It’s natural for parents to want their kids to feel safe and included wherever they go, including birthday parties.

But when one mom tried to make a simple request due to her son’s fear of dogs, the dog owners made it clear they weren’t willing to compromise.

You’ll want to keep reading for this one.

AITA Not Forcing My Son to Go To a Birthday Party because of the hosts dogs

My son is 8 and in 3rd grade. He recently got invited to a friend’s birthday party at their house.

Last school year, he and this friend were pretty close and started hanging out outside of school.

But there was one catch.

Turns out, my son doesn’t like going to the friend’s house because they have a pair of German Shepherds. This family are big dog people.

Because of the dogs, I gently worked it out so the friend would come over to our house or we’d meet at a third space.

More recently, sports have picked up, so there’s been less time for hangouts. So, inherently, we haven’t had to address or avoid going to this friend’s house.

So when it came time for that friend’s birthday party, things got a little complicated.

I asked him if he wanted to go to the party.

He said only if the dogs weren’t there.

I said okay.

I broached the topic with the friend’s parents.

They weren’t very understanding.

And they shut it down—refusing to remove or put away the dogs.

They said it’s the dogs’ house, and if they put them away, they’d destroy the room they were in.

I told them my son would not be coming.

They got mad.

The party is next weekend. AITA?

If these dog owners could have just been a little more understanding, this interaction could have gone a whole lot differently.

What did Reddit think?

This user applauds this mother for honoring her son’s boundaries.

This user thinks this other family should be willing to compromise — at least for an afternoon.

This commenter understands that not all people are dog people.

Is it really as good of a dog as the owners claim it is?

These dog owners need to realize that not everyone loves their pets as much as they do.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.