It is sad when a family member is making bad decisions and causing drama, but in most cases, people can turn their lives around with the right support.

What would you do if your cousin was trying to turn her life around, so you asked her to housesit and watch your dogs while you took a trip, but she betrayed your trust by inviting a stranger over and failing to care for the dogs as instructed?

That is what happened to the person in this story, and to make it worse, her cousin told her parents that she was asked to leave for no reason. So, this person had to tell her aunt and uncle the truth, which made her cousin very angry.

Personally, I don’t see what else she could have done in this situation. Her cousin is making horrible (and dangerous) decisions, and her parents need to know.

Read on and see what you think about it.

AITA for telling my aunt and uncle that their daughter brought a strange man into my house while she was dog-sitting?

I (31F) went on an 8-day trip and asked my cousin (32F) to dog-sit.

Hopefully, she can get her life back on track.

We grew up very close, but our relationship became strained because of her alcoholism. What really pushed me away was when she started taking her infant daughter to parties and getting blackout drunk.

Recently, though, she got a job and seemed to be turning things around, so I started trusting her again.

It is nice that she can give her a chance to help out with the dogs.

She lives with her parents and has a 4-year-old daughter. Since her job is close to my house and she loves my dogs, she agreed to stay there while I was away.

One of my dogs must eat every 8 hours or she gets sick, so I told her to make sure the dogs were fed and had water.

Oh wow. This isn’t good.

The first night, my Ring camera showed her arriving with her daughter. A few hours later, a strange man showed up.

He rang the doorbell and angrily yelled, “I’ve called you 20 times!” when she answered. She let him inside, and the next morning he walked out of my house.

She has been put in a very uncomfortable position.

I was upset. I don’t want strangers staying in my home, especially around my dogs who don’t like men.

My cousin also has a boyfriend, so I hated being put in a position where I knew something I didn’t want to.

Honestly, she has every reason to be worried about the situation.

Most importantly, her daughter was there. My cousin has a history of getting blackout drunk, and I saw her bring a case of beer into my house.

All I could think was: what if she drank too much, passed out, and left her child alone with a stranger?

Clearly, she can’t be trusted to take care of the dogs.

I texted her that bringing a stranger into my home was a huge breach of trust. She apologized and promised it wouldn’t happen again.

The rest of the week, I noticed she was often gone for 15 hours at a time, so I knew the dogs weren’t being fed every 8 hours.

At least the dogs were ok, even if they were neglected. But you can’t trust this woman again.

Then she left Friday around 6 p.m. and didn’t return until Saturday around 4 p.m. My texts went unanswered, and I had to find someone else to check on my dogs.

When my friend arrived, the water bowls were empty. When my cousin finally showed up, I told her I had arranged alternate care and she could leave the key.

I can’t believe her cousin tried to paint herself as the victim.

The next day, my aunt and uncle started calling me ungrateful after hearing my cousin’s version of events. They said I had treated her badly and kicked her out.

At that point, I defended myself. I explained that she had brought a strange man into my house overnight, neglected my dogs, and was now portraying herself as the victim. I also sent them the Ring videos showing him arriving and leaving.

Her cousin is lashing out because she got in trouble.

My cousin was furious and said I was a horrible person for telling her parents and that I’d end up alone because of my personality.

I replied that repeatedly disrespecting the people who care about her was more likely to leave her alone.

At this point, she had to tell her parents.

I only told them after they started attacking me based on her version of events.

If she knew what she did was wrong and didn’t want her parents finding out, then she shouldn’t have done it in the first place.

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AITA?

Even if her cousin didn’t try to be the victim, I think telling her parents was the right thing to do. Her cousin is engaging in very destructive behavior, and that child is clearly in danger. Hopefully, she can get the help she needs.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this post about an entitled daughter who wants the same rewards as her hardworking brother.

Read on to see what the people in the comments have to say about it.

This commenter is worried about the young child, and so am I.

At a minimum, she knew about the doorbell camera.

She is an adult and needs to start acting like one.

The cousin is the one who first informed her own parents.

She was putting her daughter and the dogs in danger.

If she didn’t want her parents to know what happened, she shouldn’t have tried to play the victim. Her cousin is obviously making very bad decisions right now, so the more her parents know about it, the better.

I just hope that they can take steps to protect their grandchild at a minimum, and get their daughter the help she needs to get through this. It is a very difficult situation, to be sure.