Lena Dunham has found herself having to defend her decision to give her dog Lamby to a special facility in Los Angeles after the shelter in which she adopted him criticized her for giving the pet away.
“It’s come to my attention that the staff at the shelter where I adopted Lamby have a very different account of his early life and behavioral issues than I do. While I’m sorry to have disappointed them, I can’t apologize,” she wrote on Instagram on Friday, July 7, alongside of a picture of a painting of Lamby.
“When I met him I knew we’d have an amazing journey. But his aggression – which was unpredictable- and his particular issues, which remain myriad, weren’t manageable, at least not by me,” Dunham continued. “I did what I thought the best mother would do, which was to give him a life that provided for his specific needs.”
The Lenny Letter founder revealed that she still supports Lamby financially and mentioned he is “notably happier in his new surroundings.”
Dunham also made it clear she has no feelings of ill-will toward the shelter for speaking out against her decision. “I would never say an unkind word about the staff of BARC, what they do is amazing and life saving for these animals- but we have different accounts of Lamby’s behavior and they were not present in my home nor did they live with him for an extended period,” she wrote. “They did not witness the consistent and responsible care I provided.”
The backlash seems to be weighing heavily on the actress, though. “I have weathered a lot of micro-scandals but this one hurts MOST, because of the vulnerability of letting people know Lamby and my story, and because I miss him so damn much,” she wrote on Friday.
Dunham’s boyfriend, Jack Antonoff, also defended her decision. “Nobody on earth cares for or loved lamby more than lena. after her bit her father and her twice we found a trainer who deals with aggressive dogs who he now lives happily with,” he tweeted on Friday. “was a deeply hard decision. shoutout to everyone who has an opinion on this and didn’t live with us the past 4 years!”
nobody on earth cares for or loved lamby more than lena. after her bit her father and her twice we found a trainer who deals with aggressive
— jackantonoff (@jackantonoff) July 7, 2017
dogs who he now lives happily with. was a deeply hard decision.
— jackantonoff (@jackantonoff) July 7, 2017
shoutout to everyone who has an opinion on this and didn’t live with us the past 4 years!
— jackantonoff (@jackantonoff) July 7, 2017
Fans first questioned why Lamby had not made any recent appearances in the actress’ photos in June, as the animal had once been a fixture on her social media accounts. The Girls creator explained that the dog had been sent to live at The Zen Dog in March due to “four years of challenging behavior and aggression that could not be treated with training or medication or consistent loving dog ownership.”
She added at the time, “Lamby suffered terrible abuse as a pup that made having him in a typical home environment dangerous to him and others- we needed to be responsible to ourselves, our neighbors and especially our beloved boy.”
Dunham’s post garnered the attention of Brooklyn’s BARC no-kill shelter, whose spokesperson Robert Vasquez disputed claims that Lamby had been abused. He also took a swipe at the actress in July, remarking: “It’s just hard to believe the dog was nasty when she took Lamby to every green room with her when Girls was still a thing four years ago.”
Lamby has since been adopted by a former Zen Dog staffer.
