AITA For adopting my neighbors dog?

A Redditor found themselves in a heated conflict with their neighbors after adopting a dog they frequently saw running loose in the neighborhood. The dog had been picked up by animal control and, after going unclaimed, was put up for adoption.

The Redditor, feeling the dog would have a better home with their family and also annoyed by their neighbors’ past behavior, adopted the dog. Now, their neighbors are furious, accusing them of theft, but the adoption was completely legal. With tensions rising, the Redditor wonders if they made the right choice. Read the full story below.

‘ AITA For adopting my neighbors dog?’

My next door neighbor used to own this dog that they constantly allowed to run free during the day while they were at work even though we live in a city. The neighbors are generally bad neighbors they constantly block my drive way and just rude people. Recently the dog went missing, they even came out on me accusing me of stealing the dog.

I was very much offended. I had no clue where the dog disappeared too. I do know the dog was always friendly with my kids and family. It had been run over once before and had a permanently damaged leg but was still sweet. Well flash forward about 2 weeks and we find the dog in an animal shelter.

Apparently a road crew found the dog on the street we live on and called animal control because they thought it was a stray. No collar tags or chip obviously even though collar and tags are required in our city. We decided to ask some questions.

The dog had been in hold waiting to be claimed and had just been released for adoption because no one had claimed him. We went ahead and adopted him making him legally ours, partly because we like the dog and felt we would be better owners. Partly because we are petty and wanted to get under their skin.
It worked.

They are infuriated accusing us of stealing the dog worse than before we learned the dog was in the shelter. We refused to give the dog back. They called the cops. We were able to prove they abandoned the dog and we legally adopted the dog at the shelter.

Then they started backpedaling to avoid fines saying they could be mistaken but at the end of the day it’s only made their behavior worse. Honestly to be expected but I know as long as their behavior is worse it’s because I’m rent free in their heads. What I want to know is AITA for adopting the dog?

Take a look at the comments from fellow users:

Aggressive_Cattle320 −  NTA. I was honestly expecting this to be a different story, where someone decided to “adopt” a dog they really had no right to. We’ve had a few of those posts in the past. But this one was different and very easy to judge.

This dog was picked up as a stray, and they are held for x amount of days before considered legally abandoned and up for adoption. This dog was up for adoption, and no longer belonged to them. Most loving owners who lose a pet will haunt all shelters and pounds they can locate, over and over, never giving up the search for their pet.

Since you were able to find this dog in a local shelter, that insinuates his owners didn’t bother to call or look for him. He is now yours, furever. The family that lost him did so because they were neglectful. He is now in a safe and loving home.

That is in his best interest. Tune them out, because they lost their right to him. Thank you, on behalf of an animal lover, for giving him the loving home and family he deserves.

Electrical_News_6458 −  Yup! But I sort of think that was your aim. Living your dream

ARTiger20 −  Why is this not in petty revenge?

OGBarbi −  My former neighbor had the cutest puppy. She would chain it up in the backyard and it would scream and cry for hours She would actually yell at it and scream at it. And I swear I heard her hit it one time and it yelped. I called animal control about many of these incidents and sent them over there for a welfare check.

They showed up and said the dog was fine. We could tell that it was skinny Fast forward it gets out and comes over. I’ll pick it up is skin and bones. I can feel every rib and worse than that his skin was covered with like point scabs like canine tooth bites.

Anyway, I put him in my car and left town. I fed him gas station cat food and tuna. I took the dog out of the area to a shelter in a big city hundreds of miles away and I’m sure he found a much better home. Sometimes you just gotta save the animal yourself.

Kris82868 −  Info. Am I understanding this correctly-Did you go to a local shelter looking to adopt a dog and found him there? Seems the neighbors had the opportunity to check shelters before he was released for adoption unless I am missing something.

Purple_Ambition_317 −  NTA. You are within your rights. However I think you best be prepared for things to get worse with your neighbours. People like that have no insight and blame everyone else for their own mistakes.

_TiberiusPrime_ −  100% NTA. You gave a dog a much better life.

LobsterLovingLlama −  NTA but never let the dog hang out in the yard unattended

ilikesalad −  NTA – please give that dog the best time of their life. Also, be aware your neighbors may try to steal doggo back or even try to harm him.

mom-of-35 −  Please make sure you chip the. dog. It seems like the dog is used to wondering. You want to get him back if he gets lost. Make sure you keep an eye on it when it is in your yard in case they want to take it back.

Do you think the Redditor was justified in adopting the dog after it was unclaimed, or should they have made more effort to inform the neighbors before doing so? How would you handle a similar situation? Share your thoughts below!