MAFS' Jack Millar defends controversial parenting decision: 'Devastating'

Married At First Sight's Jack Millar has defended his decision to get a new puppy with his partner, Love Island’s Courtney Stubbs, after rehoming his dog Finn. The reality TV couple, who share an almost-one-year-old daughter, Penelope, took to Instagram on Tuesday to reveal they had welcomed a border collie named Kobe to their family.

They explained they were forced to rehome Finn with Jack’s parents as he had developed “some behavioural issues” over the past 18 months which became “quite severe and dangerous” around Penelope. While Jack and Courtney emphasised it was “not a decision [they] took lightly”, they quickly copped criticism from their followers.

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“It’s so sad that dogs get ditched as soon as couples decide to have children. You were his everything in his short life, all he had,” one person commented, while another added, “I will never understand people that get dogs and then give them away and then get another”.

“I don't understand getting rid of him then topping it off and getting another dog! That's what makes it 100 times worse!” someone else shared.

Jack speaks out about 'f**king devastating' decision

Following the backlash, Jack has stood by the controversial decision and tells Yahoo Lifestyle it was necessary to protect their daughter.

“Since Covid, Finn had started to lash out when he was tired. It was super aggressive and it had just gotten progressively worse,” he details. “He would go at Courtney, he would go at me, and when Penelope started moving around a lot more, he started going towards her which was just not safe.

“At the end of the day, the baby comes as priority number one. That's just the truth. It was a f**king devastating decision.”

Jack adds that they sent Finn to his parents' house for a trial period and sought help from a behaviour specialist, but nothing improved the issue.

“It’s not like we didn’t try with Finn. We went through different sessions and tried different techniques for two, three months, but he never really adjusted to those,” he continued. “We put in a lot of effort and time to make things work because Finn was my whole world.”

How Finn's adjusted to his new living situation

Speaking about Finn’s current living situation, Jack explains he now lives at his parents’ home which is just a short distance from him.

“He's honestly fine. He's living life as well as he was here,” he emphasises. “Because my parents were so interactive with him for literally his whole life, it’s not a major personal change like he's meeting new people or anything like that. It's just shifting locations to be predominantly with my parents.

“It’s horrible, don’t get me wrong. I still see him like, every second week, but he was my little sidekick for a very, very long time. It is what it is, I just had to put Penelope first.”

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Why Jack and Courtney wanted a new dog

He also shares that he and Courtney wanted to get a new dog as they thought it was important for Penelope’s childhood, and border collies are considered to be suitable family pets that are good with children.

“I think that having a dog through a child's development is imperative for them to understand animals, get to know animals, things like that,” he says. “Also, this is a big thing for Courtney as well because she’s never had a dog personally, so this is our first family dog when they’re a puppy.

“It’s bittersweet really.”

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