bailey out. We were stunned when she would have nothing to do with us. She ran right to our dog Ceana, laid down and began nibbling on the tufts of fur sticking out from Ceana's paws. Ceana just sat there with that beautiful golden smile and a look that said "See, I knew she would like ME!"
We recently adopted two little guinea pig boys of our own, who are not used to dogs. Now I hope I won't be attacked- but they are housed in a extra large Tommy marchioro cage and rolling stand. That said, they spend most of their time in a 4 X 4 cube playpen (crib pads, towels, fleece and all of the accessories and toys). Our dog is quite bewildered and has been quite inventive in her attempts to create a relationship with them. First she tried dropping a tennis ball into the playpen (and believe me, she would NEVER share her ball with another dog!). When that didn't work she decided to bring in one of her big stuffed, squeaky toys- which we intercepted!) Finally last night, she found a more effective way. She realized that when the hay bin is full, she could use her nose to knock out some of the hay. That sent our two boys running to eat the hay and allowed some sniffing and checking out on both sides. Hope this made you smile. Good luck and don't give up on introducing them! Wolfie