I had a few girls who weren’t cool with me being able to shut-down my romantic interest the moment we had that conversation. Turns out, we weren’t friends, I was just their back-up.
Most insisted later I missed my chance to try being more assertive, but none liked learning their “crush”-perks weren’t ever exclusive or crush-related; The crush just meant I hadn’t let them see me treat others similarly.
Dogs are too obvious, and targets for jealousy, abduction and manipulation/extortion. Dogs and cats should only be brought into established, healthy relationships.
Or just say its your roommates’ pet. Actauly, I was thinking more like, shared among a household so no rando SOs can stake a claim