AITA for blaming my mom for not stepping in?

I'm prefacing this post with TWs of Domestic/Animal Abuse. Not by me, it just happened in my house while I was still in high school. It's been about 5-6 years since then.

In July of 2019 (just a short while before I turned 15), my dad adopted a rescue dog for the family that my younger and sister and I were super excited to meet. After visiting tons of shelters, we found the one we were able to call ours. We were told that the dog was only 1 1/2 years old when we first took her home.

She turned out to be quite energetic and rambunctious when she settled in as opposed to how timid and quiet she was at the shelter. Looking back, that shouldn't have been as surprising as it was, but my dad wasn't having any of it. I loved our dog all the same no matter how crazy she was. A short while after having her at home, my dad made a habit out of beating her senseless whenever she "acted up". If she had an accident, if she chewed something up, if she didn't listen to commands—basically anything any normal puppy would do because, keep in mind, she wasn't a fully adult dog yet.

This would go on for about a year and a half. My dad wouldn't care if we had company. He wouldn't care if my sister and I could hear or see. He'd beat her with either his shoe or his bare hands for anything he thought was unacceptable. On my 15th birthday, I came home from the amusement park with my friend from school. While we were watching a movie in the living room, my dad dragged the dog into the basement and beat her while we were sitting right above them.

I fled upstairs to the bathroom and bawled my eyes out from fear. He yelled at me to come downstairs so everyone could sing happy birthday and eat cake, but I didn't want to be anywhere near him. After more crying and a particularly challenging panic attack, I begrudgingly came downstairs and sat at the table with red, puffy eyes.

Some months later, I remember a particular instance where we all gathered in the living room and watched as my dad beat our dog again. It was me, my younger sister, and my mom. I was paralyzed with fear and couldn't say or do anything. I just watched in horror. My mom stood there with a neutral expression almost as if she didn't care. My sister cried out to tell our dad to stop. She was the only person who ever did anything to step in. I still regret not taking her place in that.

Oftentimes when my dad would beat our dog, my mom would do absolutely nothing. She'd just stare and stare and stare without saying a word. She never looked particularly scared or uncomfortable, she just leaned on the wall with her arms crossed and if she EVER said anything it would only be, "Y'know, you probably shouldn't do that." And I would be so pissed off every time.

It was always AFTER the fact when she said that. That was absolutely useless. Sometimes I felt she just didn't care all that much because she didn't particularly like our dog. In fact, she often expressed hating her which was super heartbreaking because our dog really loved her despite that. All my mom would do was shout at our dog and scare the crap out of her with just her presence.

One day I asked my mom why she never stepped in to stop my dad or say something WHILE he was beating her instead of after. She told me she was scared and that she was doing plenty by saying, "You probably shouldn't do that." which I thought was absolute bullshit. She is our trusted adult. If anyone is to step in and stop our dad from committing a literal crime in our house, it's her. Yeah, I get that she's scared of him but how did she think my sister and I felt?? We were literal children and we did far more than her! The fact that my mom was so scared should've been a wake up call for her to do more.

When I was about 15/16 I told my group friends about what my dad had been doing. I told them how terrified I was and now long he'd been beating our dog. One of them sent me a link to a website where you could report animal abuse anonymously. I thanked them, filled out a form, and the police showed up on my doorstep the next day. My dad sent my sister and I up to our rooms, but I wanted to hear everything. I wanted to ensure he was getting what he deserved. A short while after, the police left and nothing came of their investigation. I think it was because our dog never sustained any injuries. Not anything noticeable anyway. But sometimes I'd see very small amounts of blood caked in her fur and I'd wonder if that was my dad's doing.

My mom came into my room to talk to me about what happened. She told me not to worry and that "I'd never let your father put me in a position where I'd have to lie for him" but knowing her, I think she did just that. The next day I confessed to contacting the police and my dad blew it. He said he could've gone to jail and we could've lost the house, everything really (even though the house was always in my mom's name and she has proven to be quite self sufficient despite not making as much money as him. But one thing I'll never forget my dad saying is "You shouldn't have called the police over a damn dog." My mom tried telling him it was because I was scared but he said I had no reason to be.

I haven't seen our dog or spoken to my dad in nearly 2 years. He moved out with her in January of 2023 because of the divorce (which took way too fucking long might I add, I've been telling my mom to divorce this man since I was like 10) but I kept speaking to him because my mom urged me to "maintain a relationship with him" even though it was okay for HER to never speak to him again. I'd go over to my dad's house and spend time with him only to check on our dog and make sure she was safe. From what it looked like, she was doing just fine. But I got to a point where I just couldn't take it anymore. I feared my dad more than anyone or anything. I hated him with every fiber of my being and everything he's done to our dog doesn't even begin to scratch the surface as to why. So I blocked his number in July of that year and never looked back.

I still wish he was arrested and I wish my mom cared enough about our dog to recognize that saying "Maybe you shouldn't do that" isn't anywhere near enough to stop abuse of any kind.

TL;DR My dad abused our family dog for about a year and a half. My mom hated the dog and would only say "You probably shouldn't do that" (after the fact, never during) as her way of stepping in. She said she was doing more than enough despite my younger and sister and I doing far more by actually telling our dad to stop DURING the beatings and contacting the authorities. We were just barely teenagers at the time.