When roommates take in a dog without a clear plan, the burden of care often falls unevenly.

One man found himself left responsible for a puppy he didn’t want or have time to care for. Now, he’s grappling with how to handle a situation that’s quickly becoming overwhelming.

You’ll want to read on for this one!

AITAH for not helping with my roommates puppy I did not want in our house?

I (25m) moved into a place with longtime friend (25m) and his girlfriend (21f). I pay my equal split of rent and bills. Both our names are on the lease, and our landlord lives on the same street.

One morning about a week ago, as my friend was leaving for work, he found a puppy curled into a corner on our porch. It was a rainstorm the night before.

So the roommates hatched a plan.

I let him and his girlfriend take the dog in and give it basic needs — food/water — so that we could then bring the dog to the humane society/shelter that could better care for the dog.

We live close to a PetSmart, so we brought the puppy there to be scanned for a microchip to return to the owner.

PetSmart was able to give them some answers about the dog.

They found a chip and were only able to tell us the dog was 5 months old, had been originally adopted from the humane society, and without giving us specific addresses/names, were able to tell us the owners are in our neighborhood.

Both the microchip company and PetSmart called the owner and left messages with our info. The PetSmart employee told us if the owner doesn’t make contact with us within 7–10 days, the dog is considered abandoned.

Here is my problem.

He made it very clear to his roommate that he had no interest in caring for a dog.

The first day the dog was taken in, I would help clean messes here and there and let the dog out in an attempt to mitigate damage to the house.

However, I made it very clear that I do not want this dog — it is a lot of work I do not have time for right now.

I have since left anything this dog needs to my roommates to handle, and they are not adjusting their lives to this puppy as they should. I am under no illusion that a puppy, especially what is basically a rescue and has been abandoned, will be difficult to attend and care for.

But his roommate’s irresponsible attitude has left him picking up way more than his fair share of the slack.

However, my roommates have been completely unrealistic about what it means to care for this dog and are insisting on keeping it — despite it violating our lease.

They both work long hours and share a vehicle, struggling to actually buy the things this dog needs, and NOBODY will be here to watch the dog during the day once I start my new job in the next week.

It’s starting to take quite a toll on his daily life.

This dog has peed and pooped daily in every room of our house except for mine at this point. I am losing my mind.

This is only my first month in this house I am paying to live in, and I already feel like it is no longer mine. I have been struggling to do online training from my computer because this dog whines and whines once my roommates leave.

He’s confused how they could so brazenly disrespect him when he had set such clear boundaries in the beginning.

I was very clear I could not watch this dog all day long. I’m feeling I’m nearing my breaking point and would hate to lose a friendship over a puppy, but this dog has added a lot of unneeded stress to my already messy life and I do not know how to proceed.

AITA?

This puppy sounds like quite a handful to say the least.

Redditors weigh in with their thoughts.

He’s definitely not in the wrong here. His roommates, on the other hand…

Returning the dog would be the best thing for everyone in the end.

The dog is taking far too big of a toll on his life at this point.

This user thinks the dog should have been returned a long time ago.

He’s reached his limit and something will have to change fast.

It’s high time his roommates start recognizing the consequences of their choices.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.