No matter how hard we might try, communicating with our pets is never quite as easy as we’d like it to be.
As such, it can be tricky to get them to do things exactly when we want them to. Many pet owners, however, have found tricks to getting their pets to eat, sit, go outside, or come back to them.
Tricks that might seem unusual, even silly to others, but which they pay no mind to, as they get the job done.
Redditor ThrowRA-Cooking’s boyfriend was going to dog-sit the original poster (OP)’s dog for the first time. In order to ensure that his dog would eat while he was away, the OP told his boyfriend that his dog would likely only eat if he did something very specific.
Something the OP’s boyfriend flatly refused to do, finding the very idea “embarrassing.”
Wondering if his boyfriend’s reaction was warranted, the OP took to the subReddit “Am I The A**hole” (AITA), where he asked fellow Redditors:
“AITA for telling my boyfriend he has to sing to my dog?”
The OP explained why his boyfriend refused to oblige his one request while dogsitting:
“Me and my boyfriend (both 30 M[ale]) have been together for a few years and have started to live together with my dog, Lucky (8 M)
“Lucky is a very sweet dog, who responds to singing.”
“When I feed him at meal times he’ll only eat it if I sing ‘The most important meal of the day, serving it up Lucky’s way’ like from SpongeBob.”
“If you don’t sing this, he’ll leave his food and cry until you sing it.”
“I’m going away for a few days this weekend, and my boyfriend is looking after Lucky, and I told him he’s gonna have to sing that or he won’t eat.”
“He says I’m being an a**hole and that he’s not going to embarrass himself in front of the dog; if he’s hungry, he’ll eat, and he shouldn’t have to sing to him.”
“I get that it’s a little bit silly, but dogs like routine, and he’s going to be upset enough that I’m away.”
“The least he can do is sing to him.”
“AITA here?”
Fellow Redditors weighed in on where they believed the OP fell in this particular situation, by declaring:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
The Reddit community was somewhat divided as to whether or not they thought the OP was the a**hole for making their boyfriend sing to their dog.
Some agreed with the OP’s boyfriend, finding it ridiculous that he made his boyfriend sing to Lucky, with many having doubts about the OP’s suitability as a dog owner:
“YTA, this is ridiculous.”
“If your dog is really willing to starve himself if you don’t jump through the hoops, you clearly trained him pretty badly.”
“This dog needs to learn to be less dependent on you.”
“This is not healthy.”
“To all of those saying ‘this is just the release word!’… no, it’s not.”
“The dog will not eat and will whine and cry if he doesn’t get the song.”
“That is a dangerous caprice that could impact his health.”
“Dogs with release words won’t let themselves starve.”- IrrelevantManatee
“YTA.”
“If you don’t sing this, he’ll leave his food and cry until you sing it.”
“Fix your dog.”- StAlvis
“YTA.”
“Your boyfriend isn’t responsible for your dog and is free to refuse to dogsit if there’s a requirement that he’s uncomfortable with or unable to do.”
“You’ll have to find someone else or pay to have your dog boarded.”
“Also, out of curiosity, why did you choose a cartoon jingle as the verbal queue cue instead of something appropriately short and to the point…?”
“Personally, I’d sing the jingle ’cause I don’t care if a dog and an empty room hear me sing, but even while I was doing it, I’d be thinking, ‘This is so dumb’.”
“Lol.”- anothertypicalcmmnt
“I get dogs like their routines, but YTA for trying to be a stickler about it.”
“It’s understandable if you have a cued routine for training purposes.”
“For example, my parents rescued a dog that didn’t have the best social skills, and we didn’t want food aggression to be a problem.”
“So I trained him to have cues when he’s good to start eating.”
“It is a routine that was for training purposes only, and now he’s so used to it that he won’t eat unless you do the cues.”
“But having to sing to get your dog to eat because you’ve Pavloved yourself into that hole is a ridiculous request to make of someone.”
“If you want to do that, fine. It’s your dog, but you can’t force people to do everything you do.”
“Your dog will eat when he’s finally hungry hungry.”
“Then you talk about routine?”
“What part about the routine do your partner feeding your dog follows the routine?”
“Literally everything normal about feeding time is new during this.”
‘Providing a nugget of normal when nothing about the routine is normal isn’t going to do as much as you think it will.”- Background_Hope_1905
“Ehhh…I am leaning towards YTA.”
“Your boyfriend needs to find a food (you do too) that your dog will eat and not have to be sang too.”
“I had a dog I needed to hand feed for a while.”
“Come to find out, she didn’t like the food I was giving them, and when I swapped her food around, that stopped.”
“Let your boyfriend do what works for him.”- jjrobinson73
Others, however, felt that the OP’s boyfriend badly overreacted, thinking he had major self-esteem issues if he was “embarrassed” by the notion of singing to a dog:
“NTA.”
“I’m not sure who sh*t in everybody’s cheerios here.”
“Sure is it weird that your dog needs a song to eat?”
“Yeah.”
“Should you work on it so he doesn’t need a song?”
“Probably.”
“I’m not quite sure how it’s embarrassing for the boyfriend unless he posts it on Instagram live.”
“I mean the dog likes the song so I don’t think he’s laughing at him lol.”
“If my girlfriend told me I had to be a little silly for her dog I would gladly.”
“IMO your boyfriend should be willing to be a little silly for you.”
“His masculinity and ego should remain intact for such a simple task.”- Silver_Narwhal_1130
“NTA.”
“It’s probably a good idea to try and get your dog to eat without the song, but in the meantime it’s reasonable to expect your partner to work with you rather than against you.”
“Your partner moved in to SHARE your life, one you’ve built with your furry family member.”
“His sh*tty attitude paints him as a petulant little baby.”
“It’s a silly little ritual that hurts no one, and he should want to participate in creating and maintaining a Good Life for your pup.”
“I had a roommate who’s elderly cat would only eat if you kept her company.”
“It was a pain three times a day, sure, but all of us were happy to take a few minutes to hang with her while she ate.”
“It was kind of nice to have a mindful sit-down now and then.”- auntygrampa
“NTA.”
“’Embarrass himself in front of the dog’” — baby is your ego that fragile?”
“Yeah it’s silly and stupid, but it’s a dog.”
“It can’t even make fun of you, it doesn’t speak English.”
“Should you potentially look at training your dog to respond to something simpler?”
“Yeah probably.”
“But is this an a**hole thing to ask someone who’s pet sitting for you?”
“Not at all.”
“NTA.”- ellerbeezus
“NTA.”
“Everyone here is saying you’re the ahole and I disagree.”
“It’s a silly way to train your dog absolutely, but your boyfriend is the huge a**hole for refusing to do a small request because he’s ’embarrassed’ in front of the dog?!”- campinhikingal
“NTA.”
“Your boyfriend is self conscious around a dog?”
“Why would singing to a dog with nobody around embarrass him?”
“Sounds like he has some issues with his masculinity.”- True_Turnover_7578
“NTA.”
“Teach your boyfriend that singing to animals is a good thing.”- EyYoBeBackSoon
“NTA.”
“Everybody in these comments is more concerned that you taught your dog a release cue to a song than the fact that your boyfriend freaked out because you asked him to sing a little song.”
“He has seen your dog wait for this song to eat before and understands that the dog needs to hear it to be released for food.”
“He should be willing to do it so your dog can EAT FOOD.”
“He sounds like an a**hole and I hope someone with less of an ego is able to babysit your dog.”
“Sounds like a wonderful pup!”- Cemetery-Worm
It’s easy enough to laugh at the OP’s technique to getting his dog to eat.
That being said, is it really that embarrassing to sing to a dog when no one’s there?
Apparently so for the the OP’s boyfriend.
However, both seem to be missing the issue here: the OP’s willingness to sing to Lucky, not ensuring that Lucky gets fed.
If the OP’s boyfriend can figure out a way to accomplish this without singing to him, then the problem is solved. If he can’t, he at least knows what might do the trick.