TW: Animal Abuse
Recently, my dogs have been trying to sabotage my relationship with my girlfriend. At first I chalked it up to unfortunate accidents. Little mishaps that could be easily explained away. But now, I’m certain that they had malicious intent.
Megan and I have been dating for a little over a year. We met in undergrad, and we instantly clicked. My pups, two border collies named Benny and Rose, had never had any issues with Megan in the past. In fact, she adored those little furballs. Around our one year anniversary, though, things changed.
It all started one cold January night. Megan and I had just come back from seeing a movie (coincidentally titled M3GAN), and I was exhausted. Between my less-than-ideal day at work and the rambunctious teenagers rudely disrupting everyone else’s experience in the theater, I was mentally clocked out. I tossed my jacket onto the coat rack, while Megan plopped onto the couch. I began to approach the back door to let the dogs in.
“Hey, babe? Can you, um, hold off a little on letting Benny and Rose in? I’m scared they’ll get mud all over my new shoes.”
“Hon, it’s cold out. They’ve been outside for long enough. Here, give me your shoes and I’ll make sure the dogs don’t get ahold of them.”
She quickly glanced down at her feet and then back to me.
“It’s just, this outfit cost me a lot of money, and I don’t want it to get dirty. Can you please just wait a little bit?”
I sighed.
“Look, I’ll make sure to wipe their paws off at the door. It won’t be an issue. I promise.”
She gulped, eyes darting around the room.
“Okay, I guess.”
I furrowed my brow as I stooped to clean Benny and Rose’s muddy paws. They rapidly licked my cheeks as I did so, yelping with excitement. Once I’d thoroughly scrubbed their paws off with a beach towel, I let them loose into the living room. The hair on the scruff of their necks immediately stood on end upon laying eyes on Megan. A low menacing growl began to emanate from deep within Rose’s chest. Benny snarled, teeth bared, as my terrified girlfriend cowered on the sofa.
“Benny, Rose! No! Go to your kennels!”
They timidly scurried off, tails between their legs.
“I’m sorry, babe. I’ve never seen them react like that before. You must’ve brought in a smell they didn’t like. Maybe that woman’s chihuahua that she tried sneaking into the movie?” I chuckled, attempting to lighten the mood.
“Yeah, maybe.”
We cuddled and watched cheesy rom coms for the remainder of the night. Benny and Rose were oddly absent, opting to remain in my room. I was unsettled by their attitude toward Megan. The visual of their minatory growling lingered in my conscious. As Megan and I climbed into bed, I tried my best to push it out of my mind. The dogs didn’t stir. Maybe it really was just a repugnant scent.
“OW!”
I was ripped from my slumber by an anguished cry. My eyes shot open. My heart palpitated wildly upon soaking in the scene before me. Megan sat on the edge on the bed, whimpering while clutching her hand close to her quivering frame. Benny and Rose glowered at her from the doorway, still as statues.
“Baby, what happened!? Are you okay?”
“Benny bit me, that’s what happened,” she sobbed, tears staining her white nightgown.
“Let me see,” I requested, scowling at my stoic canines.
She extended her hand, allowing me to study the extent of the damage.
“He didn’t break the skin. That’s good. It might hurt for a while, but it should be fine in a few days.”
She nodded, gingerly tending to her injury. I turned to the dogs, who still remained motionless. I stormed up to them, snatching Benny by the scruff of the neck. My heart shattered hearing his piteous yelps, but I couldn’t let him off the hook for this one. I scooped up a newspaper as I dragged Benny to the back door. I tossed him outside, thwacking him a few times on the nose. Tears clouded my vision, and I berated him before shutting him outside.
“Benny, no! You can’t bite people! No! Bad boy!”
He bowed his head, shamefully gazing up at me with the saddest puppy-dog eyes I’d ever seen. Remorse flooded through me, my heart snapping in half. Compunction infected my mind like a plague as I turned to shut the door. Rose scampered outside before I could do so, joining her companion. I trudged back to my sniveling girlfriend.
“I am so sorry. Benny’s never even come close to biting someone before. I don’t know what’s come over those two. It’s like they’re completely different dogs.”
Megan glanced up at me, and I tenderly wiped away her tears.
“It’s okay. It’s not your fault. You know I love Benny and Rose. I don’t know why they’re acting this way toward me.”
She broke down into hysterics, wetting my T-shirt as I held her close to my chest. Something was wrong with my dogs, and I desperately needed answers.
I didn’t see Megan again for the rest of the week. She was busy studying for her online graduate program, and my job drained me both physically and mentally. My firm had landed a big new client, so I needed to put my best foot forward to ensure that everything was up to their standards. While it was exhausting, it did the trick to eradicate the memory of Benny’s wrongdoing from my conscious. The dogs had returned to their normal playful selves, and things were going without a hitch. That is, until Megan returned.
We settled in for the weekend, snuggled in each other’s grasp. It would be yet another relaxing couple of days doing nothing but watching movies and decompressing. Just the way I liked it. Benny and Rose still acted strangely toward Megan, avoiding her every chance they got. It wasn’t until Sunday that things escalated, though.
“Hey, babe, what did you do with my other sock?”
“Must be in the dryer. Do you mind going down to the basement to get it while I finish folding?”
“Sure, I’ll be right back.”
She wasn’t gone for a minute when I heard it. A deafening scream followed by something heavy crashing down the stairs. I bolted to the basement, my heart threatening to leap out of my chest. Panic struck me like a lightning bolt as my gaze settled upon my girlfriend.
Megan had tumbled down the stairs. She lay in a sobbing heap at the bottom step, crumpled into the fetal position. I rushed over to her, dread seeping into my heart as the dogs watched, stoney eyed and unfazed, from the doorway.
“Baby, what happened? Are you okay?”
She sat up, clutching her ankle. She released a lamented wail as she fixated on it. Her ankle was twisted at an odd angle, facing a completely different direction than it normally would. I grimaced just looking at it, preparing myself for what was about to come. Megan glanced up at me, gritting her teeth through the pain.
“Jack. Rose pushed me down the stairs.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. Rose had never hurt a fly. She wasn’t capable of such a nefarious act… Right? I turned to my emotionless hounds, then back to my girlfriend.
“I-I’m sure it was some kind of mistake. I mean, I-”
Megan locked eyes with me, a twinge of impatience attached to her words.
“Jack, we can talk about it later. I think this,” she hissed, motioning toward her mangled limb, “takes precedence.”
“Right.”
I scooped her up off the cool concrete floor, fireman-carrying her all the way to the car. Adrenaline fueled me as I raced to the hospital. The results came back fairly quickly. Megan’s ankle was broken, and it would require extensive treatment, followed by months of physical therapy. I, of course, offered to foot the bill.
I was devastated. How could my Rose have caused something like this? That sweet lovable pooch wasn’t capable of violence. She just wasn’t.
“Look, I’m really sorry. I don’t know what’s going on with the dogs. I’ll research behavior schools I can send them to,” I sighed, desecrating the tense silence on the drive back to my place.
Megan stared blankly through the windshield.
“I want them gone.”
I gaped at her, struggling to comprehend her statement.
“Excuse me?”
“I said, I want them gone.”
I began to grow lightheaded as we pulled into my driveway.
“You- you aren’t seriously asking me to give them up, are you? They’re my world. You know that.”
“Jack, it’s either me or them, and if you choose them, we are done. D-O-N-E, DONE,” she shouted with frightening finality, slamming the car door and hobbling inside.
I sat there in shock, that solitary word joggling around in my head like a bouncy ball. After what felt like hours, I silently followed her into the house.
Megan stayed in my home while she recovered. It was what was best for her. All her family lived out of state, so I was the only one capable of tending to her. Fortunately, she didn’t work, and her schooling was completely remote, so she had the freedom to take all the time she needed to heal. She gave the dogs the cold shoulder, to which they gladly reciprocated. We didn’t discuss it anymore, and I thought that was the end of it. Oh, how wrong I was.
I came home from work late one evening. The aforementioned client had some large demands, and I had a deadline to meet. I trudged through the door in a zombie-like state.
“Hey, babe! How was work?” Megan chirped enthusiastically from her spot on the sofa.
“It was- well, it was something. I’m going to feed the dogs real qu-”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. I already took care of it. Come lay with me. I want cuddles.”
My heart fluttered. Had she ended her feud with Benny and Rose? I abstained from prying any further, not wanting to ruin a good thing. I joined Megan on the couch, and I soon drifted off to sleep in her loving grip.
I awoke to a snoring Megan, and no dogs in sight. I checked my phone. Five minutes past midnight. I cursed, agitated that I allowed myself to fall asleep and leave Benny and Rose in the cold. I rushed to the back door and flung it open.
Benny rubbed up against my leg, nuzzling my hand. Rose stood next to her dog food, whining and stomping her paws in the grass. That was strange. Their bowls were filled to the brim. My heart sank. Had Benny and Rose refrained from eating because Megan was the one who fed them?
I collected their bowls, prepared to replace the supposedly contaminated food. I was halfway through shoveling Benny’s into the trash when something caught my eye. Partially submerged in a glob of peanut butter, protruded an unmistakable blue pellet. Rat poison.
A cocktail of emotions swirled within me, sending my head into a frenzy. My girlfriend had tried to kill my dogs. I began frantically digging through Rose’s bowl. There it was. Another heap of peanut butter with multiple little blue pills jutting from within.
Shock transformed into full-blown rage, and I furiously marched over to Megan’s slumbering form on the couch. I shook her shoulder, itching for answers. I needed to hear it from her.
“Megan! Megan, wake up!”
She groggily rubbed her eyes, looking around the room dazedly.
“What’s wrong, babe? It’s super late.”
“Oh, nothing. I was just wondering if you have any idea what this is?” I growled, shoving a bright blue tablet in her face.
Her eyes grew wide as dinner plates.
“Um, no. I have no idea what that is. Where’d you find it?”
“Where did I find it?” I scoffed, incredulous to her deceit, “I found it in Benny and Rose’s food. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”
“No, I swear, I-”
“Megan.”
I locked eyes with her, crossing my arms and tapping my foot. My stern visage expressed more than words ever could. She broke down, throwing her hands over her face and wailing pitifully. I didn’t feel a sliver of sympathy for her. My faithful canines stood behind me, leering at her the entire time.
“Okay, I did it. I tried to poison the dogs. B-but, just hear me out! I was jealous. You were spending so much time with them, and I felt like I was always taking a back seat. I only wanted you to spoil me like that.”
“So you decided to murder my dogs?! Megan, you’re a psychopath!”
“I’m sorry, I know I messed up. Please forgive me,” she sobbed uncontrollably, unable to contain herself.
“I need some time to consider it. I think it would be best if you leave for the time being.”
I called an Uber, and she was gone in less than half an hour. It’s been a week since then. Megan has been blowing up my phone with profuse apologies. I’m still struggling to decide if I should give her a second chance. Maybe she’s right. Maybe I haven’t been giving her proper attention. But that’s still no excuse for what she did.
Benny and Rose have been happier than ever now that she’s out of the house. My heart floods with unbridled adoration every time I lay eyes on them. They truly are my pride and joy. Whatever happens next, I’m content to know that my two best friends will be right here by my side.