I Let Our Dog Sleep in the Crib. My Partner Left
I didn’t mean to mess up—I thought I was helping. Our toddler, Levi, was overtired and crying late at night. My partner, Salome, had just finished a double shift, and I didn’t want to wake her. So I called our dog, Miso, into the room.
Miso’s a gentle rescue Amstaff who loves sleep and cuddles. Levi adores her. When she curled up beside the crib, he calmed down. I made the choice I now regret: I lifted Miso into the crib.
They both fell asleep peacefully. I felt like a genius. But the next morning, Salome saw the monitor footage. Her voice was calm but sharp: “You put a pit bull in the crib. With our baby.”
I tried to explain—how careful I’d been, how Miso had never shown aggression—but it didn’t matter. Salome packed a bag, took Levi, and left.
Later, she texted: “You don’t get how serious this is.”
For days, I couldn’t understand what I’d done so wrong. Then her sister told me: “You broke a deal you didn’t know you’d made.”
Eventually, Salome shared why it hurt so much. When she was five, her cousin was bitten by a family dog. No one acknowledged the danger or the fear. That moment shaped how she viewed safety.
Seeing Miso in the crib wasn’t just about now—it brought her back to then. “It was her five-year-old self screaming: Not again.”
We met at the park the next weekend. We talked. She told me, “I need to know you’ll protect Levi the way I do. Even when it’s inconvenient.”
Now, Miso sleeps outside the door. Not in the crib. I’m learning that safety is more than caution—it’s about honoring the unseen wounds the people we love still carry.
