# Caress a dove



## Synbadd (Jan 5, 2013)

Hi all

Im slowly training my doves to be handled, so far i just let them sit on their perch and gently stroke them. Their still understandably a bit wary of the giant pink 5 wormed thingy that comes in the cage and occasionally picks them up (i only do this when i transfer them from one cage to the other, twice a day)

Does any one have tips on caressing, handling and generally interacting with doves? Do they have a sweet spot they tickled, like dogs behind the ear or rabbits on the nose?

Thanks for any info

Synbadd


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## DeeDee's Mom (Dec 17, 2011)

I don't know any real tips. Our dove, DeeDee (who I THINK) is a male and in love with me, is very cuddly. He will sit on my lap and let me pet his head and back (and yes, I know this is a sexual thing to them, but since he doesn't seem to be laying any eggs and enjoys it, who cares?). He does, however, insist on trying to mate with my head (which I discourage constantly). I think he expects me to lay eggs for him any time. LOL. Today I was lying on the couch with a comforter over me, and he flew over, crawled under the comforter and just huddled down for the longest time. A little later, he came out and flew around, then came and presented me with a twist-tie (like is on bread) and huddled down for me to pet and scritch him again.

I think it just takes time and patience. They're all different. Do you let yours out to fly around any? How do they react to you when/if you do? DeeDee flies around, but mostly he just wants to be by us...either having his way with my head or when I take him off, sitting on the back of my chair, or on my husband's computer monitor or on his head. (At least the poop is pretty easy to keep track of, since he almost always goes in the same places--which is yet another reason I don't want him on my head. Hubby is bald, so at least HIS head is easy to clean! LOL).


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## Synbadd (Jan 5, 2013)

For now i only give them free flight in the garage and office as our living space has cactus and open top aquariums and i'd hate if they panicked and fluttered in to one f these! 

They both seem very curious and when i open the font of the cage they come to investigate, Harry has even come to the outside perch on his own.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Most pigeons don't like to be stroked. They much prefer to come to you and perch on you. If a pigeon allows you to pick him up when you need to, I would think that would be enough. Having him/her come to you on their own is good. Why does everyone feel the need to be able to pet them like a dog? Why do you want them to learn to tolerate something they don't like?


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## nancybird (Jan 30, 2011)

I have doves.Be patient with them.Spend time with them everyday. offer a small treat like brocolli & @ the same time touch them for a second & stop.Use thier names. This can help condition them to experience that fingers/hands touching them comes along with a treat not something that hurts them.Unsalted chopped peanuts is a good treat also.Do not [email protected] your doves. {Don't laugh} but sometimes [email protected] them can frighten them.They need to get comfortable with you & see your not going to harm them.You are their world & init comes treats & your soothing voice talking to them.


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## Lefty07 (Dec 30, 2009)

Caressing isn't really normal behavior for most birds. A lot of birds don't like it. And if they do like it, they can like it too much... i.e. it becomes sexual stimulation, that they can become addicted to. For female pigeons and doves, caressing even seems to stimulate excessive egg laying - which is not good for them. 

Personally, my doves don't seem to like it so I don't do it. I am happy to just have them perch on my arm or shoulder.


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## nancybird (Jan 30, 2011)

My doves fly onto my hand for treats.They always like to perch where they can see my windows & its like they are waiting for me to come home from work & open the shutters.Doves are so sweet.Mine will watch me in the yard like they are being entertained by what I'm doing.


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## DeeDee's Mom (Dec 17, 2011)

Lefty07 said:


> Caressing isn't really normal behavior for most birds. A lot of birds don't like it. And if they do like it, they can like it too much... i.e. it becomes sexual stimulation, that they can become addicted to. For female pigeons and doves, caressing even seems to stimulate excessive egg laying - which is not good for them.
> 
> Personally, my doves don't seem to like it so I don't do it. I am happy to just have them perch on my arm or shoulder.


LOL. I guess then DeeDee is the "happiest" male dove alive.  Since he can't lay eggs, I guess it won't hurt him...hasn't seemed to in the last year, anyway.


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## nancybird (Jan 30, 2011)

Thats nice .


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## Synbadd (Jan 5, 2013)

Ha ha, great feedback! Not having kept birds before it never occurred to me that they wouldn't like to be caressed. I suppose tactile comfort is quit mammalian. Had i not asked id never have known...

Treats and perching it is then! The real goal of this post was to know how to comfort my feathered friends and if "un-cuddly" let them "sit" (occasionally adding a H) on you and give them nibbles is the way, so be it  

Thanks for the input


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## nancybird (Jan 30, 2011)

Your welcome.Enjoy your doves.


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## Siobhan (Dec 21, 2010)

Maggie loves being petted and so do two of my parrots. The others don't, so I don't pet them. Maggie actually demands it, and she likes having her head stroked and scratched, and having her neck ruff petted, and full strokes down the back. She lays eggs about twice a year, so it doesn't stimulate egg-laying beyond the normal amount. If she wants me to pet her and I'm busy, she'll keep shoving her head into my hand until I pet her. So it's not true that birds in general don't like being petted. They're individuals. Some do like it. Some don't like it.


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## DeeDee's Mom (Dec 17, 2011)

Had to laugh at DeeDee yesterday. My granddaughter (age 5--the dove is actually hers) was here, and playing with him. He would land on her head, then launch off, fly a tight circle around her, land on her head again, then repeat the whole thing. He did that about five times, with her giggling the whole time. Makes me wonder what he's thinking when he does things like that.

He plays dolls with her, too, and she will have "tea parties" with him. She'll be playing with her dolls (the small ones, about 3" high), and he will sit there on the table and chase the dolls, grab the hair, and sometimes throw them off the table. She will put birdseed or chopped fruit, or cooked rice on her little dishes and he will eat off the plate. He gets into her dollhouse and hops up on the bed and hunkers down. It's really hilarious.

He will also pester her when she paints. He chases the paintbrush and grabs it in his beak, all the while tracking paint all over her painting.

Does make me wonder if he really has any clue he's a bird....

I know this has nothing to do with "caressing a dove", but it's kind of in the same vein (interacting with doves and how to interact with them). I do think that when you only have one dove, they tend to become a lot more attached to you and will allow more "touchy-feely" stuff.


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## Siobhan (Dec 21, 2010)

You may be right about that. Maggie's our only pidge, though we have six other birds (five parrots and a starling), and she doesn't like them and they don't like her, so they don't interact except that one of the tiels follows her and scolds her if she's eating out of the parrot food (that same tiel thinks it's perfectly all right for HIM to eat out of HER dish, however, LOL). Maggie follows me around the house, either flapping after me or waddling along on the floor behind me and jumping up on my head or shoulder when I stop. She's much more interested in people than in other birds.


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## DeeDee's Mom (Dec 17, 2011)

Since pigeons and doves are flock animals and really need company, if they don't have other pigeons and doves to be with, they make their humans their flock. So, I suppose if you really want a bird that will bond with you closely, keeping just one is the way to go. Does make one feel a bit mean, though, not letting them have a mate. Kind of selfish.

I've thought of getting DeeDee a mate, but we'd have a 50/50 chance of just getting another male, and then they'd probably fight, and also if we DID get a hen, then we'd have to deal with switching out the eggs and the stinky poop from them from holding their poop in while they sit on the eggs, and have to worry about the female perhaps getting egg bound. So, yeah, it's selfish, but DeeDee really seems very happy and content, so I don't feel too bad.


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## Siobhan (Dec 21, 2010)

We rescued a pigeon who had been hit by a car and nursed him back to health and Maggie wanted NOTHING to do with him. She is definitely a girl and he was definitely a boy, but she's been away from other pigeons for years -- she lived with her last family for five and has been with us for two -- and maybe she didn't recognize him as a fellow pigeon. He was a wild bird and when he was well, we released him and he was very glad to go and never even came back for a visit, though we made sure he knew there was a feeder and water dish outside in case he needed to make use of them. I don't think she particularly wants feathered friends, so I don't feel bad about not providing her with any. She could make friends with the parrots or my starling if she wanted, but she wants nothing to do with them, either. She's a people pigeon! LOL And the dogs, a bit. She and my Lab have an understanding. I wouldn't say they're "friends," but they have an understanding. She gets lots and lots of attention and has no reason to pine.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Siobhan said:


> Maggie loves being petted and so do two of my parrots. The others don't, so I don't pet them. Maggie actually demands it, and she likes having her head stroked and scratched, and having her neck ruff petted, and full strokes down the back. She lays eggs about twice a year, so it doesn't stimulate egg-laying beyond the normal amount. If she wants me to pet her and I'm busy, she'll keep shoving her head into my hand until I pet her.* So it's not true that birds in general don't like being petted. They're individuals. Some do like it. Some don't like it.*





Oh, but it is true. Maggie is your only pigeon, and probably thinks of you as her mate. That is most likely why she likes it. It could very well be sexual to her. Most don't. So birds in general really don't like to be petted.


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## Siobhan (Dec 21, 2010)

Oh, for pete's sake.


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