There are lies, and then there are lies. There are the little white lies we tell to keep the peace, and then there are the soul-crushing, foundation-shattering deceptions that make you question everything you thought you knew about a person. This, my friends, is a story about the second kind. It is a tale of a betrayal so cold, it’s a miracle the screen didn’t freeze.
Our narrator’s story begins five years ago. He had a dog. A dog he loved. His “buddy.” His wife got pregnant, and she became “increasingly paranoid” that the dog—an “aggressive breed” (in her words)—would be a danger to the baby. She wanted to rehome the dog. He, the dog’s owner and a responsible human, refused. The dog was trained.
And then, one day, he got a call at work. It was his wife, crying. The dog “ran away,” she said. She “couldn’t run after her.”
This man believed her. He was devastated. He “looked for that dog for weeks.” He searched and searched for his “buddy,” until he finally had to accept the loss and go to the hospital to welcome his child. He was forced to trade one grief for another.
It has been five years since then. They now have three children. He’s wanted to get a new dog, but his wife always, always had a new excuse.
And now he knows why. He just found out the truth. The dog didn’t “run away.” His wife… his wife… and her father conspired against him. While he was at work, they took his dog, his “baby,” to the pound.
I am… I am f*cking livid for this man. This is not a “mistake.” This is not a “bad decision.” This is a sociopathic-level lie. This is a five-year-long gaslight. She let him search for weeks, knowing exactly where the dog was. She let him mourn a “lost” dog that she, in fact, had sentenced to death.
Let’s be real: an “aggressive breed” taken to the pound? That dog didn’t “never get adopted.” That dog was put down, probably within days. And she knew it.
He is, justifiably, “FURIOUS.” He says he’s “mad enough to consider a separation,” and honestly, is that even a question? How do you ever, ever trust someone again after you learn they are capable of this?
So, what does he want? He’s not even demanding a divorce, yet. He has given her an ultimatum. The only way for her to “make it up even a little bit” is for them to get a new dog. This is not an unreasonable request. This is the bare-minimum, “show-me-you-are-not-a-complete-monster” compromise.
And her response? After being caught in a life-altering, five-year lie that k!lled his pet? She still “doesn’t want a dog at all.” She’s still complaining. She’s complaining that “she would have to do too much with it.”
This woman is a human-shaped piece of ice. She is not sorry she did it. She is not sorry she lied. She is not sorry she betrayed him. She is just sorry she got caught. And she is still refusing to do the one, single, tiny thing he has asked for to try and mend the Grand Canyon-sized crater she just blew in the middle of their marriage.
He’s not planning to “let up on this one this time.” And good for him.
So, is he the ahole for giving her this ultimatum? Absolutely not. He is not the ahole. He is a saint for not having her and her father arrested for theft. This isn’t about a dog anymore. This is about being married to someone who is capable of looking you in the eye and lying, stone-cold, for half a decade.