Dad asks if he's wrong for not letting son take family dog to college.

When you give a family member an animal as a 'gift,' the lines get extremely blurry when it comes time to decide who really 'owns' the family pet. One dad is discovering that first hand in an 'Am I The Asshole' thread on Reddit.

The backstory is that the anonymous dad gave his son a dog named Toby for his birthday 11-years-ago when the kid was nine. Obviously, a nine-year-old can't take care of a dog on his own, so the dog became the family dog, and then dear-old-dad ended up carrying the brunt of the doggy care. 'I personally have fed, trained and walked this dog almost every single day for 6 years. We've all grown incredibly attached to him,' dad wrote.

The son is now 19-years-old, in college, and about to move into his own apartment and essentially demanded that the family hand over the family dog, because — after-all — they gave him the dog when he was nine.

'He now wants to take Toby with him, arguing that Toby has always been his, as he was his birthday present and slept in his room until a year ago,' the dad wrote.

The dad pushed back, put his foot down, and told his son he couldn't take the now-aging family dog away from the only home he's ever known.

My wife, daughter and I feel that Toby is part of our family. We've all treated him as our own, and have looked after him as our own. Other than spending 6 years being the main person who looks after Toby, in the year since my son left for college, Toby has spent almost every single second we've been home by either my wife's side or mine.

I feel like sending Toby away would be like sending away a family member. Toby is also getting old, he has been rushed to the vet multiple times in the last year and my son lives across state lines. Toby already suffers from separation anxiety and this would be a big change for him that I don't want him to be going through.

Reasonable, right? Here's where it goes off the rails. The son threatened to cut his family out of his life because they won't let him have the dog.

My son cried and was absolutely furious with me, he has threatened to cut us all off and has also threatened to steal Toby away secretly and said we were depriving him of time with his childhood dog in his last years.

So naturally, the dad turned to Reddit for help and asked, 'Am I the asshole?' Reddit chimed in with a resounding NO!

ToonForever called out the son.

The son is being extremely selfish. Crying and threats? WTF? Is he still 9 or 19?

tphatmcgee echoed the dad's argument.

He doesn't deserve to be taken from his home when he is old and has company at all times, to where he will be left for long periods of time. That makes it exceptionally cruel as well.

Mystery_Substance applauded the dad's love for the dog.

You have such a beautiful love for your dog. It's heartwarming to read.

Mostly everyone just piled on to the son for being immature, like weezythebtch's comment.

Your son is acting entitled. Your dog is old, and sickly. He needs consistency, comfort, and someone to be there because he cant pick up a damn phone if he's sick. What if son cant get a sitter right away and the dog end up alone at home for a bit?

How would your son feel if he went to school and came back to his dog suffering for god knows how long, all because he wanted the pride of having HIS dog.

Clearly there's only one asshole here and it's not the OP.