I never thought I’d be writing something like this, but here we are.
My husband wants to get rid of our Goldendoodle, Daisy. Because, and I quote, “she barks too much.”
I don’t even know where to begin.
We’ve had Daisy for four years. We got her as a puppy, all fluffy and awkward, tripping over her own paws. Back then, my husband adored her. He was the one who convinced me to get a dog in the first place. “We’ll train her, we’ll take her on hikes, she’ll be part of the family,” he said. And for a while, she was.
But now? Now she’s suddenly too much.
Apparently, she barks too much when the mailman comes. She barks too much when she hears a noise outside. She barks when she’s excited, she barks when she wants attention, she barks when she’s playing.
And I get it. I do.
She’s a vocal dog.
But she’s not aggressive, she’s not destructive, she’s not misbehaving. She’s just… talking. Communicating in the only way she knows how.
And now, just like that, my husband wants her gone.
He started bringing it up casually at first.
“We need to do something about Daisy’s barking,” he said one night while we were watching TV.
“Yeah, I know,” I said. “I’ll look into some training techniques.”
But then he started pushing harder.
“This is getting ridiculous. She never shuts up.”
“I don’t want to live like this anymore.”
And then the words that made my stomach drop:
“We should find her a new home.”
I thought he was joking at first.
But he wasn’t.
He started sending me links to adoption websites.
He even reached out to a coworker who had mentioned looking for a dog.
All without telling me.
When I found out, I lost it.
“This is DAISY. Our dog. She’s part of our family.”
“She’s a nuisance,” he shot back.
“She’s a dog,” I argued. “Dogs bark.”
But he just shook his head. “I’m done.”
I don’t know what happened.
This is the same man who used to cuddle Daisy on the couch. The same man who would take her for long walks after work. The same man who used to say, “She’s the best dog ever.”
And now?
Now she’s too much.
And the worst part? I can’t even tell Daisy what’s happening.
I look at her big brown eyes, and she’s just happy. Blissfully unaware. She wags her tail, she brings me her favorite toy, she nudges me with her nose like, Why are you sad, hooman?
And I can’t tell her.
I can’t tell her that the person she’s loved unconditionally for four years has decided she’s no longer worth it.
I’ve tried everything.
I’ve looked up training techniques. I’ve tried calming treats, white noise machines, desensitization methods.
Nothing is ever enough for him.
He doesn’t want solutions. He wants her gone.
So now I’m stuck.
Because the truth is… I will never, ever be able to give her up.
I know some people will say, “It’s just a dog.” But she’s not.
She’s the first thing that greets me when I come home. She’s the reason I smile after a bad day. She’s the one who curls up next to me when I’m sad.
She’s family.
And I don’t know how to make my husband see that again.
So here I am.
Staring at a man I thought I knew.
Sitting next to a dog who trusts me completely.
And trying to figure out what the hell I’m supposed to do next.
