My partner and I have been together for almost 6 years. A year ago he saw someone with pitbull puppies and begged me to get one. I’ve never been a dog person nor have I ever really liked being around dogs. I voiced my disagreement to getting a dog(that I should’ve been more vocal and stern about) but one day he wanted to “just go look at them.” Ok so we went to go “look” at them and right away he pointed at one and said he wanted it. We went home with a month old puppy which I tried my hardest to accept. The dog would do nothing but shit and piss all over our 900 sq ft apartment. It was extremely stressful for me, especially with the fact that I already struggle with pretty severe mental health issues. The dog is a year old now and I just haven’t been able to feel at peace in my home and I constantly feel on edge over this dog. I feel like a terrible person for not accepting the dog because my bf loves it and takes really good care of it. But I feel like my home environment is ruined because of the smell and just a dog constantly being there. It doesn’t bark but it whines a lot especially at night and wakes me up a lot. Everything it’s chewed up has been mine. Although, it’s not bad behaved and there’s already some boundaries in place because my bf knows I’m not fond of the dog. It can’t go in our bedroom, or on carpeting in general after it’s pissed so much on it. I also stay far away from taking care of it and honestly, any interactions at all. I feel like any animal deserves a home where everyone can at least tolerate it. I’ve stayed uncomfortable and unhappy for this long because I love my partner a lot and want to genuinely be with him forever. We have talked a lot of marriage and have even looked through engagement rings before and after this dog. But I know the dog is more important than my mental wellbeing as after I brought up my feelings about a month in, that led to the dog being chosen over me and him threatening to move out… even after he promised that I had the last word and if I didn’t like it, he’d find other arrangements for it. We’ve had a fight over that too awhile after it happened and his reasoning for putting the dog over me was because “things changed.” There has been lots of fights and I can’t get over that the person I’ve been loving and planning a future with for 6 years has put me below an animal. And the cherry on top is that if he ever goes on any trips, guess who has to take care of the dog that has taken a huge toll on my mental health already without having to be the caretaker.

I understand loving a pet and I feel awful about being this kind of person. I could really use advice because I don’t want to lose someone I’m in love with over a dog. It’s so pathetic that I’m going as far as writing a Reddit post for the opinions of strangers… maybe I need to go back to therapy. Just please give me your honest advice.