Some people hear your rules loud and clear, but for some reason, they still choose to ignore them.

So, what would you do if you let your sister move in during a tough time, but she immediately broke the one rule that kept your dog safe? Would you give her another chance? Or would you stand your ground and show her the door?

In the following story, one man makes a tough call after his sister’s carelessness nearly leads to disaster. Here’s how it played out.

AITAH for kicking my sister out after she refused to follow one simple rule?

A few weeks ago, my younger sister, Emily (26F), asked if she could stay at my house for a while. She was going through a rough patch—a bad breakup, losing her job, the usual. I (30M) live alone in a nice house with my dog, Baxter, a big, friendly Labrador who’s basically my kid.

I told Emily she could stay as long as she needed, but I had one rule: Do not leave doors open. Ever.

Baxter is well-trained, but he’s an escape artist. If he sees an open door, he’s gone. He doesn’t run away permanently, but he’ll sprint out into the neighborhood, and I have to chase him down. It’s a hassle, and I’ve had to get him from random backyards more times than I can count.

Frustrated, she found Emily at home, but Baxter was nowhere to be found.

I made it clear to Emily: Close the door. Every time. No exceptions. She laughed it off, said, “Yeah, yeah, I got it,” and moved in.

Fast forward TWO DAYS later, I come home from work, and – yep – front door is wide open. No Emily in sight. No Baxter.

I freak out, grab his leash, and spend over an hour running around the neighborhood like a lunatic, calling his name. Turns out some random guy a few streets over had grabbed him before he could run into traffic. Thankfully, Baxter was fine, but I was furious.

I get home, and Emily is just chilling on the couch. I ask her what happened, and she shrugs and says, “Oh yeah, I guess I forgot to close it.”

Emily got defensive and went to stay with a friend.

I lost it. I reminded her that I had one rule and that she put my dog in danger. She rolled her eyes and said, “Relax, he’s fine. It’s not that serious.”

I told her if she couldn’t respect something this basic, she needed to find somewhere else to stay. She got all defensive, saying I was being dramatic over a dog and that she had nowhere else to go. I stood my ground.

Now, she’s staying with a friend, and our parents are mad at me, saying I overreacted and “chose a dog over family.” Some friends agree, saying it was a simple mistake. But I don’t think forgetting once is an excuse when I made it so clear how important it was.

AITAH?

Yikes! It’s easy to see both sides of this issue, but he did warn her.

Let’s see what advice the folks over at Reddit have to offer him.

According to this person, the dog is family.

This person thinks Emily should find a new place to stay.

Great point.

This comment nailed it.

He may have been a little harsh.

Perhaps it would’ve been better to let her know that was her last warning and that she needed to learn from the mistake, or she would be kicked out.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.