Mom Won't Allow Daughter To Say Goodbye To Sick Dog Due To Custody Agreement

Jan 13, 2022

Losing a loved one is never easy, whether it’s a family member, friend, colleague or family pet. It’s especially difficult for people to part ways with their pets, as they usually feel like they’re a member of the family. For many people, they might have a particular pet for a great portion of their life, making it that much harder to say goodbye when their animal is close to the end of its life.

A 29-year-old woman took to Reddit on Jan. 10, 2022, to ask users if she was wrong for how she handled a situation regarding her 9-year-old daughter Claire and her dog. The woman explained that she shared custody of Claire with her ex-husband Brian. They had gone to court to handle the custody case and divided their time pretty evenly.

A short while after Claire was born, Brian got a dog who was relatively old at the time. As the dog got older, it was clear that the dog was nearing the end of its life, and it was time to put it down. Brian asked if he could pick up Claire a day earlier than usual so Claire could say goodbye to the dog since she loved the pup dearly.

However, the woman was completely against this idea since they had a court-ordered custody agreement. She and her ex-husband proceeded to argue about not letting Claire say goodbye. Once the girl found out, she, too, was upset with her mother. The woman has since turned to Redditors for their help and was met with plenty of opinionated responses.

Starting off her Reddit post, the original poster (OP) talked about her custody arrangement with her ex-husband, explaining how Brian has Claire Wednesday through Saturday and OP has her Sunday through Tuesday. When they were still together, Brain got a dog, who was about 6 or 7 years old at the time.

OP continued, “Claire loves this dog, and I’ve tried to indulge that as much as possible and the days I have her Brian will let Claire video call with him and the dog which I think is a bit extreme but to each their own.” That morning, Brain contacted OP to say that he had to put the dog down the next day and asked if he could pick up Claire a day early so she could say goodbye to her pet. 

“I told him I didn’t want to do that and didn’t think it was a good idea to go against court ordered custody, and since he wouldn’t watch her when I had a work emergency I didn’t see why this was different,” OP said. “He said I was being overly dramatic and petty and cruel to not let Claire see her dog.”

OP didn’t see an issue with this since they both agreed to stick to the custody agreement. “But he’s sent me several texts saying that I should let Claire be there, and even told her what was going on which in my opinion was overstepping and I don’t think it’s right for him to contact her behind my back about something involving our co-parenting,” she explained. Claire was also upset with her.

OP asked Redditors if she was wrong for not letting her ex-husband pick up their daughter a day early to say goodbye to the dog. Reddit users were quick to call out OP for her poor parenting and overall selfish behavior. 

One user commented, “It’s unfathomably cruel. She wants revenge on her ex, it’s about control. Her spite is more important than her kid’s emotional well being.” Another added, “What if a relative died? ‘Oh sorry, can’t go to the funeral. It’s not on the schedule.’ These are the things that drive kids apart from their parents.”

Other users called out her hypocrisy toward the custody agreement and how she should have still allowed Claire to say goodbye to the dog. One user asked, “If you hate the idea of deviating from the court ordered parenting schedule, why did you even ask him to take her during your work emergency?” Another said, “You should bring her to say goodbye to the dog if you don’t want to blur the custody order… Maintaining a custody order with your ex should not stop you from prioritizing what is in your child’s best interests.”

Since then, OP has edited her original post and admitted that she had a change of heart.” I thought about it some more and read some of the replies and I realized I was being short sighted and taking out my frustration from the past in a way that would only negatively affect my daughter,” she said. “I’ve talked to Brian and we’ve made the agreement that he will pick her up tomorrow to say goodbye and drop her off a day early.”

What would you do in this scenario? Have you ever had to say goodbye to a family pet? Let us know, and be sure to pass this along to your loved ones as well.