Anyone else's significant other afraid of birds?

[HaleBoppPeachyluv]

My SO is 200+lbs of manly man...but when we 1st started dating, he'd FREEZE if my lovie, Haley, was out of the cage, and visibly tense and flinch if my lovie got anywhere near him.

Haley passed on about 2 years into our relationship & it was a 2 year hiatus before I felt comfortable adopting another fid.

SO is now my fiancee & we're going to be combining households in a few months....and part of that is the new lovie, Makali'i.

DF has made wonderful effort and strides in overcoming his fear of birdies, he'll let Maka walk on his (very broad) shoulders, though he won't let Maka out of his cage if I'm not around to help catch him to put back in. -- I'm fine with that.

Anyone else have a lovie-challenged human mate?

[Elle]

I'm very lucky. Even though Dan was not a bird person before we met, he has become as obsesed about birds as I am. He was a little nervous around Sam at the beggining, but it passed.

He didn't want to let the birds out unless I was around at first. He was not comfortable with it and to be honest, I didn't know at the time how much he would keep an eye on them so I was very happy that they would remain locked until I get home (and if something happened, he would not have been able to deal with the guilt). Now, he is as commited as I am. I know that when (It's bound to happen) we get another bird, it's going at his request. He loves them all. He wants a conure, an hans macaw, a cockatiel, a caique, an amazon or three, he really is as bad as i am :) I know now that he gives the same amount of supervision as I do when the birds or free. I just wish he was as commited into cleaning the cages! :lol

My advised is give your sweetheart time. He may come around and feel confident around birds at some point. Until that point, it may be a good thing not to let the birds out unless you are there until he is ready. He may not know how to react in case of emergency if you are not there. He may not supervise the way you would because he doesn't understand the commitment yet. :)

[Janie]

My hubby and sons were not exactly "bird people" but Oliver managed to win them over. I adopted him almost 5 years ago and he was an "only" fid for 2 years before I decided to get two more. Sons spent very little time with Big Boi and Shy (the new boys) therefore, they aren't really very friendly to my sons BUT either son will take care of them if hubby and I have to be gone for a few days. I usually give them a little wing clip if I'm going to be gone so that my sons have an easier time getting them back into their cages at night. Oliver doesn't need a clip and will always step up for them and go willingly into his night cage.

All three lovies like my husband and he likes them right back but he has NEVER held a single one of them. :whistle: He'll let them crawl all over him or perch on his finger but is horrified to "hold" them for fear it will hurt them. :D He won't even consider helping me with a wing clip and usually won't stay in the same room when I give one of the birds a clip. He's afraid I'll hurt them! :whistle:

Birds are so different than common pets like dogs or cats and it is interesting to see how people react to them. Most of my friends/neighbors are scared of my lovebirds. I have a couple of very young neighbors, ranging from 8 to 13, and a couple of them just love to pet my lovies while others are afraid of them. I think we bird people are a rare breed! :D

[linda040899]

I have a completely different problem when it comes to my significant other. He was not a bird person when I met him but the first time he came over to my house, he was told to look around at all of my flock members. I told him that these are part of my family and they are here to stay. If he had a problem with that, he could turn right back around and exit via the same door that he just entered! He knew I wasn't joking!

Well, not only did he accept all my birds but he's lost sight of the fact that certain ones do not like men and those can cause some serious damage if they choose to do so. The day he went over to my male Military's cage and proceeded to say "step up" and offer his hand for Dao to do so, I flipped out! Dao will step up for almost anyone but he has to have a specific goal in mind. The hand he steps up onto is a bridge from his cage to where ever I happen to be. Dao is not being friendly as you might perceive. He has an end goal in mind and will do some serious damage if he remains on a perch that he's only using to get from one place to another! Jim has never experienced the bite of a large parrot so he has no idea just how bad one of those bites can be! He's definitely not afraid of them, and he's careless to boot!

[Buy A Paper Doll]

It's not my significant other, but a close family member, who is afraid of birds. Not birds in general, MY birds.

This is a girl who is a veterinary technician, and has no problem with being bitten by, say, a 180 pound dog that doesn't want to be at the vet's office. Or having her arms shredded by a cat who doesn't want to be groomed. But the thought of being bitten by one of my two little lovebirds sends her running across the room - go figure. :rolleyes:

[zlatushka]

My mother-in-law was terrified of the birds. Hysterical. That is, she would become hysterical:roll: , and I would find it hysterical:evil:

This is the woman with the cat known for biting and shredding everyone. Afraid of two little birds even still in the cage... I guess they might have gnawed through the bars and bit her kneecaps off? (Just a flesh wound, not sure what she was so concerned about... ;) )

[Mummieeva]

My husband is leery of them not scared. A previous lovebird of mine named Baggy would often fly to my husband and bite him hard. My husband is a big guy also and to see him avoid a tiny bird was rather funny. But he will take care of my birds if I ask him to. My sons are afraid of the birds though. They are scared the bird will bite or potty on them.lol. My daughters love them though. As matter of fact Drac loves my daughters so much he has let them both touch him willingly.



Steph

[lucky melatonin]

my boyfriend is somewhat. mainly only big birds though! he doesn't mind the lovies. he says the other ones "freak him out"! i said i wanted to get a big bird one day and he says please no, stick with lovebirds, no bigger. hahaha. he's such a dork.

[Tango's_Mom]

my boyfriend's awesome with Tango, he tries really hard to get Tango to like him, and while Tango won't usually go to him or stay with him if I'm in the room they do get along fairly well. He's also really great with his sisters cat and he just got a guinea pig that he built a massive cage for, and was so sweet with the little pig when he brought it home. He kept sitting next to the cage and talking to him and he was keeping a pretty much constant eye on him, to make sure he was ok. I think I definately have a keeper here. I take the same view as Linda, the boy needs to realize that my animals were in my life before him and they will be there after him.

[graushill]

My husband is not much of an animal person in general, and he's definitely bite scared. But while he will not touch any of the lovies willingly, he does help me take care of them. Now after many years, he's okay if my lovies land on him, but in the beginning he didn't like it one bit. Thankfully my lovies are all perfect little angels (:whistle: ), well at least they're not for the most part bitey, so I guess that played a big part in him learning that it was not so scary to have them use him as a temporary perch, but like I said, it's taken time.

Gloria

[butterfly1061]

My brother, owner of a Blue & Gold macaw, is VERY afraid of my lovie Olivia. If she gets near him, he tries to scrunch up his shoulders so she won't bite him - hence a game to her. He will yell at me to "Get her off of me! Get her off!" He calls her snake and the worst $100 her ever spent (she was a christmas gift to me from him). He's not afraid of the other five. All of this coming from someone who owns a BIG BEAK parrot :rolleyes:

[thebubbleking]

Well if your lovebird bites like boo they have reason to be scared just tell them the wounds cause scars and callouses so after a while they wont feel anything lol

[michael]

My SO is 200+lbs of manly man...but when we 1st started dating, he'd FREEZE if my lovie, Haley, was out of the cage, and visibly tense and flinch if my lovie got anywhere near him.
Haley passed on about 2 years into our relationship & it was a 2 year hiatus before I felt comfortable adopting another fid.
SO is now my fiancee & we're going to be combining households in a few months....and part of that is the new lovie, Makali'i.
DF has made wonderful effort and strides in overcoming his fear of birdies, he'll let Maka walk on his (very broad) shoulders, though he won't let Maka out of his cage if I'm not around to help catch him to put back in. -- I'm find with that.

Anyone else have a lovie-challenged human mate?

Amazingly enough just about eveyone in my family takes to birds as though they've been around them all their lives. Most friends are the same way and quite often I hear them say things like "how would you like to come live with me?"....So I really have to keep an eye on them all 8o so my lovebird doesn't mysteriously disappear :mad:. There's only one friend in particular who can't seem to find comfort in having a parrot around. She is reserved to cringing to the point of contortion whenever Goof sits perched upon her shoulder and remains in constant fear of an impending vicious lovebird attack. Even after many a Goofy shoulder pit stops with not so much as ONE poopy. To this day I still have to rescue her from yet her own merciless fears and send poor Goof off to his cage until she leaves :roll:.....which is soon to follow.............:)

[LauraO]

I wish my significant other was afraid of birds. If her were I doubt we'd have 28 birds, but he's worse than I am8o 8o .

[beckyg]

My husband isn't afraid of Luna, but he doesn't like her because she bit him when we first got her. He tried to punish her by yelling at her and puting her up in her cage (like that really helped, and yes I did rip him a new one for doing it>: ).

Now he wants her to be friends with him and all she does is bite him... and he wonders why... DUH!!! :x

Seriously, she will do some major damage to my ear or any part of me she can get a hold of if he comes in for a kiss. She does not like him!!

[Eliza]

Sort of off-topic: I dated a guy who loved cats, was OK around my budgies and really liked my pet mice. He was really afraid of dogs, though. Like run away scared, which made NO sense to me 8o

Once I was watching a neighbors' house & dogs while they were away. One of the dogs growled at the guy when he tried to put his arm around me. He went RUNNING out of the house... A GROWN MAN :omg: Turns out that this guy was a creep. I should of listened to the dog :rofl:

This guy didn't like horses, either. He probably would have had a stroke if I took him to my friends' farm :whistle:

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