Daughter's service dog has the same name as her dad's new girlfriend, who refuses to let daughter visit dad with the dog, mom puts her foot down: 'Fine, she won't be visiting'

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    "She goes everywhere with her"
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    AITA for not allowing my daughter to visit her dad without her dog?

    Never thought I would actually post, but my bestie told me to put it out here for an impartial judgement. My ex (divorced nine years) and I have a 14 year old daughter who
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    sees them 2-3 weekends a month, depending on their work schedule. We have no official custody or visitation agreement in place.
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    Three months ago, my ex moved their girlfriend in after dating for six weeks. He says he's "too old to do the silly dating thing" and has decided to move on full throttle with
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    her. Ok, fine. His life. I've met her three times during drop offs and she seemed fine. I remarried three years ago and we have all coparented very well.
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    Ok, now onto the issue. My daughter has a chronic disse and a extensively trained service dog because of this. She's a German Shepperd
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    if that that makes any difference. We got her approximately eight months ago-she was nearly 20k so it took a lot of financial finagling and research for my ex and my
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    spouse and I to both find and purchase her. She has been a godsend. Before "Sherry" came along, my daughter had wicked anxiety about going anywhere- especially school or out in
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    public. She is, of course, medicated, but has breakthrough episodes which her MD attributes to puberty. She is closely monitored, but she still has them. Before
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    Sherry, she would refuse to go anywhere for days at a time and we ended up having a tutor come in so that she could keep up with schoolwork. I refused to completely homeschool her
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    because I feel that if I did she would withdraw from society completely. Enter Sherry, who has made a HUGE difference in her life. She goes everywhere with her, is a
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    Cheezburger Image 10536517888
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    "star" at my daughter's high school and my daughter has actually become almost extroverted! She has even joined theater club and is currently attending a summer
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    workshop on it. She says just knowing that Sherry is with her lessens her anxiety as now she knows when something is going to happen and that "coming to" with Sherry curled up next to
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    her comforts her and makes her know that she's safe during them. Now the issue. Guess what girlfriend's name is? You guessed it! First, she demanded
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    we change the dog's name. I laughed and said that that was not an option. Again, highly trained dog. You don't just go around changing an animal's name, anyway! And, she's
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    almost THREE YEARS old, I told girlfriend if she didn't like sharing her name with a dog, she could change hers. That didn't go over well.
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    Yesterday, my daughter came home crying saying girlfriend is insisting that when daughter visits, Sherry should remain at home. I said absolutely not. I told my ex and his reply was,
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    "Daughter didn't have to dog for years and she was ok. She'll be ok now. I know what to do." I said that his knowing what to do wasn't the issue. I said that our daughter was not "OK"
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    He called me a drama queen and said if she brings Sherry with her she can't come. I said fine. She won't be visiting. He said I was guilty of "parental alienation" and would
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    take me to court if necessary. I said bring it on. My daughter is torn. She doesn't want to be without Sherry, but she also wants to visit her dad. So AITA?
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    Far-Development8449 NTA. The service dog is vital for your daughter's health and safety. It's not fair or safe to make her visit without Sherry You're doing the right thing by putting your daughter first
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    jrm1102 NTA and he will lose that case -
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    drquaithe Let him bring the case. You can only benefit from it.
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    UPDATE: So I sent the link to this post to my ex and he responded by calling my daughter and apologizing. He's still being an AH as he is saying
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    that they will do visits at his mom's house (a couple of streets away from him) as it still makes girlfriend upset hearing her name referring to a dog...whatever.
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    So, for now...this is what they've worked out. He's happy, daughter is happy (she told me she really doesn't like girlfriend but has been polite) and Sherry stays where she belongs- with daughter.
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    One thing I would like to point out- girlfriend's name is spelled Cherie with a little accent over the last e and pronounced "Shuh-REE" where as our girl is plain old Sherry like berry, so I think this was just girlfriend stirring the pot.
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    Thank you all for helping me show ex where his priorities SHOULD be.....

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