AITA for Prioritizing My Dogs Over Quality Time with Girlfriend?

Some people think moving in together is all candlelit dinners and uninterrupted couch time. For this couple, it turned into a late-night dog shuttle, complete with a partner who thinks the schedule is an attack on their relationship.

OP is dating their girlfriend for five months and recently moved in, kind of, to her place while still keeping their own house with two dogs and an office full of “home” stuff. Since the girlfriend works late as a teacher, OP often arrives first to handle dinner, laundry, dishes, and getting the kids through bedtime. Then, almost every night, OP runs back to let the dogs out, feed them, and drive back, which takes about an hour total.

And now the girlfriend is upset, claiming OP is prioritizing dogs over quality time.

Original Post

Me and the currently girlfriend have been dating for about 5 months, and we recently started moving in together at her place, well sort of. I still have my house and it has my office in it and most of my homely things.

This includes my two dogs! I also have two daughters that float with me to her house with her two kids!

Anyways, she works late as a teacher so I usually get to her place before hand and get dinner started, do laundry, dishes, get kids in bed time routine and all that, and then she gets home wants to relax and unwind, at some point towards the end of our night, I run home to let my dogs out, feed them and make sure they are good for the night. I do live roughly 15 mins from her place, so it’s roughly just under an hour to drive, let dogs out, bring them back in and then drive back!

And almost every single night she has been upset, like I choose to disrupt our “time together” to leave for an hour! She says I’m prioritizing the dogs over her!!!

But I’m just doing my due diligence as a dog owner!!! Please tell me if I’m wrong or something?!??

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This feels similar to the friend pressuring someone to give up a puppy they’re attached to.

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The girlfriend comes home exhausted from a long teacher shift, and OP is already in full “dinner plus bedtime routine” mode before the dogs even get a vote.

Right when the night is supposed to be for relaxing, OP has to make that 15-minute drive each way just to let the two dogs out and feed them.

The girlfriend keeps saying it feels like OP is choosing the dogs over her, even though OP is doing all the household work and kid routines first.

Now the comments are split, because half the readers see “due diligence as a dog owner,” while the other half are stuck on how “disrupting time together” happens every single night.

How would you handle this situation? Let us know in the comments.

Nobody wants to feel chosen last, but OP’s dogs are not going to magically hold it until morning.

For another family power struggle, see the AITA about refusing to fund parents' lavish lifestyle after moving back home.