I (23 F) asked my SIL (25 F) why she needs her service dog and suddenly I’m the asshole.
My relationship with my SIL has always been kind of rough mainly because my relationship with my brother is rough. I’ve always been kind and respectful to her though. I’ve tried to ask her questions about her life and get to know her. She’s always been hostile towards me and rude for no reason. I continue to be nice to her and she continues to be rude to me. She’s been this way with everyone in my family, but her attitude is mainly pointed towards me.
Recently she’s posted pictures of her and my brother’s dog, but I noticed in the pictures the dog was wearing a service dog vest, which is weird because they adopted this dog from the shelter and no one told me about this, I had to find out from Facebook. It’s also weird because I’ve had friends with service dogs before and I know it takes years to train them, and they’re usually trained by professionals.
So I asked my brother why his wife needed a service dog because I wanted to accommodate her as much as possible and where their dog was receiving training. He told me that his wife was training the dog herself and that I should ask his wife myself why she needs a service dog. And so I did. I explained I’m asking because I want to accommodate her as much as possible. She said it’s none of my business as to why she needs a service dog. Now her friends are messaging me calling me an asshole for asking.
I honestly get it if I was a stranger to not tell me, but I’m family here. I’m trying my best to accommodate her and support her. Is there something I’m missing? Am I being the asshole here?
It's probably an emotional support animal but they're incorrectly calling it a service dog.
Maybe she's having mental health issues and got this dog to help with it.