Mom praised for testing her husband and kids before getting a dog

Having a pet is a lot of fun. You can play with them, talk to them, and also get some cuddles. However, that does not change the fact that they are also a huge responsibility. A Reddit user, u/seaworthinessown9590, shared that she was against the idea of getting a pet dog in the house as, in the end, she will have to take care of it. She asked on the platform if she was wrong in doing so. The woman said that she and her husband set a rule before they got married. "Before we got married and had kids my husband and I agreed that all big decisions required two yes or no votes," she wrote.

Her two oldest children and her husband want a pet dog, but she does not. "I have heard too many horror stories about a family getting a pet and then the person who did not want it being stuck caring for it," she shared. However, she agreed to their demand but on three conditions. She wrote, "One, smaller than sixty pounds, we do not need a mastiff. Two, a non-shedding dog only. None of us are allergic, I just don't want extra work. Three, for sixty days in a row they had to collect all the garbage from all the trash cans in the house and put it in the big garbage bin. That was to make sure they would remember to feed a dog every day."

"And for six days they, all three of them, had to go for a one-mile walk twice a day. With the GPS route tracker active. If they missed a day they had to start over," she added. She said the longest they have made it so far is two weeks. Her conditions for getting a dog did not go down with her parents and they told her that she was "being ridiculous and petty." She agreed with them.

But as they sided with the children without understanding her point, she sent them a link to a dog-walking service and asked them to create an account if they wanted a say in the dog decision. The service was for her to call up the company for help in case their "precious, perfect, grandchildren and son-in-law forgot to take care of the dog."

Eventually, her husband realized that their kids aren't responsible to have a dog, and "we needed to tell them." The woman wrote, "I said that 'we' was one too many people. I wasn't the one who sided with them when I had said I knew they were not ready." 

Many on Reddit supported the mom for her decision. u/ghostlasagnaslime commented, "NTA. I don't even think what you did was petty. It seems like a reasonable way to determine if your kids are ready for the responsibility of having a dog, and your husband proved that he is not willing to make up for where they're lacking. You absolutely would have had to look after the dog. You already told the kids you don't think they should have a dog. I don't know why you'd have to do it again. They need to hear it from their dad too." u/TrayMc666 commented, "I love my 2 dogs very much, but they’re so much work. Picking up the dog poops from the garden when it’s been raining for hours is a special kind of hell. You’re just trying to make them understand how much work is involved in having a dog. That can’t be a bad thing. It’s the truth." u/MrsJones2012 commented, "I think this was clever and genius. I am so saving this for the future. Currently, kids want a dog, the husband isn't fussed either way, but I do not."