Pets

<h2>Losing a friend is horrible, and while we want to do everything we can for them... sometime a request is just too big.</h2><p>A friend anticipating a loss came to <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/11r21h1/aita_for_not_adopting_my_dying_best_friends_dog/" target="_blank">Reddit&#39;s &quot;Am I the A-hole&quot;</a> forum to ask if he handled an extremely delicate correctly.</p><h2>&quot;AITA (Am I the A-hole) for not adopting my dying best friend&#39;s dog and buying a puppy from a breeder instead?&quot;</h2><p><a data-click-id="user" data-testid="post_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/SB_MACK/">u/SB_MACK</a> writes:</p><blockquote> <p>My best friend is dying of cancer. He could pass away any moment.</p> <p>Today, I was visiting and showed him a picture of the German Shepard puppy I just put a security deposit on. It will be ready to take home in 4 weeks.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>I&rsquo;ve always wanted a German Shepard puppy, so I was excited to show him the pictures&mdash;and I thought maybe the pictures would bring him at least a moment of joy&mdash;even if the moment was fleeting.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>But instead of sharing my excitement, things became awkward. After a few minutes of awkwardness&mdash;I asked him what was wrong.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>I was blindsided by his response. He said that his cousin, who was supposed to take his 2 year old Pug named &ldquo;Horace&rdquo; could no longer take him and I could save a lot of money by taking his dog.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>I looked over at Horace and he looked backed at me. Well, he tried to look at me&mdash;but he&rsquo;s got one wondering eye that pretty much is always looking towards the ceiling. I could feel his glare with his good eye though.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>Horace is not a good dog. This is not me being an a-hole&mdash;this is simply me knowing Horace. He&rsquo;s a little sh*t and on top of that&mdash;he sh*ts in the house and he tears stuff up.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>He&#39;s always yapping. He&rsquo;s always wanting something. He doesn&#39;t even know what he wants. He literally just wants to want something. Nonstop. He was never properly trained.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>Overall, I&rsquo;m not a fan of the &ldquo;Pug&rdquo; dog breed. Their faces look like it&rsquo;s been hit with a shovel. They are always gasping for air with their eyes bulged out as if they are stranded without a space helmet in the Martian atmosphere.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>I told my friend, &ldquo;No thank you. But, I will try to help you find him a good home.&rdquo;</p> <p>&ldquo;Really?&rdquo; He says. &ldquo;Are you f-ing kidding me? You&rsquo;ve known Horace since he was a puppy.&ldquo;</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>&ldquo;I know, that&rsquo;s why I don&rsquo;t want him. He&rsquo;s just&mdash;not a good dog.&rdquo;</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>&ldquo;Wow. You are such an a-hole.&rdquo; My friend says.</p> <p>So&hellip;am I?</p> </blockquote><h2>What do you think? Was there better way OP could have handled this while still rejecting the offer? Or should he just have taken the damn dog?</h2><p>Reddit offered a variety of opinions and advice. Which one do you agree with?</p><h2><a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Purple_Routine1297/">Purple_Routine1297</a> asks:</h2><blockquote> <p><em>*blank stare*</em> So, you&rsquo;re under this impression that the German Shepard puppy you dropped money on isn&rsquo;t going to shit in the house and tear up stuff?</p> </blockquote><h2><a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/SatansHRManager/">SatansHRManager</a> is inclined to agree:</h2><blockquote> <p>Honestly. People have the dumbest expectations of getting puppies. Here&#39;s a dog that needs a home right in front of him. WTF?</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><h2>But not <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Coffeesnobaroo/">Coffeesnobaroo</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>People go to the pound often with specific ideas of the type of dog they&rsquo;re looking for. If wise they research ahead of time the type of dog that will fit their lifestyle and whom they&rsquo;ll enjoy for 15+ years.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>Some people want active dogs they can hike with, some people want dogs that are good with kids, and some people want smaller breeds. There&rsquo;s nothing wrong with being choosey on a family member when you&rsquo;re able to be.</p> </blockquote><h2><a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/whynousernamelef/">whynousernamelef</a> says:</h2><blockquote> <p>YTA not for saying no but for not approaching it with more compassion. I realise he caught you by surprise but he&#39;s probably really, really worried about horace&#39;s future.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>You should tell him that your lifestyle is incompatible with horace&#39;s needs but that you will do everything that you can to help horace find a Person or persons who will love him in a way that you can&#39;t. Someone out there will adore him and as his best friend you can reassure him that you will look out for horace when he&#39;s gone. Make a dying man happy please.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><h2><a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/bmyst70/">bmyst70</a> feels strongly:</h2><blockquote> <p>Bottom line: OP is not an AH for not taking a 2 year old untrained dog <strong>OP does not like or want</strong>.I know a woman who had several untrained dogs. When she had to move, the new owners (dogs went to a shelter) had their hands full retraining the dogs. And they loved and wanted the dogs. It&#39;s a <strong>LOT</strong> harder to untrain bad habits, particularly when you don&#39;t like the dog, than it is to teach new ones.</p> </blockquote><h2><a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/tipsykilljoy/">tipsykilljoy</a> comments:</h2><blockquote> <p>I&rsquo;ve found that when someone puts me in an awkward position with a question like that, it&rsquo;s ok to say: &ldquo;I hadn&rsquo;t considered that, I need to think about it, I&rsquo;ll let you know in X time&rdquo; and you agree on what is a reasonable timeline to make such a decision for both parties. It shows you&rsquo;ve given it though, and gives you time to formulate a potential &ldquo;no&rdquo; compassionately.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>I understand the time pressure with a dying friend but you&rsquo;re still under no obligation to make a major decision with such pressure.</p> </blockquote><h2><a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/trashbinfluencer/">trashbinfluencer</a> sees it differently:</h2><blockquote> <p>I disagree - I think keeping the door open in instances where you know for sure your answer is &quot;no&quot; just leads to frustration, loss of trust, &amp; wasted time on both sides.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>OP could have responded more compassionately, but I think they were right to immediately shut down the option while also offering to find help to locate a more appropriate home.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div>

Dying man gifts beloved dog to best friend who declines; 'he's a little sh*t.'

Losing a friend is horrible, and while we want to do everything we can for them... sometime a request is just too big.A friend anticipating a loss came to Reddit&#39;s &quot;Am I the A-hole&quot; forum to ask if he handled an extremely delicate correctly.&quot;AITA (Am I the A-hole) for not adopting my dying best friend&#39;s dog and buying a puppy from a breeder instead?&quot;u/SB_MACK writes: My best friend is dying of cancer. He could pass away any moment. Today, I was visiting and showed him a picture of the German Shepard puppy I just put a security deposit on. It will be ready to take home in 4 weeks.  I&rsquo;ve always wanted a German Shepard puppy, so I was excited to show him the pictures&mdash;and I thought maybe the pictures would bring him at least a moment of joy&mdash;even if the moment was fleeting.  But instead of sharing my excitement, things became awkward. After a few minutes of awkwardness&mdash;I asked him what was wrong.  I was blindsided by his response. He said that his cousin, who was supposed to take his 2 year old Pug named &ldquo;Horace&rdquo; could no longer take him and I could save a lot of money by taking his dog.  I looked over at Horace and he looked backed at me. Well, he tried to look at me&mdash;but he&rsquo;s got one wondering eye that pretty much is always looking towards the ceiling. I could feel his glare with his good eye though.  Horace is not a good dog. This is not me being an a-hole&mdash;this is simply me knowing Horace. He&rsquo;s a little sh*t and on top of that&mdash;he sh*ts in the house and he tears stuff up.  He&#39;s always yapping. He&rsquo;s always wanting something. He doesn&#39;t even know what he wants. He literally just wants to want something. Nonstop. He was never properly trained.  Overall, I&rsquo;m not a fan of the &ldquo;Pug&rdquo; dog breed. Their faces look like it&rsquo;s been hit with a shovel. They are always gasping for air with their eyes bulged out as if they are stranded without a space helmet in the Martian atmosphere.  I told my friend, &ldquo;No thank you. But, I will try to help you find him a good home.&rdquo; &ldquo;Really?&rdquo; He says. &ldquo;Are you f-ing kidding me? You&rsquo;ve known Horace since he was a puppy.&ldquo;  &ldquo;I know, that&rsquo;s why I don&rsquo;t want him. He&rsquo;s just&mdash;not a good dog.&rdquo;  &ldquo;Wow. You are such an a-hole.&rdquo; My friend says. So&hellip;am I? What do you think? Was there better way OP could have handled this while still rejecting the offer? Or should he just have taken the damn dog?Reddit offered a variety of opinions and advice. Which one do you agree with?Purple_Routine1297 asks: *blank stare* So, you&rsquo;re under this impression that the German Shepard puppy you dropped money on isn&rsquo;t going to shit in the house and tear up stuff? SatansHRManager is inclined to agree: Honestly. People have the dumbest expectations of getting puppies. Here&#39;s a dog that needs a home right in front of him. WTF? But not Coffeesnobaroo: People go to the pound often with specific ideas of the type of dog they&rsquo;re looking for. If wise they research ahead of time the type of dog that will fit their lifestyle and whom they&rsquo;ll enjoy for 15+ years.  Some people want active dogs they can hike with, some people want dogs that are good with kids, and some people want smaller breeds. There&rsquo;s nothing wrong with being choosey on a family member when you&rsquo;re able to be. whynousernamelef says: YTA not for saying no but for not approaching it with more compassion. I realise he caught you by surprise but he&#39;s probably really, really worried about horace&#39;s future.  You should tell him that your lifestyle is incompatible with horace&#39;s needs but that you will do everything that you can to help horace find a Person or persons who will love him in a way that you can&#39;t. Someone out there will adore him and as his best friend you can reassure him that you will look out for horace when he&#39;s gone. Make a dying man happy please. bmyst70 feels strongly: Bottom line: OP is not an AH for not taking a 2 year old untrained dog OP does not like or want.I know a woman who had several untrained dogs. When she had to move, the new owners (dogs went to a shelter) had their hands full retraining the dogs. And they loved and wanted the dogs. It&#39;s a LOT harder to untrain bad habits, particularly when you don&#39;t like the dog, than it is to teach new ones. tipsykilljoy comments: I&rsquo;ve found that when someone puts me in an awkward position with a question like that, it&rsquo;s ok to say: &ldquo;I hadn&rsquo;t considered that, I need to think about it, I&rsquo;ll let you know in X time&rdquo; and you agree on what is a reasonable timeline to make such a decision for both parties. It shows you&rsquo;ve given it though, and gives you time to formulate a potential &ldquo;no&rdquo; compassionately.  I understand the time pressure with a dying friend but you&rsquo;re still under no obligation to make a major decision with such pressure. trashbinfluencer sees it differently: I disagree - I think keeping the door open in instances where you know for sure your answer is &quot;no&quot; just leads to frustration, loss of trust, &amp; wasted time on both sides.  OP could have responded more compassionately, but I think they were right to immediately shut down the option while also offering to find help to locate a more appropriate home. 

Losing a friend is horrible, and while we want to do everything we can for them... sometime a request is just too big.  A friend anticipating a loss came to Reddit&#39;s &quot;Am I the A-hole&quot; forum to ask if he handled an extremely...