This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/tifu by /u/CelleCallow on 2025-10-08 00:49:42+00:00.

Context: I have pets and just love animals in general. I’m very affectionate toward them and give them lots of attention.

When my friend was upset and crying the other day, I felt so bad. I started patting her back and hugging her while she was telling me what happened. She was sitting down, and I was standing up. At one point, she looked up at me, teary-eyed, and I instinctively said, “Aww, I’m so sorry,” and started patting her head.

That part was fine since I was comforting her, but I followed it up by instinctively scratching below her chin and then on her neck. I did it for maybe a few seconds before I realized and stopped. She didn’t seem to realize or mind it, as she didn’t react and just kept crying. I, however, felt so damn embarrassed that I had done that to a person.

The part where I messed up is when we were recalling what we had talked about that day. For some reason, I mentioned how bad I felt because she had reminded me of how my dog cries, and I recalled how I had instinctively scratched her chin because of it.

I guess she felt embarrassed or angry because she said, “I’m just a dog to everyone, huh?!” I asked her what she meant, and it turns out her ex would say how much of a dog she was for always tailing him around and being clingy. So, yeah, I didn’t know what else to say. I apologized, but she didn’t even react.

TL;DR: I instinctively pet my friend like I would pet my dog, and she got mad because her ex used to call her a dog. Me petting her like that made her feel worse.