Woman Reveals The One Odd Behavior She Noticed Early From Her Cheating Partner That Could Save You A Ton Of Heartache
Antonio Guillem | Shutterstock There is a phrase that goes, “If your dog starts barking at you, someone else is feeding your dog.” However, the phrase has nothing to do with dogs and everything to do with romantic partners.
In more literal terms, it means that if your partner suddenly becomes snippy and short with you, they may be seeing someone else. One woman experienced this with a previous partner and is now warning others in relationships to look out for similar behaviors.
A woman revealed that if a partner suddenly starts acting erratically, it might be a sign of cheating.
Responding to a TikTok video in which a creator recited the dog phrase, the woman, who goes by I. Destiny, confirmed it was 100% true based on her own experiences.
She recalled a time when she and her ex-partner had planned a date night to go out to dinner. “The whole week prior to the date, we were both really excited to go,” she said. “We were picking out our outfits, we were shopping, we were really excited.”
However, when the day of the big date arrived, Destiny noticed that her partner began to get “very short” and “very snippy” with her. Initially, she feared that she had done something to upset him, although nothing other than the man’s behavior appeared to be out of the ordinary.
“He was also rushing me, which was really strange because he normally took longer to get ready than I did,” Destiny added. Still, she tried not to let her partner’s sudden attitude shift ruin their date night at her favorite restaurant. However, when they arrived, his behavior only got worse.
The woman explained that her ex's irritability worsened during their date.
“He’s like huffing about the parking,” Destiny said. “The waiter leads us to our table, and now he's making a huff and puff about the table.” Destiny offered to order her partner a drink to start, so he could relax. Instead, he insisted that he needed to use the restroom and was gone for an unusually long period. When he returned, he was complaining about the long lines.
“Then, he starts picking a fight with the two people next to us,” Destiny said, claiming that the two men were clearly on a date, yet her partner accused them both of “looking at his woman.”
“He just goes from zero to a hundred and starts arguing with me, arguing with the table next to us, grabs his stuff, and just storms out,” Destiny claimed.
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Her partner insisted that he needed a cigarette at that very moment and stormed outside. “Five minutes later, I see his car pull off like 60 to 70 plus on a residential street past the restaurant,” Destiny said.
She tried calling him to see where he was going to no avail. At that point, the waiter brought out their food and drinks. “I’m sitting by myself with two plates in front of me, two cocktails, and the couple next to me is like, ‘Honey, we’re so sorry,’” Destiny recalled. Since her partner never came back, she was forced to pay the bill herself, wrap up his food, and take an Uber home.
Not all instances of sudden irritability are related to infidelity, but odd behaviors should also not be ignored.
Back then, Destiny blamed his behavior on a possible “military PTSD meltdown” that made him especially irritable. However, now she recognizes that his sudden personality change may have been the result of cheating. “Someone else was feeding my dog,” Destiny said. “So if you’re getting ready to go out for a date or something exciting that you want to do, and that person is getting snippy with you, or likes to start fights with you… Somebody else is feeding your dog.”
Other people agreed with Destiny’s claims and shared similar experiences. “My ex did this with me EVERY TIME we had a date planned! For months! So I left. He was in a new relationship within a week,” one TikTok user commented. “So that’s why my ex would always pick fights with me on vacation,” another user wrote.
Your partner suddenly becoming snappy and irritable could be the result of them cheating, as guilt often manifests as irritability. But it could also mean a few other things. The only way to know for sure is to open the lines of communication, but as licensed professional counselor Kathryn Ely noted, you have to be patient. She explained, "You cannot force another person to communicate with you if they are not ready to do so."
The problem with Destiny's theory is that she didn't really know if her partner was cheating. She only sort of assumed he was because of his strange behavior. They never discussed it, and there was never confirmation, which, as Ely explained, means they didn't communicate properly, and that was truly the reason the relationship couldn't thrive.
A sudden behavior change could mean that one is feeling insecure in the relationship, they could be experiencing mental health battles, or they are having their own personal struggles. It is best for romantic partners to be open and honest with each other in terms of how they are feeling. And if someone else really is “feeding” them, they should communicate the fact and end their relationship out of respect for their current partner.
Megan Quinn is a writer with a bachelor's degree in English and a minor in Creative Writing. She covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on justice in the workplace, personal relationships, parenting debates, and the human experience.
