Taking care of a puppy is no small task. I would even say that it’s almost as exhausting as having a young child – with the caveat that it’s acceptable and even encouraged to leave a puppy in a kennel overnight.

This young woman had a new puppy and, when she was unexpectedly called back into work, asked her mother to watch it.

I (28F) have a 4 month old german shepherd puppy. For context, our family dog was of the same breed and we raised him from when he was 2 months old.

Unfortunately, he passed two years ago. Last month, I had to go to work in-person out of the blue.

I got very little notice so I called up my mom and asked her if she could take care of the puppy for me.

She told her mom he hadn’t completed his vaccinations yet.

She agreed and came over, I told her he was unvaccinated and to “be careful”.

I went to work, I messaged her every now and then to ask how they were doing and she responded with a thumbs up emoji every time.

So, she was surprised to find her mother at the park with her puppy and other dogs.

I came back to an empty house and panicked, thinking something had happened to both of them or there was an emergency and they had to go to the vet.

I called her and she didn’t pick up – her phone was switched off.

I went over to my neighbor’s and asked them if they knew anything and they said they had seen my mom taking the puppy out on a leash.

I started walking to the nearby public park and what do you know, my mom’s there with the puppy, and like 2 other dogs.

I went over and asked her why she didn’t pick up and she laughed and said her phone was dead cause she was too busy with the puppy to charge it.

When we got home, I asked her why she took him outside, that I’d told her not to – she said I never explicitly told her not to take him outside and turned it around on me “this is how you repay a favor?” and said the puppy looked antsy being all cooped up in the house (I have a substantial back yard).

Her puppy caught parvo and nearly expired.

I left it at that and the next day took puppy to the vet.

All was clear at the time but 4 days later the puppy started showing symptoms and turns out he caught parvo.

The poor thing went through a lot but he’s been alright for a week now.

A couple days ago I left him with a sitter to attend the fam’s easter celebration, and to note at this point I hadn’t communicated with my mom since the day of.

She told her cousin the truth about what happened, and now her mother is angry that the whole family knows.

My cousin asked me how the puppy was doing and I told her the whole thing.

Word got around and now people are condemning my mom for her actions and honestly I couldn’t care less.

Mom called me today and demanded I “make things clear” with other people and that it wasn’t her fault my puppy fell sick and could’ve passed.

I asked for an apology cause even if she didn’t mean for it to happen, the puppy did suffer. She declined. I blocked her.

AITA?

Should she have kept it to herself? Let’s hear from Reddit!

The top comment says the cousin might have a big mouth, but the mom was still wrong.

This person says the mom was flat-out irresponsible.

Everyone sympathized with the dog.

And it actually was her fault.

Responsible dog owners know.

I would be so angry watching my puppy suffer like this.

The mom definitely owes her a very sincere apology.

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.