Dating Someone Who Likes Animals

Are you one of those people who doesn't like animals or is just indifferent toward them? Many people feel this way and it seems like people who don't appreciate animals often find themselves dating or even in a serious relationship with someone who is a true animal lover. How do you reconcile these differences and build or maintain a strong relationship when you have such a difference in opinion where animals are concerned?

If you have never been in a relationship where there is a difference like this, liking animals and not, may not seem like a big deal to you. When you either love animals or don't and the person that you are dating feels differently you may find that it is a bigger deal than you would have ever imagined, especially if the animal lover of the two of you already has animals and has a desire to have even more.

So, how do you deal with this? If you are the person who does not like animals you should express your fear or dislike of them to your partner. Let them know that you value your relationship but you need to move slowly with the animals. Tell them to keep their animals in your presence but perhaps not on you or right next to you. This will allow you to warm up to the idea of animals being around you so that you can hopefully accept the part of your partner's life that is important to them while staying comfortable yourself.

If you are the person with the animals be sure to move slowly and not force your mate to like your animals. If you take it slowly you may find that they actually warm up to your animals and seek them out. This can be especially true if your mate just doesn't know much about the animals or if they have had a bad experience in the past. If you allow for things to progress at a natural pace you will likely find that all of you, including your animals, can learn to co-exist.

Animals are a big part of a lot of people's lives and those that love animals don't understand those that do not, yet we often end up dating one another. Just be really patient and allow for your mate to get to know your animals and for your animals to get to know them.

If everyone is willing to work at it, animal lovers and non-animals lovers can learn to co-exist nicely together. If you push it, you'll find that it backfires, so just sit back and be patient and things will likely work out.