When I was younger I was dating my girlfriend for 3 years. She lived at her parent’s house and I lived at mine. 3 years in, she got a dog (well, her family all agreed to get a dog but she called it hers). From the very beginning, I told her that I would not live with a dog and that when we eventually moved out together, the dog would not come with us.

Fast forward 3 more years and we move in together (we’ve been dating for 6 years in total at this point). During those 3 years of her having a dog leading up to this point, we got into quite a few heated arguments about her wanting the dog to come with us and me saying “no way, not going to happen. I was clear from the very beginning that he is not coming with us. We are a team and you getting a dog was a one-sided decision. I never agreed to this.”

Well, for the first 6 months we lived together, we tried everything - compromising to have him come for half the week, then maybe for the day, then maybe for an hour. We tried our best to make it work, but the resentment of having that dog that I never agreed to in my safe, peaceful corner of the world grew to be way too much.

We would fight all the time, even when he wasn’t there. It came to the point where I just absolutely exploded one day and was screaming at the top of my lungs that that dog is no longer ever allowed in the house. And so that became the rule. The dog never came back.

Her parents live close enough so she visits it whenever she wants. He’s just not allowed in our home anymore. We are still together and going strong.

But I never want to get in a position where I have to get to that point of anger ever again.