When the young lady in this story moved in with her mother-in-law for a while, she brought her 7 year old dog with her. Of course, everyone pitched in to care for the dog where needed while she was staying in the house.

Now that she is getting ready to move out into her own home, the mother-in-law is saying that she can’t take the dog and that it is hers now.

This young lady is very upset since she loves her dog, and is thinking about just snatching it up and leaving as soon as possible, but also doesn’t want to cause more problems.

It is definitely a difficult situation to be in, but her in-laws have no right to take the dog from her. Read the full story below and see what you think she should do.

AITA for not allowing my partners mother to keep my dog

I (21m) lived at home with my parents and a little dachshund (7f) who had life threatening surgery at age 3. This made feel a closer bond with her compared to other dog owners.

That is way too many animals for one house.

3 years ago I met my girlfriend (21m) who also lived at home with her parents, they had 11 cats and 3 dogs of their own who aren’t massive in comparison to willow.

Around 2 Novembers ago I moved in with my girlfriend and her parents, the upcoming Christmas my parents asked if me and my partner would like to start looking after willow (who was still living back at home with my parents up until this point and no handing over custody of her or anything like that just letting her live with us).

I guess one more dog is fine.

Me and my partner instantly said yes but we will ask her parents first as it is their house after all.

They said yes it’s fine as long as we paid for dog food/vet bills etc and so Willow now lived with us and all was well up until 2 weeks ago.

The dog isn’t hers, she doesn’t get to decide what happens to it.

Me and my partner had been looking for our own place to live and I made the mistake of mentioning to her mother that Willow would be coming with us and instantly she said no the dog stays with us.

At first I thought she was joking and laughed but the look on her face told me she was being serious. I awkwardly giggled and walked away and told my partner what just happened and she said herself that she was probably joking.

I can’t imagine why someone would think that they could keep the dog.

This carried on for days and she genuinely believed they didn’t have to hand over the dog. I do understand they also would’ve created a bond with her after that amount of time but still not an excuse in my opinion

A couple days passed and I sat my girlfriends mother down and explained the whole situation about how we were the ones looking after her not them and that I feel like I have a special bond with my dog and that this isn’t fair and that technically she is still property of my parents so they decide where she can go.

Just because she happened to take the dog to the vet once doesn’t mean the dog is hers.

My in-laws reasoning for them keeping the dog which came after really caught me off guard by the sheer nerve.

Apparently one day whilst everyone was at work apart from my mother in-law, willow had jumped off the couch and injured her leg, this resulted in her taking willow to the vets and having to pay a vet bill, whilst she was there she also took it upon herself to sign willow up to monthly vet check ins.

I think taking the dog and leaving is a good idea.

I’ve offered to repay money for the vet bill, toys that she bought Willow, even mentioned it to my own parents who don’t seem to be too interested in the situation, I’m close to picking the dog up one day and just bolting out.

AITA?

The mother-in-law is way out of line for even thinking that she can keep this dog. I would get the dog out of there right away, because who knows what she will do.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a mom who is irate after she gave a group leader money for her daughter’s lunch, only to have him pocket the cash and ask all of the kids to pay their own way.

Read on to see what the people in the comments have to say about this odd situation.

This is a real concern.

It really can be this simple.

Here is someone who says to get the police involved.

This commenter brings up an important point.

Dogs don’t need to go to the vet monthly.

Taking a dog to a vet does not mean that the dog is now yours. This young lady has had the dog its entire life, she isn’t about to give it up now. Unfortunately, just taking the dog is going to cause some conflict with the family, but that can’t be avoided.

She needs to take this dog and run. Who knows what her mother-in-law might do?

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a stepmom who says stepson isn’t doing enough, despite the fact that he’s working 12-hour shifts to pay for his own college.