A woman was left feeling “sick to her stomach” after checking her home security cameras due to concerns about her boyfriend’s behaviour.
The 32-year-old, who has been with her partner for a year, has owned a dog named Max for five years and described the pet as her “everything”, crediting him with helping her through some of life’s toughest moments.
Despite her 33-year-old boyfriend always appearing “affectionate” towards Max, a recent incident caused her to question “everything” she thought she knew about him. After coming home from running errands to find her boyfriend in the garden on his phone and Max missing, she discovered the dog locked in their storage room, “trembling” and “clearly terrified”.
On Reddit, she shared: “When I confronted my boyfriend, he claimed, ‘Max was being annoying and wouldn’t leave me alone, so I put him in there to calm him down. What’s the big deal?’. Later, she checked their backyard security footage and was left horrified.
She continued: “What I saw made my blood run cold. On multiple occasions, my boyfriend hit Max, not playful slaps or disciplinary taps, but hard, deliberate hits.
“In one clip, Max was lying down, doing absolutely nothing wrong, and my boyfriend walked over and smacked him on the side for no apparent reason. In another, Max was wagging his tail and walking up to him, only for my boyfriend to shove him away roughly and yell at him.”
The video was alarming to her as Max is not at all aggressive and “a sweet, gentle dog who only wants to please”. The woman felt completely “betrayed” after seeing her boyfriend’s actions, but when confronted, he “got defensive and tried to downplay it”, claiming she was “overreacting”.
She said: “I’ve been sick to my stomach ever since. Max deserves better, and frankly, I’m questioning whether someone who can harm an innocent animal is someone I want in my life at all.”
Reddit users chimed in with support and advice. One user cautioned: “There’s so much proof that animal abuse will turn into more. Protect yourself, and Max.”
Another advised: “You should take the video to police and report him for animal abuse. People like that don’t stop at hurting animals.”
A third person remarked: “What your boyfriend did to Max is not just wrong – it’s outright abusive. Animals, especially loyal companions like dogs, rely on us for safety, love, and care. For him to hurt Max when you weren’t around, especially when Max wasn’t doing anything wrong, is a serious red flag.”
In a subsequent comment, the woman confirmed her decision: “I dumped him and Max won’t have to worry anymore about getting abused anymore by some s***head.”