Prioritize the dog – and privacy – for few weeks and have sleepovers elsewhere. Why? Because you’ve written this letter. Because you haven’t asked your ex whether he’d be OK with a stranger in his home. Because it might be awkward to tell a date they’re coming back to a place inhabited by your ex. It’s just … a lot to think about and explain.

If you can’t wait, you could enlist another responsible person to watch the dog while you’re on a big date – or bring the dog somewhere else, like your place. I think the lesson here is that a couple of weeks dog sitting is actually a lot of work and a long time. Your ex probably needs to find a new person to count on for that.

I know you’re probably excited to get out there, but if you’re not comfortable talking about this with your ex, and these are new dates, just wait. Thinking about it from the other side, I wouldn’t want to be brought into someone’s ex-home.

– Meredith

Readers? People with exes and dogs? What would you do?