Who Was He?
Nina prepared herself for what she might see as she scanned through the security footage until she found the clips of him walking into the living room. She could not peel her eyes away from the screen.
There was no cause for concern initially, but the situation transpired when her dogs attempted to climb on the couch. She could not believe what she was seeing. That man on the screen was not the man she fell in love with.
Nina Manson
When 30-year-old, Nina Manson, noticed her beloved dogs were acting strangely around her fiancé, she immediately asked for answers. When he didn’t give her any, she decided to take matters into her own hands and plant a hidden camera.
What she found turned her picture-perfect world upside down, and made the man she thought she knew, a complete stranger.
Love At First Sight
Nina met her fiancé, Jake, three years ago through mutual friends. It was love at first sight, a relationship that dreams and fairytales were made of.
Their relationship blossomed into a whirlwind of romance that ended in a proposal 6 months ago. Now, they lived together in Nina’s house in Dallas, Texas. That’s when everything changed.
Dog Mother
There was little in the world that Nina loved more than her two french bulldogs. She got them four years ago when she bought her house.
They brought her endless love, laughter, and comfort. They were her world and she watched with a heart full of joy as her fiancé grew to love them as much as she did, or so she thought.
Acting Sheepish
Nina first noticed one of her dogs' strange reaction to Jake about 3 months ago, he suddenly started to act sheepish around him. And for such a friendly dog, this was unusual but when Nina questioned it with her fiancé, he laughed and reassured her by giving the dog belly rubs.
He soon went back to normal and she thought nothing further about it, until now.
An Unexplained Change
Something changed in both of her dogs over the past two weeks. They seemed nervous, restless, and sheepish, especially around Jake, just like in the past.
She thought nothing of it at first, but then as their behavior got worse, she brought it to his attention, he brushed her off again and said he hadn’t a clue why they did that. Nina tried to ignore the voice in her head that told her he was lying.
Bad To Worse
But when she woke up to both her dogs sheepishly lying in the corner of the sitting room. And not jumping up to greet her good morning, she knew something was very wrong.
What bothered Nina most was how indifferent her fiancé seemed to be. Why wasn’t he worried about them? Now, she couldn’t ignore her suspicions that he had something to do with this.
Taking Action
The next day, Nina booked time off work to bring the dogs to the vet. She hoped there’d be a quick explanation for this but after they determined that they were fine, Nina’s stomach churned as she feared something stranger was happening between the dogs and her fiancé.
Determined to find out what, she secretly bought a small CCTV camera and installed it in the living room.
Secrecy
She was careful not to let him know and left the camera recording all night and the next day when Nina left for work. Jake worked from home so Nina had to wait until he left for the gym in the evening to watch the recording back.
Her dogs avoided him as they feared him and she wanted to know why. They were soon to be married, after all, she needed to know if he truly was lying to her about this.
Imagination Running Wild
As Jake left for the gym, Nina ran to her laptop and hit play. She gripped her seat as she watched in eager anticipation of what she might witness.
Her imagination ran wild as she thought about what her fiancé could have them doing while she wasn’t there. Her mind thought of the crazy stories she heard of owners training their dogs by making them pull cars.
Scene Unfolding
Nina’s eyes were glued to the screen, she fasts forward until she saw him enter the sitting room. Everything seemed fine at first, but then her dogs tried to sit on the couch and the hidden scene unfolded.
She gasped in horror. Then she watched as this repeated many times. How could he do this? How could he explain this? Who was she about to marry?
What Happened?
Nina saw her fiancé interact with her dogs when they entered the room. When they jumped on the couch or begged for food, he gave them a stern ‘No’ and sprayed them with water if it repeated. He was training them not to jump on the couch, not to beg, and teaching them where their ‘bed’ should be - in the corner of the living room.
When they disobeyed, each time he’d spray them with water and give them a tap on their nose. But Nina didn’t appreciate this, not one bit.
Outrage
Nina was outraged. These were her babies after all. She wanted them to be allowed to go anywhere they wanted in the house, and she never had the heart to tap them on the nose or spray them with water.
She couldn’t believe her fiancé did this behind her back. She felt betrayed and disrespected, it was enough to make her call off the wedding.
A Compromise
However, after some time, and the persistence of her fiancé, they later discussed their differences about how dogs should be treated and trained and worked things out.
Nina agreed to let the dogs have a designated ‘bed’ area and bought them some dog beds and Jake agreed to stop training them in secret and use gentler means of training. But what do other people think?
Mixed Opinions
After their story was shared online, many commended Jake for training the two little dogs and making some behavioral corrections while others condemned him for being cruel and lying to his fiancé.
What do you think? How would you react if someone trained your fur baby like that behind your back?