Everybody's Heard About the Bird. . .

What do you do when you kind of hate your pet? I have a bird—Albert—that I really kind of despise. He's a pretty mostly-white cockatiel who is desperately neurotic and afraid of everything. We're talking honey sticks, bird toys, hands, etc. All the things that birds normally like, freak him out. He goes mental if anything new comes near him. He doesn't talk and won't come out of his cage unless I yell "BOO!!!" (then he crashes into a wall, so I stopped doing that). For years I tried to train him and for years, he resisted, choosing instead to flap his wings and scream like a banshee.

I tried giving him to a neighbor, but she gave him back because of the screeching. I've felt bad about this bird for 14 years (that's how long I've had him), because I don't want to hate him because he was the last present my mom gave me before she died. Yes, I have other mom-orabilia—I especially prize the last check she ever bounced (financial ineptitude runs in the family)—but it's kind of cool to have a living, breathing reminder. But he's just not a very good pet. Even my cat isn't interested in stalking him.

Any ideas? (And I'm not going to kill him, so put that out of your head. Nor am I big on giving him to a stranger.) That photo isn't him, but that's what he looks like. I'm afraid he'd have a heart attack if I  used a flash on him!

Comments

[Ivan]

Judy, if something happened to that bird, you would start crying! So stop this silliness about giving Albert away.

Besides giving away mostly-white cockatiels awakens the Curse of the Sumatran Devil Monkey...and that's a rumble nobody can cool...

[Chloe]

I have a cockatiel too and they can be very tricky little characters, but once you get them tame they are the most wonderful pets. My little Polly sits on my shoulder, climbs all over me, kisses me, imitates my voice and is always so happy to see me...If you have MSN, please feel free to add me and I can give you some tips on training :)