Well, then.
A no-kill shelter in the United States has shot back at Lena Dunham’s claim that a dog she adopted and rehomed was abused, saying their records don’t show anything of the sort.
Last month, Dunham told her Instagram following that Lamby, the pup she picked up in 2014 from Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition (BARC), was now in the care of a specialist dog trainer.
“Well, you know honesty is my jam but this one has been really heartbreaking to talk about,” Dunham wrote.
“But I feel I have to share that last March, after four years of challenging behavior and aggression that could not be treated with training or medication or consistent loving dog ownership, Lamby went to live at an amazing professional facility in Los Angeles…“Lamby suffered terrible abuse as a pup that made having him in a typical home environment dangerous to him and others- we [her and partner Jack Antonoff] needed to be responsible to ourselves, our neighbors and especially our beloved boy.”
In response, Robert Vazquez told Yahoo Celebrity that the pup “was ‘owner surrendered, not enough time,’ so we do not know where she got ‘multiple owners that abused the dog.’”
Discussing Lamby’s frequent public appearances with Dunham, including in a 2014 Vogue photoshoot, Vazquez said “when she adopted the dog from us, it wasn’t crazy.
“I have pictures of the dog loving on Lena and her mom, which is weird if the dog was abused.“It wouldn’t be cuddling with her or be in the bed with her ‘boyfriend’ [actually Girls co-star Adam Driver] in the pages of Vogue.”
Vazquez maintained that BARC wouldn’t have handed an abused dog over to Dunham at that time, and that “we don’t lie about the dogs’ histories because that gets them returned — and mentally it’s not good for dogs.”
“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 4 years ago,” Vazquez added.
Dunham has responded to that statement, too. In a subsequent Instagram post, she writes “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. Lamby was and is one of the great loves of my life. 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.
While she stops short of reasserting the claim Lamby was abused by previous owners, Dunham writes “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. They did not witness the consistent and responsible care I provided.”
“I know I’m a lot of fun to place your issues on,” she writes, “but I won’t let anyone hang their hat on this peg. Not this time.”
We just hope Lamby is a-okay, tbh.
