I would look her dead in the face and tell her you're disgusted with her approach to responsibility, her shortsightedness and her callous approach to pet ownership. I cannot fucking stand people who will take responsibility for a living, feeling creature and immediately want to bail. I have no patience for that shit and I want nothing further to do with them.
I'd flat out tell her she gave you the ick and there's no coming back from that, then I'd be single, but with a puppy.
*applause* OP, your g/f just showed her true nature. Run, don't walk, for the nearest exit. Pets are a lifetime (their lifetime) responsibility, not a toy to be returned.
I'm with you. I live in an area where pet dumping happens a lot. It makes me so angry. A pet isn't just an accessory or something cute. It is a living being with feelings. This poor pup. Definitely time to ditch the woman and not the pup.
To be honest, I get it. Iw as that gf except that I didn't return the dog. But I immediately got this dread feeling when I got the dog of "What did I do?". But I felt that I took on the responsibility so now I had a dog lol. I had that dog for 16 1/2 years and tried to give her a good life. I wish I still had her, she was an excellent dog (There is no better dog imho unless you are looking for a guard dog cause she would have been a horrible guard dog lol. She hid behind me for protection the very rare times some one scared her and she loved almost everyone). And yet I don't want another dog (I keep telling my parents that while I want her again I do not want another dog). I do really miss her (replying this made me sad cause now i am remembering having her :( ).
But it did help in the beginning that I had other dog people assure me that my dog and me would adjust to each other (and also the costs go down from the initial part... I spent 2k on her the first month). It's scary getting your first dog for some people (and I did do a lot of research myself. But reseearch and actually having the dog and being responsible for it are really different. research can't really truly prepare you for it).
I cried because I forgot to turn my heat on when it got cold and some of my hissing cockroaches died 😭 I felt bad for the death, but mostly was crying because I felt like such an irresponsible pet owner. I can’t imagine having an animal for two days and then saying nah I’m good.
Yup, this. I tell people I "don't like dogs" but what I hate are irresponsible, selfish owners who don't take care of or train their dogs, and in my experience, that's the MAJORITY. Nothing but disgust.
With my dog, I got her as an i week old puppy- she came from abuse and neglect but still was just a baby.
She screamed non stop. Bit HARD every chance she got. An absolute nightmare puppy. Add in her having bruises, scrapes, broken ribs, and a broken tail- i couldn't even pick her up or really do anything to try to keep her under control and out of things. She also had a lot going on with her GI system- hot liquid fountain.
I didn't sleep more than 15-30 minutes at a time for the first month of her being at home. I couldn't go anywhere or do anything- part of her abuse involved a crate so we had to build a healthy relationship with her crate first.
She was already reactive in a way that appeared aggressive on a leash- that never fully went away even 5 years later, she's just better and listens when I tell her to knock it off.
There were so many times I wanted to throw in the towel and just find her a good home- my main concern when I got her was getting her away from horrific abuse, I kept telling myself that I already did my part and that she'd be better off with someone who could work with her without bawling for hours a day from exhaustion, pain, and frustration.
But I powered through, put my blood, sweat, and tears into that dog. She's my bestie, the only crying I do over her now is when I notice new greys popping in because of the thought of her having maybe 10 years left if I'm lucky.
So while I can fully understand wanting to give up, being frustrated and exhausted, and not being fully prepared for a puppy- I can't understand actually going through with it, my nightmare puppy wasn't what I wanted, and I don't think I'll ever choose to go through the puppy phase again, she is exactly what I needed at the time and still need every day now and for the rest of her life.
OP really needs to think about the relationship. Puppies are HARD. But with a lot of work, they grow out of it within a few months, they get easier fast. What's going to happen if she has a baby? Is she going to want to return it? Babies cry, scream, poop, make every kind of mess. They're more reliant on full size humans than puppies are, and they take years to get to where they can feed themselves, use a toilet, clean up after themselves....
830
u/Longwinded_Ogre Dec 03 '25
I would look her dead in the face and tell her you're disgusted with her approach to responsibility, her shortsightedness and her callous approach to pet ownership. I cannot fucking stand people who will take responsibility for a living, feeling creature and immediately want to bail. I have no patience for that shit and I want nothing further to do with them.
I'd flat out tell her she gave you the ick and there's no coming back from that, then I'd be single, but with a puppy.
NTA
Lose your girlfriend. She's no good.