Dogs are considered mans best friend. Adding a pet to the family is a big responsibility as they need lots of care to be happy and healthy.
Most of us would find it abhorrent to treat an innocent animal poorly, but sometimes when people are unable to care for themselves they aren’t able to properly care for a pet either.
if that happened in your family would you step in? One Redditor encountered a difficult situation when their sister’s dog ended up in the shelter.
The Redditor by the name of ctc_cloudy turned to the “Am I the A**hole” subReddit for perspective on a family situation of the furry sort.
They asked:
”AITA For adopting my sister’s former dog when he got put up for adoption?”
The original poster (OP) explained the doggie dilemma:
“I’m kinda wracking my brain on this one, and I could use some help. For context my sister (22 F) has been struggling with mental health issues for several years and has a drug abuse problem.”
”She recently started doing harder drugs and things spiraled out of control. She is short tempered, a flight risk (has taken off on foot at odd hours of the night with no warning), is verbally abusive… Not the best kind of person to be around right now.”
”She recently had two inpatient experiences where my family thought she was getting the help she needed but she relapsed a few weeks ago.”
“My sister owned a dog for 2 years. I have had the pleasure of watching him over the course of that time, and I even attempted to train him. He’s a great dog and deserves someone who is going to give him a good home.”
”Recently, my sister and her crappy ex boyfriend broke up, leaving her homeless. Instead of contacting someone in the family, she asked a friend of a friend to watch the dog.”
”After she finally reaches out to me and I accept, the dog gets loose in a neighborhood. After 1 day of searching my sister gives up. I continue to day 10 and lose contact with my sister (she would rarely pick up the phone or reply to messages).”
”Day ten rolls around, and at this point my sister fully gives up. I get her on the phone and she tells me that ‘if you can take care of him, you can have him’.”
”I do one last search and figure out he’s at our city’s humane society, already ready to be adopted. I keep texting her and calling her, trying to convince her to get the dog. But no response.”
“I adopted him and as I’m leaving, I made a tiktok of me getting him back after being missing for 10 days. The video has blown up and has pretty much gone viral. Everyone is happy that the dog is safe and happy.”
“Everyone except my sister. After seeing the video, she believes she still owns the dog after she gave up searching for him and put the responsibility of his care on me.”
”The dog was already put up for adoption, and I don’t believe he would be safe with her.”
“So, Reddit, am I the *sshole for adopting the dog?”
The OP asked Redditors to weigh in and rule:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
Redditors were united on this one, quickly deciding OP was NTA for wanting to give the dog a stable and loving home.
“NTA. You made every effort to contact your sister, and adopted the dog legally. The dog is yours. Make sure to get him chipped with your info, keep the adoption paperwork, and establish vet records or transfer his existing paperwork to your name.”~ that-1-chick-u-know
“NTA for adopting the dog, but the tik tok video was not a good idea. Mental health and substance abuse are complicated issues, and it’s better to keep anything relating to your sister (like adopting the dog she lost) off of social media. Private Facebook and Instagram are fine, but don’t post anything where your sister might see it, or see that the dog has gone viral and get jealous.”~MyFaceSaysItsSugar
“NTA. You adopted him when the time came around. Get a microchip and a tattoo put on the dog right away. If it goes missing again then you can legally claim the dog as yours!!”~South-Patience-7732
“Yes, all of this. Papers, tags, tattoo and microchip stat. Sounds like she has a history of erratic behavior, there is no telling what she is capable of doing. Drug addicts are impulsive and not empathetic.”
”If she were to try and steal the dog, you need all the irrefutable proof he is now yours. Good for you for helping out that doggo out of a tough situation. NTA”~educatedvegetable
“Man, what about that scene from Lilo and Stitch when Lilo runs up to the alien queen and is like “I adopted him, he’s mine. I paid x for him. If you take him, you’re stealing.”
If it’s good enough for a galactic federation, it’s good enough for you? NTA”~Grognac_the_Red
“NTA. One of our adopted babies was in the shelter for 13 weeks, and her previous family called the animal rescue group to ask for her back when they found out she had been adopted by me.”
”The rescue agency obviously said no, because the time had passed. I feel the same principle applies here. If you really loved and cared for an animal, you would have tried harder to get him/her back home rather than wait around for social media updates to act.”
“I don’t know about your sister’s capability to care for an animal. Sometimes animals help immensely for people with mental illness. However, the mental well being of a helpless animal also matters.”
“It’s up to you if you trust your sister to be able to take care of the dog again in the future. But you’re definitely NTA one bit for not giving up on a family member (doggy).”~RockyandBullstuff
After reading through the responses OP added an update to their post saying:
“Thank you everyone for reading and giving me advice. I think getting him chipped would be the right move.”
“I really hope my sister gets the help she needs but as of right now, I’ve gone no contact. For all the love a good advice, here is the required dog tax.”
Further comments in this thread told stories of other pets the ended up in the shelter who just needed love.
Next time you are thinking of getting a new companion please consider adoption at your local animal shelter or rescue.