AITA for telling my roommate its their fault my dog eats their food?

A Redditor is struggling with roommate issues after their dog repeatedly eats food left out by one of their housemates. Despite agreeing to keep food stored safely out of reach, this particular roommate often forgets, leading to their dog, who’s still being trained, taking advantage of the tempting treats.

After another recent incident, they told their roommate it was her fault for leaving food out in the first place. Now they’re questioning whether they were too harsh or if it’s justified given the repeated incidents. Read on for the full story below.

‘ AITA for telling my roommate its their fault my dog eats their food?’

So I (22) live with two roommates, Lilo (22) and Cam (26). It’s a small house and Lilo and I both own dogs, both are big-large breeds. Lilo’s dog Ant is a 2y/o extremely high energy working breed. My dog, Horse, is a 3 y/o rescue i adopted nearly a year ago.

He was extremely neglected and had a lot of behavioral problems before coming here, but has come an extremely long way. But he isnt perfect and im still working on it with him every day. that’s where the issue lies. Horse eats any food left out.

Hes big enough that he can jump onto our kitchen counters, and we quickly learnt that no food could be left out and unsupervised. we had a discussion and all agreed that we’d do our best to keep food stored properly and keep our meals close by.

Ive been trying to train him out of it in the meantime, but the reward of stealing food far out ways any ethical training/reprimand i give him. i told my roommates this, and that while id continue trying to train it out, he might never be safe around their food, and that any time he steals their food, it sends me ten steps backwards, as it enforces the behaviour.

Despite all agreements and conversations, over the past year, Lilo will constantly leave food out, in reach, in a room he has access to, and then walk away for stretches of time. he is constantly getting her food and drinks, which she then complains about to me.

Note its only Lilo, as Cam has no issues putting food away or just being aware. well tonight lilo complained Horse had eaten some of a meal she made after she left the room. i told her its her fault for leaving, knowing him and what weve all agreed on. AMITA?

Here’s what Redditors had to say:

DanEH7 −  Wow the comment section here is rude clearly none of yall understand what a neglected dog is like even after they have been rescued to those suggesting or saying that baby gates can work.

I direct you to the fact that horse is a big dog and if you’ve ever seen a husky or a Shepard jump you would know that a gate is ineffective and dogs are smart my dalmatian used to escape her crate all the time cause she was lonely or wanted the garbage from the kitchen.

OP you are NTA the best thing you can do is make stealing the food a less rewarding experience by adding a sour or spicy flavor which will help immensely with training I wish you luck with horse and hope things work out.

GenxBaby2 −  ESH except the responsible roommate. Lilo agreed to help out by not leaving food out and has not lived up to her word. You probably shouldn’t have got a rescue until you had a more stable living situation.

My last dog was a rescue who had clearly been hungry in her youth. I had to keep food in high cupboards and put a ratcheting strap around the freezer to stop her opening it. Never did train the desire to eat whatever she saw out of her. It comes down to mitigating the problem by keeping food securely stored.

Scenarioing −  YTA for bringing a dog that can’t be controlled in to a household and then blaming roommates for it being out of control.

[Reddit User] −  YTA. Ultimately, YOU are responsible for your dog’s behavior. There’s another big dog in the house that’s not doing this, so it’s clearly possible to keep a dog from eating food left on a table or counter.

[Reddit User] −  Edit – NTA. Your roommate is actively sabatoging your training efforts and has no leg to stand on being mad about this issue. If they would just leave the dog alone, their food wouldn’t be eaten off the counter..

Technically yes, Y T A. If it isn’t their dog, they shouldn’t have their change routine and make accommodations. But at the same time, the dog will never learn when people are leaving food out. All the training in the world won’t help if they’re leaving food on the counter or the coffee table.

The reward of people food is too great. Every single time food is left out and he gets hold of it is a big setback. So while they shouldn’t have to, they should be more careful just as friends and roommates, knowing that ultimately it will make everyone’s lives easier.

It’s like if your dog likes to steal shoes. It’ll never learn to ignore them if there’s 24hr access to shoes on the ground. Put away the shoes as you teach your dogs human shoes are not for chewing. Can you get baby gates for the kitchen area to keep him out?

Right_Count −  Hm. Im going against the grain here. NTA. Obviously you and your roommates have a dog-friendly living situation. I don’t know if that was agreed upon before moving in or if dogs were added later, but that’s the situation you’re all in now.

And dogs have behaviour issues and require training. Even the best-behaved dogs have quirks and require daily consideration. This is the situation she agreed to by way of being in this living situation. I don’t think I can call her TAH for leaving her own food out, but it’s her fault if it gets eaten and if that perpetuates his behaviour.

It’s not like you can wave a magic wand and fix it. The only way i could see changing my ruling would be if Lilo had expressed concerns about this before you adopted Horse and you did it anyway.

FlimsyIndependent467 −  People saying YTA don’t understand dog ownership at all. If the roommates were willing to agree to having the dog live with them then they need to be responsible about not leaving out food. NTA

False-Impression8102 −  NTA, but you should probably look for another living situation without Lilo. Some people here don’t understand what life with a rescue means. Even dogs raised from pups may need some things arranged so they didn’t give into their temptations.

The house knows that you can’t leave food out on counters. When Lilo complains at you, ask if it was on a surface Horse can reach. Yes? Well, there’s your answer.

wetcherri −  YTA, but not for the reason you think: dogs require CONSISTENT training. You never should’ve brought a dog with issues into a household where you couldn’t 220% rely upon your roommates to assist you with training.

Having other people do things (like leaving out food) that go against your dogs training is miserable and sets the dog back every time it happens. Which is why you shouldn’t have gotten a dog with these kinds of issues when you live with roommates.

forgeris −  You talked to your roommate, they understand the situation, they even know hat every time they leave food they are sabotaging your training, in the end I don’t see AH here, just one careless roommate who blames everyone for their own mistakes and other who struggles to train a rescue dog that has some problems with food.

Do you think the Redditor is justified in holding their roommate responsible for leaving food out, or should they take additional steps with their dog’s training? How would you handle this situation with shared living arrangements and pets? Share your thoughts below!