AITA for asking for the dog to be put in another room after being jumped on?

A Reddit user recently attended a party at an acquaintance’s house, where they were caught off guard by a large German shepherd that jumped on them as they entered. Startled and not a fan of dogs jumping on them, they reacted by nudging the dog away and asking if it could be put in another room.

The host refused, saying it was the dog’s home too. Frustrated, the user decided to leave the party, which led to backlash from both the host and others in attendance. They’re now wondering if they were in the wrong. Read the full story below.

‘ AITA for asking for the dog to be put in another room after being jumped on?’

I went to a party at an acquaintance’s house this past weekend with my wife.  This is a friend of a friend that i’ve met a few times.  I was invited, but I would not say I know this person that well.

They had a german shepard (that I didn’t know about) that as soon as I opened the door came out of nowhere and full on jumped on me, paws on my chest.  I nudged the dog away and told it to f**k off.  I almost got immediately yelled at by the host to not be an a**hole to their dog.

I was just like your dog jumped on me.  I don’t want it jumping on me.  I asked if they could put the dog in another room so it doesn’t happen again.  The host told me absolutely not.  This is the dogs house too.  I told my wife we are leaving, I told everyone have a good party and noped out of there.

My phone’s been blowing up from multiple people and the host reached out saying how i treated his dog was really inappropriate.  I’m still hearing about this 4 days later which is crazy to me.  AITA? 

Here’s the comments of Reddit users:

micknick0000 −  At the end of the day, the dog shouldn’t have jumped on you. But a dog hopping up to basically greet someone as they walk into the house… is it reaaaaaaaaaally the worst thing in the world?

Having said that, it isn’t the dogs fault. Obviously it’s owners allow this kind of behavior. While you may not necessarily be the a**hole in regards to this situation, the way you said you reacted, talked to the host, then your wife, plus the vibe that your post gives off – I’m pretty confident in saying that you’re an a**hole.

BeeYehWoo −  I would be APPALLED and apologetic if my dog did that. We train her to NOT jump on strangers. Not everyone likes having dog paws on their person and for good reason.

The host of the party is in dreamland. Not everyone is in love with your dog the way she is. She is a s**tty host with bad manners and expects you to tolerate this behavior. And then she doubles down and instead of apologizing, she tried to berate you. She can go to hell. NTA

ThePhilV −  Probably an unpopular opinion, but absolutely NTA. I have extreme discomfort around dogs, for a variety of reasons. People who expect others to just deal with their dog’s lack of training, especially when it’s a larger breed, are a huge red flag to me.

Dogs tend to want to get up in people’s space, and I can’t handle that. And then when they do, they are constantly moving and squirming and bumping me and it’s just too much. They overstimulate me and are unpredictable and I have to leave.

Your reaction was off the cuff and pretty much involuntary, so I don’t think you can be faulted for being surprised at being randomly jumped on the moment someone opens the door.

kem81 −  ESH /YTA. The owner is right that its the dogs house too and they shouldn’t have to shove the dog into a room because 1 person has a problem with the dog. You have every right to exclaim in surprise, even with swear words, that you have been jumped on by a dog you don’t know if they are going to be friendly with your or not.

The fact that you then told your wife “we’re leaving” and dragged her out of the party after being told they would not lock up the dog was s**tty. You didn’t get your way so you’re leaving and taking your ball with you was childish and s**tty.

How could you have said it better depending on circumstances: “hey man, I didn’t know you had a dog and they give me a lot of anxiety. If you plan on leaving him out ime gunna have to go. Im sorry.” Or “im sorry. Im just really allergic to dogs and no one mentioned you had one”

Or any number of other responses that didn’t make you sound like you were trying to dictate TO SOMEONE YOU DIDNT EVEN KNOW how to handle their own dog in their own house.

No-Entertainment3435 −  ESH. The owners should train the dog not to jump, and have better control of it when new people are coming into the home if they know it’s easily excitable. However. You walked into the home of someone who you don’t know well, immediately started screaming curse words.

I would be willing to bet you pushed the dog a lot harder than you’re suggesting here. You told this person, who, again, you don’t know well, what to do with their dog in their home. Then bossed your wife around and made a huge scene about leaving. 90% of dogs are excited to greet new people and may be hyper for a moment, but will calm down and relax after literally like 60 seconds.

This was a massive overreaction and completely rude. If you really had a huge issue with dogs, you could have used your big boy words and politely communicated with the owner.

loseit_throwit −  Honestly NTA. I have a much smaller dog than a German Shepherd but some would say that he’s intimidating (he’s a pittie mix). He’s super friendly, but can get too excited when new people come into the house and sometimes does try to jump up. We have a whole training routine at the door when he’s meeting new people.

He goes into his crate so that he can’t get too overexcited at knocks at the door, and he can’t try to rush out the door or overenthusiastically greet guests either. We then test out whether he’s calm enough to sit, lay down, and gently accept treats and pets from guests.

If he doesn’t follow one command, he goes back in the crate until he has a minute to chill out and can hang out around our guests without trying to make them be his best friends. If we’re throwing a big party, we wait for everyone to arrive before letting the dog out of the crate and we re-crate him for any late arrivals.

I don’t blame anyone for pushing away and yelling at an unexpected LARGE dog at the door, and your friends shouldn’t have an unsecured dog right by the door just for the dog’s own safety — what if it had pushed past you and ran down the street? Of course it’s the dog’s house too,

but it’s about ensuring the dog is trained and has a comforting, calming routine when new people are entering the house. Your friends are being really irresponsible with their animal and I sincerely hope it doesn’t end badly for the dog.

EDIT: a couple of replies here seem absolutely certain that it isn’t at all dangerous to own a large dog and decline to train it not to jump. Or that you can have a dog that jumps on people at the door, yet is perfectly trained to never rush the door and potentially get out. Or that poorly training your dog can’t lead to bad consequences for the dog if someone is injured. Idk what these people are on about but I hope they don’t own dogs

accio_depressioso −  ESH. Dogs should not be jumping on guests. That’s poor training and negligence on the part of the owner. They s**k for this. You’re an adult. It sounds like you had an angry, volatile reaction to a dog jumping on you. You literally said “f**k off”, words typically spoken in a manner that makes everyone around uncomfortable. Learn to be calm and use your big-boy words.

Epsilon_and_Delta −  I’m going with YTA. Should the dog have jumped on you? No. Should the owner have been apologetic for that? Yes. But you escalated the situation needlessly. First you told the dog to f**k off which was wholly unnecessary, which obviously got the owner’s back up. Anyone who talks to someone’s pet or kid like that should expect the other person to immediately get defensive.

You then escalated again by demanding the dog be locked in a room. Like how about you see if the dog keeps pestering you first? Maybe it just jumped on you to greet you and after that would’ve ignored you. But nope, you immediately place demands on the owner instead of calmly and simply saying “sorry for my language.

The dog startled me and I really don’t like dogs jumping up on me. Can you please make sure he doesn’t do that to me again?” Then you escalated the third time by leaving. Were you right that a well behaved dog shouldn’t jump up on people and owners should respect that many people aren’t dog people (and even those who are don’t like being jumped on)? Absolutely.

That doesn’t mean you weren’t an a**hole in how you handled it. You can be right but the reason your phone is blowing up is because you acted like a huge a**hole.

prevknamy −  NTA!! Society needs to make dog owners understand that their little precious angels should not be jumping on people. Ever. It’s scary. It’s gross. It creates social tension because your only option is to push it off somewhat aggressively then the owners get pissy. If owners can’t keep their dog under control then the thing shouldn’t be around people

antizana −  NTA. Your response was off the cuff startled from someone not expecting to be literally face to face with a large animal. Telling it to F off may have offended the owners but it’s not like the dog can tell or care. I don’t fault you for asking the dog to be kept elsewhere- yes it’s the dog’s home too but the owners won’t bother to train it so the chances of having another poor encounter are 0.

I love dogs. But I can’t stand owners who don’t train their dogs, especially large breeds (and smart breeds, like German shepherd) – there’s no excuse for that. It’s a basic part of having a dog. Plus, you’ve invited people to your home and want them to be comfortable- a reasonable host should be mortified and apologetic.

Do you think it’s reasonable for guests to ask for pets to be kept in a separate room during gatherings, or should they accept the pets’ behavior in their own homes? How would you handle a similar situation? Share your thoughts below!