Owning a dog is a huge commitment - and one everyone in your house should be onboard with before welcoming one into the home.
But sometimes people jumped into getting a dog before discussing it with their household, leaving the other person to look like 'the bad guy' when they want to rehome it.
One man has explained how he brought a six-month-old puppy home to surprise his two daughters, aged nine and 11 - but didn't quite get his wife's full backing before doing so.
He said on Reddit : "The kids and I love him - their mum, not so much.
"The dog is house trained, create trained and dog friendly. He is generally responsive off lead and to commands.
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"Their mum complains that he sheds, can be excitable in the evenings and as a result has scratched the wood floor.
"He occasionally barks in response to the dog across the street barking and when she is walking him, he pulls to excitedly to meet other dogs."
Explaining how much he and his daughter's love their dog, his wife has given him an ultimatum - her or the dog.
"I can't imagine telling them that we have to give up the dog because their mum can't take it," he said.
"Our marriage is so so with both of us having questions about its ultimately viability and this issue is getting teed up as a sort of 'me or the dog' episode.
"We seem to be at a place of who makes the sacrifice. My wife sacrifices for us or we sacrifice for her.
"She is not willing to put in any more time or training which I would describe as very limited at this point anyway.
"She is convinced that she can never enjoy her life if we have the dog and that me and the kids will 'get over it' if we rehome him.
"Although that answer was given in a heated discussion about the topic so hard to know if that is a calmly held feeling.
"I'm at the point where I feel clear that I am not willing to sacrifice mine and the kids' love to help their mum feel better under the totality of the circumstances."
The wife is responsible for walking their now 16-month-old dog on Mondays, with the man saying he takes care of it every other day with the help of the children.
He added: "From my perspective, he is a smart and trainable dog who would easily learn to walk calmly on leash, like he does for me and often does with the kids with some work.
"Yes, he has a couple dog habits that can be annoying. So the real question is if their mum says 'it's me or the dog', am I wrong to say, if you mean that, I guess it's 'you'."
While most users agreed he cannot be blamed for wanting to keep the dog, others advised him to speak to a marriage councillor.
One user said: "It’s clear that this is not about the dog you’ve had for over a year. It’s about the complete breakdown of your marriage and whether or not you and your wife want to save it.
"The dog issues are a symptom. Take over complete care of the dog with the kids so she doesn’t have to do anything with it. Get counselling. Rehoming the dog isn’t going to magically fix your marriage."
Another added: "This isn't about the dog. Go get counselling and see if the two of you even want to be together.
"You have kids, and you owe it to them to have an amicable relationship whether you're together or not, so get it together."
A third user said: "If you don’t get a divorce or if you divorce and blame it on the dog, it’s pretty clear that you real dislike is with 'their mum', who you don’t even refer to as your spouse."
Do you have a dog story to share? Email paige.freshwater@reachplc.com.
