'AITA for yelling at my BFF and kicking her out after she nearly killed my dog?'
"AITA for yelling at my BFF and kicking her out after she nearly killed my dog?"
I let my best friend Amy stay at my place for a few weeks while her place was getting renovated (it’s a rental and she didn’t have much of a choice in timing). I also have a french bulldog that will eat anything and everything, as much as I love him, he’s not the brightest. Which is why there are a few rules to follow when staying at my place, which I also informed Amy about. Other than not leaving anything on the sofa or in his reach, the most important is to not leave anything on the table and to move the chairs away from the table when we’re not home.
Cut to a few days after her arrival, I get home and my dog looked a bit unwell, I asked Amy if she saw anything and she said he was fine when she got home. I took him out for a walk and as I was picking up his poop I saw a candy wrap in his poop. Came home and asked Amy if she left anything on the table or in his reach and she said no, that maybe he ate something off the street from the previous walk. I explained that it’s very important for me to know if he ate anything so I can take him to the vet, she adamantly said no and told me it’s my fault for not paying attention to what my dog picks up from the street.
Needless to say my dog started feeling sicker and I had to take him to the vet, where they discovered that he had around 8 or 9 candy wraps in his stomach. I came back home and confronted Amy and she finally admitted that she left a bag of candy on the table but that she pulled the chairs away so she thought he couldn’t reach them but indeed when she came back home the bag was on the floor and the candy was gone. I told her that she could have killed my dog since she didn’t come clean in the first place and I wasted precious hours instead of taking him immediately to the vet.
She apologized and said she was afraid I would get angry since she knows how adamant I am with these rules. I started yelling at her and told her to leave, that I didn’t care if she doesn’t have where to go, she needs to figure it out. She is now staying with some friends that live outside of the city but she has to commute 1.5 hours to get to work. So AITA for not talking it out with her and letting her continue to stay at my place?
EDITS:
1. I have these rules in place because they work, when I leave him alone at home with the precautions in place he doesn’t destroy the house in search for crap to eat. He has been trained to the best of his abilities, the best I can do is also provide a safe environment for what his limitations are.
2. It wasn’t a coffee table but a dinning table which for a dog of his stature, he can only climb on top if the chairs are close to the table, which is why I didn’t believe Amy really moved the chairs since there is no other way for him to climb on the table otherwise.
3. I tried the crate method but he is a very sensitive dog and he got very depressed when I would try to crate train, even with me in the house he would sigh and be low energy the rest of the day. I would rather have some rules in place than have a sad little doggo
Here's what top commenters had to say about this one:
Sebscreen said:
NTA. She lied to you and deliberately tried to make you believe it was your fault, literally saying you must have been the one to miss something. Even worse, she knew your dog was unwell and could potentially and still refused to stop lying, causing you to delay taking him to the vet.
wynlyndd said:
NTA - the fact she lied and tried to deflect it and blame you? That is the reason for kicking her out. If she had come clean in the first place upon first questioning, there might be a place for forgiveness. There is not a place for forgiveness after the lie. If she offered to pay for the vet bill, maybe after awhile.
Authentic_Jester said:
NTA, she straight up lied and put your dog's life in danger...because she was embarrassed? Child behavior.
AgnarCrackenhammer said:
NTA. Accidents happen and it seems like she tried to do the right thing to prevent your dog from getting to the candy, but dogs are dogs and find a way. If that was all that happened I'd say you overreacted. But the fact that the accident did happen and she lied about it for hours is what made your reaction justified.
Gattina1 said:
NTA. You don't get a second chance when 1. You do something that affects my pets' health, and 2. When you lie about it (or anything else). Of COURSE you would have yelled at her if she told the the truth and admitted she screwed up with the candy. I would've kicked her out, too. I'd block her on top of that.
Incarcer said:
NTA. She was willing to let your dog die instead of just fessing up and telling the truth. She knew you were concerned, let you believe your dog ate food during the walk, and even BLAMED you for not paying attention to making sure he didn't eat crap off the street...which didn't even happen. Do those sound like the actions of someone you would want to continue letting stay with you? Hell no.