This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/AmItheAsshole by /u/Better-Weekend4607 on 2023-08-31 11:47:43.

I (40F) recently got my son (17) a puppy. He loved the puppy and they immediately became best friends. He has asked me for a puppy for years. I also have a daughter (4) who also loved the puppy, but struggled to feel empathy for the dog or understand when it was hurt.

we’ll call my son Jason and my Daughter Emily.

In the first week Emily had already picked it up by the leash twice, tangled it the curtains and just generally made it feel unsafe. She is not currently in daycare or kindergarten and I work from home so I’m with them both most of the time, but she would lock herself and the puppy in my son’s room to do these behaviours. I would punish her every time but she just didn’t understand when the dog was uncomfortable.

The second week, they were all in the backyard when my daughter scared the puppy, causing it to run up the steps of our house (one story up). These steps have gaps big enough for a puppy to fall through. Jason tried to call for it to stop, causing it to try to come back down and fall down A WHOLE LEVEL. Thankfully it landed on some paper and bubble wrap we had stored under the steps, but it was still limping. The bone was not broken though.

After that my Husband and I had a talk with both of the kids about the responsibility of owning a pet. I tried to emphasise how hurt the puppy could have been to my daughter, telling her that her job is to make the dog feel safe. I told my son that it’s his responsibility to make sure that he isn’t distracted by his phone or something to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

Two weeks later, only minor incidents from Emily. Everything seems to be going fine. Dog spends most of the day hiding from her, but at least the puppy is safe.

My kids both get sick with the flu, and have to stay home. I have errands to run, but Jason is there to take care of Puppy and Emily. Few hours later I receive a text from Jason saying the dog has been hurt again. Emily threw something at the dog. It screamed, but was still able to walk and seemed okay.

I come back another few hours later with some groceries and ask Jason and Husband to help bring them upstairs. This leaves the puppy and Emily alone together.

I hear the dog screaming like I have never heard before. Everyone runs in to the room. Emily is standing next to the dog, which is absolutely screaming in pain. My son runs to check the dog while my Husband and I try to find out what happened. All I get from Emily is “I did nothing! Nothing happened! I don’t know why it’s screaming!”.

At this point I realised that this was not the best life for the puppy, and was worried my children may give the poor thing a lifelong injury.

I gave the dog to my parents, who have a large backyard and a safer house for the puppy. This absolutely devastated my kids, especially my son. He is barely speaking to me now and even less to his sister – which I don’t think is fair because it’s not really her fault. My son knew he had to be more careful minding them.

AITA?