Hi all. I live in Ohio and go to university here. I (22F) live with 3 other females, all 22 years old.
To start, I joined these girls lease last year as they had an open room, I did not know them previous to moving in.
One of my roommates, E (F22) has a dog. He has lived in the house since our lease started in May.
Around thanksgiving, I was thinking about adopting a puppy. Before adopting the dog I asked all of my roommates if they would be okay with another dog moving in, and there was no one opposed.
Flash forward, I adopt the dog and he moves into the house. All of the girls met him and loved him. They all sat in the living room and each of them pet him etc…
Since I would not consider myself friends with these girls I spend my time at home in my room. My dog, who I’ll just call L, follows me around the house and is only ever in common space if he is playing with the other dog at my house or when I am cooking (and he just sits at my feet).
Flash forward to early February, I receive a text from my roommate H, stating that I do not watch my dog and he is all over the house and is overall a bad dog. Now mind you, my dog is 5 months old at this point, is attached to my hips at all times, and never leaves my sight. She continued the message stating that his shedding has irritated her allergies. Mind you, she has pet him and called him over several times.
I replied telling her that he’s really only ever with me, and that I wasn’t sure what she meant by his poor behavior. I told her I was sorry about her allergies and that if it made her feel better I could vacuum the house more often. And that my vacuum is in the living room for anyone to use.
This turned into an in person conversation, where H, screamed at me about my dog and how her allergies are going to put her in the hospital. I asked her what she would like me to do and she asked again to vacuum more, I again replied that I have no problem vacuuming more and I asked her to be more respectful when texting me.
To which she screamed “thank for caring about my feelings” ran upstairs and slammed her door.
I then proceeded to take my dog on a walk where I received this message: “If I end up in the hospital because of YOUR dog, then you’ll be paying the expenses. You need to take some responsibility”
I responded and said that my dog is in my room/outside 23/24 hour of the day and that I would vaccine more like she requested.
Since this argument, there have been some flare ups of her getting mad at me since I confronted her about using my cookware and cooking oil.
I have been vacuuming every morning, and I leave my vacuum in the living room for anyone to use. I also make sure that if H is in a common area and I need to cook or take my dog outside that my dog does not go up to her at all. I also have been using a deshedding brush and brushing him outside as needed (3-4x a week)
This girl will not look me in the face or say hi back to me, which is honestly fine.
Now it’s the end of March. My grandfather passed away last week and I was packing up my room and my dogs stuff to drive home to attend his funeral. While I was packing up H was sitting in the living room, which my room is attached to. The two dogs started playing and my dog got close to H which made her upset and she ran upstairs. I finished packing up my car, being upset that I was driving to a funeral.
Which then during a drive I receive a phone call. It was a number I didn’t recognize and I let it go to voicemail. A few moments later I receive a text, it was H’s dad. The message read “Hello. This is Hs father. I just tried calling; I’d like to discuss some concerns H raised with me regarding your inability to clean up after your dog which has exacerbated her allergy and asthma symptoms. Please call at your earliest convenience so that we might discuss this issue respectfully. Thank you.”
I took a deep breath and gave him a call back. The call stated with him saying that H had my dog jump on her today (he is an English bulldog, and I’ve never seen him jump on anyone and he definitely didn’t jump on her today as he was next to me while packing) he said that she went upstairs and that she said that I was upset and stormed off and left. He asked me if this was true. I told him absolutely not it wasn’t true I was not upset I was just leaving for my grandfathers funeral.
I explain to him the situation and how I vacuum everyday and how if I am not home my dog is crated in my room and how I make sure that my dog and H do not come into direct contact. I could tell that my roommate H had lied to her dad about the situation and exagurated the details making me seem like a monster.
I explain the situation more and he threatens to get my parents involved. Which I am a full adult. I pay for my school I pay all of my bills and I pay my rent. And I pay for my dog. I found this quite ridiculous but I remained professional on the phone. Mind you I never gave him my phone number, his daughter must have sent it To him.
I ask if there is anything more he wants me to do, considering I already vacuum everyday, and I have kept a log of the dates and times of when I have vacuumed. No suggestions we’re givin he just asked me to continue what I am doing and that he sent his daughter a swifter back in mid February for her to use to help combat the fur. That swifter has been in the box in the living room since it arrived on the front doorstep.
The phone call was much longer than I described but I didn’t feel as if all the details were nesicarry to share in the post.
I guess all I am wondering is what is the legalaty that I could face. And if there was any legality where I could sue her for emotional damages due to living in a state of stress due to her actions.