New here...Spouse is scared of my Red-Lored

Hi there! I'm new here. I started looking for a place to get some advice and found this forum.

I have a 32 yo Amazon Red-Lored named Guido. He was my Dad's bird from 1991 until Dad passed away in 2017. I had promised my Dad when he brought Guido home (I was 16 at the time) that I would take care of him if anything ever happened to Dad.

In the later years of Dad's life, he wasn't well and didn't socialize Guido nearly as much as he did in the bird's earlier years. I intended to bring Guido out more however, I ran into a complication. My husband of 10 years is deathly afraid of birds. He freaks out when he comes into the house and I have Guido out on my desk or walking around on the floor. Now that my husband is work-at-home, I cannot bring Guido out at all without the spouse wigging out.

I'm feeling so badly about Guido that I've honestly thought about rehoming him because I want him to have the best life the little green dude can have.

I open to any ideas (outside of getting rid of the hubby, I'm rather fond of him).

TIA for any suggestions.

Hello abd welcome to the forum. We have many amazing Amazon people who will offer help.

This is a great article , maybe some ideas will help your dads parrot. My condolences on his passing. Thank you for taking the parrot.
https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/stress-reduction-for-parrot-companions/

Perhaps you can work with the parrot in a spare bedroom. Teaching your parrot foraging will help keep him busy in the cage. Read up on target training.
Youtube Burd tricks has lots of free video on foraging, target training and bird stuff.

Many people take their burds for car rides. Rolling the cage outside in shade, secure bottom grate and all doors, abd stay with him. It is very enjoyable for parrots to be outside , even if its just a half hour st time. Or use a travel cage abd go fir a walk or bike ride with him

Although, I do not understand the emotion, there is a sizable percentage of the population that fear birds. You may recall the movie of years ago named: The Birds. It feeds on that specific fear and is painful for those that suffer from this emotion.

It is not uncommon for the individual to not understand their fear and have difficulty speaking about it. The great part about this fear is that it can be overcome with time and understand what is the motivator of the fear.

Helping your husband to understand that this specific Parrot does not spend its day consumed with finding ways to kill him as an over statement, but establishes a baseline to start from.

In the Amazon Sub-forum are two Threads at the top, which are very helpful in the living and loving Amazons. I recommend reading both, but to first start with Understanding Amazon Body Language and reading it while sitting next to your Amazon out-loud is a comforting voice. This helps both your and your husband understand your Amazon's Basic Methods of letting you know what he is attempting to tell you. Most Humans need to read this Thread at least a dozen times to begin to see and understand that your Amazon is communicating to you.

The goal is to slowing build-up in your husband comfort that this bird is semi-safe to be around. Time is on your side!

The story of my wife(one of!)! She is afraid of birds! Even wild birds, outside!
She has her Bongo, a GCC! They are inseparable, and she is the only one who can safely handle him! Half of the time he is buried in her shirt! His private territory, but I digress!
My JoJo, a GCC? If I attempt to take JoJo out while the wifey is here, she hides in another room! And almost anyone can handle JoJo!!
100% respect his fear and do nothing to push his comfort zone! Also, zero talk about it!
Let him develop his own relationship with Guido—on his terms! As he warms up, don’t even take notice! Really!!

Very well stated above by everyone. I'm taken back to how we describe to people to teach their BIRDS to not be afraid of objects - desensitization training, fear bubble definition.

Think of your husband as a fearful bird. Time, boundaries, and nothing but positive experiences on both sides (husband gets bitten even once, things get set way back because trust was broken).

A fun exercise that will tell you a LOT: see how far away you have to be while holding the bird before your husband feels relaxed, and how close can you get before he wigs out - 10 ft? 20 ft? 50 ft?. Try with your back turned (which is less threatening to him). Check out the video below, but think of it in reverse, where you are now training your husband (or at least just defining his boundary).

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXZ8w5wvZPw"]How to Get CLOSE To Your TERRIFIED Bird | The Power Pause Training Technique - YouTube[/ame]

I have a 38 year old BFA. I was married when I got him, but my first husband passed away. I got remarried, and my second husband was totally afraid of Sam. He got bit once or twice, and then would never go near him. It has taken 15 years, but now he and Sam get along great. Sam sits on his lap and Roger pets him. They play together and sit and watch TV on the couch. The only thing he won't do is pick Sam up. I am the bird transfer. I can live with that!