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"i have some bad news," my mother called me this morning. i immediately thought somebody in the family had died or maybe there was an accident. "your father and sister have decided to keep the dog." the dog in question belonged to suhan and his girlfriend. they thought it'd be fun to have a puppy despite the fact that neither of them can take care of themselves let alone an animal. it's not even a small dog, but one of those that will grow up and become a 60 lbs. husky. did i mention his apartment has a no pets policy? the moment i heard he bought a dog a few months ago, i knew sooner or later my family would be taking care of it because suhan is completely irresponsible.

this is how it all started: he and his girlfriend would go on weekend trips and leave the dog with my parents. and then finally it happened yesterday: i can't take care of the dog. will you take care of it for me? instead of finding a new owner or giving the dog to the shelter though, my father and sister conspired together and have decided to keep it, against my adamant disapproval. i love dogs, but they're a tremendous amount of work. walking it everyday, picking up after it, the occasional indoor accident, washing, grooming, feeding, finding somebody to take care of it when you go out of town. imagine doing that for the next 15 years.

even though i won't be directly involved with raising the dog, i'm sure it's going to affect me. what if my parents go on vacation? and who can predict my sister's schedule? that dog is going to be locked at home alone for most of the day. would it be better off with an owner who can better take care of it? and if you want my honest opinion, neither my father or sister are qualified to take care of a dog. my sister is highly irresponsible and my father has an animal cruelty streak. even when we had our last dog, i ended up being the one who did most of the walking, despite the fact that it was my sister who originally wanted the dog in the first place (she'd walk the dog like once a year, if at all). the way she handled our last dog, she should have zero say in the decision. suhan's dog is still a small dog at this point, but once it becomes full-sized, will they still love it? and all that work we did during the fall renovating the house: say good-bye to the nice hardwood floors!

my mother was the only person in that household to oppose the decision but naturally her opinion wasn't taken into consideration. so for the better part of the day i was in a telephone shouting match with all parties involved. i screamed so much i was starting to lose my voice and i was so angry and frustrated i wanted to tear all my hair out. in protest, unless my father and sister agree to get rid of the dog, i don't want anything to do with them ever again. of course this is all suhan's fault: if he never got a dog in the first place, he wouldn't have put my family in crisis. by helping him out with this dog problem, we're just enabling him to continue his irresponsible ways.