Woman Demands Sister-in-Law Rename Her Dog After Giving Her Baby The Same Name
Hey, the dog was here first, lady!
Atichat Wattanasin Stone | Shutterstock Can you make someone change their dog's name because you want to use it for your own child? If you ever want to see the absolutely bonkers-cuckoo-bananas side of humanity, look no further than Reddit, particularly the thread devoted to new parents who think performing the basic human biological function of reproducing entitles them to the kind of deference and honor usually reserved for royalty.
The level of insanity is truly off the charts, and a prime example is a woman who is currently battling with her sister-in-law over her dog's name for the most ludicrous reason imaginable.
The woman's sister-in-law is furious that she won't rename her dog after giving her baby the same name.
The woman wrote in her Reddit post that her beloved beagle, Leo, has become not only her "best friend" and the center of her world, but a member of the extended family — everyone loves good ol' Leo. He's a fixture of family gatherings and everything!
But Leo recently came into some competition. His mom's brother and his wife just had a baby boy about a month ago. And for whatever reason, perhaps to make sure Leo doesn't get too big for his britches, his mother decided to name him… Leo.
Anna Shvets | Pexels
Naming your child Leo when your family already has a four-legged furry Leo is weird enough, and even the dog's mom thought so. But she just shrugged it off, as one does. Until her sister-in-law called her, demanding that dog Leo's time as Leo come to an end in favor of baby Leo.
Her sister-in-law insisted that her baby sharing the dog's name is 'undignified.'
"I honestly thought she was making a joke, so I laughed," she admitted. "She was silent." After explaining that having two Leos in the family would be "confusing," she then told her, "I don't want my son sharing a name with an animal. It's undignified."
OK, well, one way to avoid this would have been to give your baby literally any other name. Another solution would be changing your baby's name instead. Yet another solution would be to get over it and then get over yourself. There are so many options!
But perhaps more importantly, the dang dog predates the dang baby by four dang years! Who do you think you are? "I told her, very politely, that I was not going to rename my dog of four years, and that I'm sure we can all figure out the difference between a baby and a beagle," the dog's mom wrote. This made her sister-in-law "furious."
The woman's family took her sister-in-law's side.
After her sister-in-law flew off the handle, she then did what you'd expect: immediately tried to turn the rest of the family against the dog mom. "She told my entire family that I'm being deliberately disrespectful to her son and that I'm showing that I value my dog more than my nephew," the woman wrote.
That is an absolutely unhinged thing to say that makes no sense whatsoever. But it seems this family operates in the way all too many families do: The dog owner has now been labeled the villain who won't "be the bigger person" to "keep the peace."
Which is, frankly, a betrayal — your own mother telling you it's your responsibility to appease something so flatly ridiculous and insane means it's more important to her to appease her daughter-in-law than stand up for her own child.
This is all part of what psychologists call "family systems," in which every family member has a role, and stepping outside of it frequently engenders conflict. It's part of why you're often expected to revert to your teen years every time you visit home. Or, why you're branded the "black sheep" any time you stick up for yourself and expect your family to respect you instead of acting like lunatics who think demanding you rename your dog is a reasonable request.
Blame-shifting like this is a way to enforce the family system and keep you in line through manipulation. If I were this woman, I'd tell both my mom and sister-in-law to get bent. There are 806,636 male names besides Leo that exist in the world, according to census records. Pick one, and get over yourself.
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.
