A joint family vacation that everyone chipped in on financially ended abruptly for one couple who “got up and left back home” after they were told their dog was too loud while a two-year-old was sleeping.
After bailing on a joint family vacation early due to her dog and another family’s 2-year-old, a woman is turning to the internet to ask if she was in the right.
Jumping on Reddit’s infamous AITA (“Am I the A–hole”) forum, OP (a.k.a. “the original poster”) shared that a whole group of adults, kids, and dogs came together for the vacation, sharing a large Airbnb for the duration. And things were mostly fine … until they weren’t.
So she left.
Read on for the full story!
To start off her story, OP shared the breakdown of this particular vacation. “So my husband M(35) and myself F(30) went on a family vacation and stayed at an airbnb (Fri-Mon) with about 9 other adults, 3 kids, 2 dogs and 1 two year old. Kids and 1 dog are not ours.”
She went on to explain that “our Malshi (Maltese Shih Tzu)” feels protective, and so barks when people come in the front door, or he hears loud noises. “He just needs to be petted or sniffs you or he just stops after you sit or a few seconds,” OP explained, adding, “(This is important for the story)”
Noting later that the place they were jointly staying at was four floors, OP explained the problem: “The two year old and the parents decide to sleep on the first floor where the majority of people are hanging out but when the 2 year old is trying to sleep everyone has to be quiet and they get mad at my dog for barking.”
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Then came the offending incident, about three days into the vacation. According to OP, the parents of the 2-year-old came back to the shared Airbnb. Immediately, the 2-year-old was set to take a nap so “people start shushing everyone and since they’re sleeping on the first floor everyone has to be quiet.”
“As people continue to come in and kids running up the stairs our dog barks here and there,” OP continued. “The dad comes out and demands my husband to take our dog somewhere else cause the child is trying to sleep. The way he said it was pretty rude and demanding. So we got up and left back home.”
She then explained their stance on the issue: “First of all we’re all on vacation having a great time. We all paid to be there etc. I definitely feel it’s inconsiderate of them to ask everyone to be quiet when they could have also taken the child to the 3 or 4th floor where no one was and empty rooms were still available.”
“If we were at their house, I get it,” OP wrote. “But not in this case. Also, I know so many babies and kids that don’t need it so hush and quiet when they sleep. It’s so annoying honestly.” Nevertheless, she was uncertain enough to turn to Reddit and ask, “So AITA here?”
There was a strong consensus of ESH (“Everyone Sucks Here”) from Redditors, with arguments presented against OP and her family, as well as the family of the 2-year-old. The top, with more than 1.6K upvotes, noted, “They were rude about the situation when there were quieter (supposedly) rooms the kid could have taken a nap in, but your dog sounds disruptive.”
“No one wants to hear a dog bark every time someone comes through the door, nor should they have to stop and placate the dog each time they do,” they continued. “The parents need to have more realistic expectations of traveling with a large group of people while their kid has a sleep schedule, but you need to train your dog better.”
Another noted that regardless of the reason, the barking dog is “a huge disruption nevertheless,” while also arguing, “So is having a kid that can’t sleep around a naturally noisy area sleep in such an area.”
Who thought this was a good idea?
OP couldn’t disagree with the sentiment. “It’s true, my dog is protective and doesn’t bark all the time but I get how it’s annoying to most as well when he does bark. He’s a very playful and loving dog. Small as well like 10 pounds.”
She went on to say that the issue was more about the way the 2-year-old’s father expressed his concerns to her husband “like it was their house and secondly it really sucks when everyone is laughing and people are talking to be shushed every minute.” She later noted, “If he would have said it in a nicer more polite manner I don’t think we would have left.”
Standing by the overall ESH of the story, one Redditor asked, “Who thought this was a good idea?” They went on to argue the whole setup “was asking for drama.” They then called out OP “for acting shocked when people want you to deal with your barking dog,” before calling out the parents for “for going on vacation with people that bring along a barking dog and expecting things to be quiet.”
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“This was a very silly thing to do for everyone,” the commenter continued, before concluding with harsh words for OP’s last comment about it being annoying that the toddler might need quiet for sleep. “People need to not have barking dogs to sleep, especially little kids,” they wrote.
Still, there were plenty who sided with OP with one pushing back, “If your toddler needs everyone to be basically silent to sleep, you either pick a room far away from everyone else or you find somewhere to stay nearby so you can ensure a quiet environment. You don’t shush everyone else during perfectly reasonable hours and get pissy when there’s noise during reasonable hours
“It would have happened whether my dog was or was not there but it made it worse I guess,” OP added. She emphasized in another comment that the couple wasn’t just shushing their dog, but “it was people laughing or talking,” too.
Entitled dog owner vs. entitled parent. No winners here
“I’m not mad at them shushing my dog I was annoyed and frustrated that they expect everyone (not just the dog – when they were coming inside) to be quiet and to shush when everyone is having a good time and laughing enjoying themselves on a vacation trip,” she argued.
The argument didn’t completely let her off the hook for bringing a dog that barks alarms on a joint vacation. “You are okay with the dog barking to alarm, but not everyone is okay with that. You should have considered that when going on vacation with other people.”
Still others noted that OP had said there was another dog on this vacation, but it doesn’t appear to have been such a problem. The bottom line for most Redditors was that OP is TA for bringing her dog. “Nobody loves your yappy dog but you. Everyone else thinks it’s a pain in the ass.” But the parents were also TA if they “expect everyone to be quiet for their kid.”
One Redditor summed up the whole thread succinctly: “Ooh, a classic, entitled dog owner vs. entitled parent. No winners here, ESH for sure.”
