A reluctant dog owner reached out to the Reddit community to ask if he was being unreasonable for laying down some strict rules regarding their family dog.
Around three years ago, the man was continually being harassed by his wife and kids, who wanted to get a family dog. “I am not a dog person, they seem fine, but they are just not for me,” he said.
However, like many households during Covid, the need for something to do became too much, and a dog seemed like the perfect answer. So eventually, the man agreed to let his wife and children have a dog.
“The deal was that I wouldn’t have to walk it or clean up after it and that they would take care of it,” he explained. They got the dog, and for about 18 months, everything seemed to go just fine.
However, “once the damn thing was out of its puppy phase, they lost interest,” the man said.
So for the past two years, the dad has ended up walking the dog every day as it needs exercise, and he also buys the dog food as his wife often forgets.
The kids and the wife also don’t pick up after the dog after it’s done a number two, resulting in the dad having to check over the garden a few times a week.
This is not the deal the dad signed up for.
“That poor thing is going stir crazy. It is used to getting their attention and stuff all the time because of COVID. Now that they can do other stuff, they are ignoring it. It isn’t fair to the dog, and it isn’t fair to me,” he said.
“I came home yesterday, and it had chewed up a pair of my shoes.” This was the last straw, so the dad decided to bring up the issue at dinner.
He told the family that they could at least play with the dog in the backyard if they didn’t have time to walk the dog. He also informed them that if he found any dog mess in the backyard, he would no longer clean it up but instead hire a service to keep the place clean, and “the money was coming out of the kid’s allowances or the house budget.”
He also told his wife that he wasn’t buying any more food.
Not surprisingly, the family got upset with the dad because they felt the dog acted as if it liked him the best. But the dad thinks the dog only likes him because he is the only one looking after it, which is something he never wanted to do in the first place.
So, to ensure the kids and his wife would do their part, he made them all sign a formal agreement.
He said, “they had three choices. Take care of the dog, rehome the dog, or pay someone else to take care of the dog.”
His family thinks he is being too harsh, but considering he never wanted to have a dog in the first place, he believes he has acted reasonably.
His wife thinks he’s being a jerk, so the man asks the Reddit community what they think, and luckily for him, they agree with his actions.
One user said, “You were absolutely right in what you did. You didn’t give an ultimatum. You confronted them with the responsibility they promised to have. These are the consequences of their actions.”
Another said, “It’s super unfair and irresponsible to both the person who ends up taking care of the dog and the dog itself. Pets are not toys or accessories that can be discarded on a whim. Anyone who wants a dog (or any pet) needs to be committed to providing proper care and attention and shouldn’t get a pet if they can’t.”
Do you think the dad was right to give his family an ultimatum?
Source: Reddit
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