Marriage involves a lot of give and take and compromise.

As a general rule, it’s a good idea to talk about big decisions and reach an agreement before following through.

Adopting a pet would definitely fall under the category of big decisions that should be discussed, but in today’s story, one woman adopts a dog without talking to her husband about it first.

She also expects him to help out with the dog, and he’s wondering if he’d be a jerk if he refused.

Let’s see why he doesn’t want to help with the dog.

AITA for refusing to help my wife raise her new puppy?

So, here’s the situation: my wife recently adopted a puppy without consulting me first.

It’s a designer breed that cost nearly four thousand dollars, and our two daughters are absolutely in love with it, but I feel blindsided by the decision.

This isn’t their first dog.

In the past, we had a dog that we both agreed on, and I took on most of the responsibility for training and caring for it because I have more experience with dogs.

My wife often relied on me for tasks like giving baths and handling the heavier responsibilities.

Now, my wife is about to get really busy with her new job, and she’s relying on me to help with the dog.

But I have refused to take on any responsibility at all—zero.

It sounds like an emotional support dog for his wife.

The backstory is that she decided to adopt the puppy while we were going through a rough patch in our marriage.

She mistakenly thought I was cheating on her (which I absolutely was not) and believed getting the puppy would help her cope with the perceived loss of our relationship.

If my wife would have consulted me first and adopted a breed we could both agree on, I would be more than happy to help out as much as possible.

But since she went behind my back and adopted a breed I do not care for, AITA for not wanting to help at all?

I wonder what dog breed it is since he says he doesn’t like this breed.

It’s too bad his wife didn’t talk to him before getting the dog.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

This person suggests marriage counseling.

Another person suggests rehoming the puppy.

Maybe he can learn to like the dog.

He could leave all the responsibility to his wife.

His wife really didn’t think this through very well.

If the daughters are old enough, let them take care of the dog.

But really, it’s the wife’ responsibility.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.