Dad Slammed After Forcing Teen to Rehome Dog for Not ‘Making Enough Time for Him’
When it comes to parenthood, teaching children about responsibilities can be a tough road to navigate. However, one dad may have taken his fatherly duties teaching his daughter to "be a responsible adult" to the extreme by forcing her to give up her dog.
"My 16-year-old has a dog that she bought a couple months ago. Her mother and I said she could get one as long as she took care of him, paid for everything he needed and spent time with him," the man wrote via Reddit, according to The Mirror.
The girl "held up her end of the bargain for a while and everything was working out the way it was supposed to," the man continued. "She toilet trained him, took him on plenty of walks, paid for his vet bills and food — the whole nine yards."
However, when the teen's school work became more intensive and she got a part-time job to help provide for the dog, she wasn't able to spend as much time with the canine.
"She works about 25 to 30 hours a week and spends at least two hours on homework every night," the dad shared. "Even though her dog never went in the house and seemed OK, I felt bad for him since she wasn't home as much as she used to be."
He noted that he talked to his daughter about ensuring she gave the dog "more attention," as he's supposedly "raised countless" of dogs in his life and he knows "what is needed for a healthy, obedient dog."
"I was also worried she wouldn't be his alpha, which is absolutely necessary if she expected to take him with her when she moved out," he added, revealing he eventually "put his foot down" and insisted she rehome the dog if she "couldn't be bothered to make more time for him."
"She argued with me for a long time about it, eventually giving in and finding him a new owner," he wrote. Now, his daughter "goes straight to her room after work and refuses to talk to me. My wife is upset but hasn't really picked a side."
In the comments, Reddit users were baffled by the man's post, with many suggesting the girl was doing the best she could to provide for her dog.
"You can’t have it both ways; making her take full responsibility for the dog, including bills, and then forcing her to get rid of him. It's her dog or it's not and from your own admission it doesn’t sound like she was anywhere near the point of neglecting him, which would have been the only reason to insist she get rid of him," one person wrote, adding: "The alpha stuff is also nonsense/the time spent away is not a real reason for it not to be 'her' dog. We’ve all seen videos of soldiers or college students coming home and the dogs going nuts. She is going to resent you forever for this."
"It really reads like the dad never really wanted his daughter to have an animal and is ginning up an excuse to get rid of the dog. She's already picking out the nursing home to stick him in when he is unable to take care of himself. Even if the dad 'never goes in the house and seems OK,'" someone else commented.