lamby dog

Breaking Down the Drama Surrounding Lena Dunham’s Dog Lamby

Lena Dunham and her dog drama have been all over the news lately. She decided to rehome her dog of over four years, Lamby, and the internet is up in arms about it.

There are varying accounts of why and how this rehoming happened. But what really went down? Read on the get the full story.

Who is Lena Dunham Anyway?

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If you’re out of the loop or don’t dabble much in social media, Lena Dunham is the former creator and star of Girls. The hit HBO series launched her from Oberlin alum and daughter of wealthy Manhattan parents to a bonafide feminist, and body-positivity jack-of-all-trades.

She’s had her fair share of controversy over the years, from that Odell Beckham Jr. faux-pax to defending a co-worker accused of sexual assault by calling his accuser a liar and golddigger. It’s has been a bumpy road for Dunham as much as a successful one.

Most of her controversy is self-inflicted as she often takes to social media to comment and confess. She’s not one to keep things quiet, inviting criticism and leaving just a little too much room for error on her end. Unfortunately, her animals have now been caught in the cross-fire.

Dunham has been in the news lately because not one, not two, but three, yes three of her animals have left her home permanently. Two of them passed away. Her cat Gia Maria died suddenly and her Yorkie, Bowie, died just a few weeks ago.

Then there’s Lamby, Dunham’s first dog rescue and certainly the most well known of her pets. Dunham rehomed the dog this last year after four years of what she claims was aggressive and unmanageable behavior. But this story just isn’t adding up, so let’s dive into Lamby’s tale and what really happened here.

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The History of Lamby

lamby dog

Dunham adopted Lamby almost five years ago from a rescue in New York called BARC Shelter. The folks who work at the rescue say they saw Lamby be affectionate and warm with Dunham and her mother first-hand when they visited the dog and subsequently adopted him.

For several years, Lamby was the only pet Dunham owned and shared along with her then-boyfriend Jack Antonoff. The dog made frequent appearances on her Instagram account and was brought to several green rooms for late night appearances on talk shows.

It seemed the dog was social and friendly although Dunham would sometimes reference behavior mishaps like the dog drinking his own urine. However, none of the behavior she chronicled online made the dog appear to be aggressive toward people or unfriendly.

Where is Lamby Now?

To put it simply, he was adopted by one of the people who worked at the training facility, The Zen Dog, where Dunham sent the dog. But why, exactly?

Dunham claims that after years of training and working with Lamby, she just wasn’t able to give him the kind of home in which he would thrive and was no longer equipped to handle his aggressive behavior.

To back it up a bit, she also claims in a statement made on social media that Lamby had three prior owners before her and was evidently abused. This is where the drama sets in because the people at BARC have a different story.

They claim that Lamby’s original owners surrendered the dog and cited a lack of time to care for him as their reason. That being said, the shelter also points out that this is the only information they ever had on Lamby or that Dunham was given about the history of her new dog.

Claims that Dunham has been making about how many owners the dog has had and his prior abuse seem impossible for her to know for sure. The lack of consistency between her version of her story and the shelters’ certainly makes the whole thing sound fishy.

Shelters like BARC or organizations like Humane Society International work tirelessly to make sure animals are being treated fairly so the idea that the shelter would lie about Lamby’s past doesn’t really add up.

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Dunham’s Other Pet Drama

The Lamby drama is only exacerbated by the problems Dunham has recently encountered with her other pets. As mentioned before, both her cat and her other dog recently passed away.

Her cat, Gia Maria, a sphynx cat who was only nine months old, died in her arms while being rushed to the vet. Her dog, Bowie, a 13-year-old Yorkie was given to her by close friends and then had to be put down only a few months later, presumably of age-related issues.

Dunham explained that Bowie’s passing was a choice made by herself and his former owners, her friends. These deaths and the rehoming of Lamby are hopefully all just unfortunate coincidences.

But what has people bothered is the fact that Dunham has adopted two poodles which are rumored to be non-rescues. People are scratching their heads wondering what’s going wrong in her house; if she just had a case of bad pet luck or if she was hoping to swap out Lamby with another dog (or two).

The Other Side

Lamby’s former trainer, Matt Beiser, has come to Dunham’s defense explaining that she did everything and anything to help her dog overcome his behavioral issues and finally got to a breaking point.

He agrees that rehoming the dog was the best choice and iterates that it’s often not until well after a pet is adopted that their true colors and behavioral patterns begin to show. He says this was the unfortunate case with Lamby.

Beiser explains that the dog was difficult to handle, bit often and didn’t want to be touched. So much so that when working with him as a trainer, they’d have to take him out while in his crate because he didn’t feel his staff was safe attempting to handle the dog on their own.

He says Dunham did all she could and loved the dog very much but no amount of training she was providing him was helping to make him healthy and happy living in her home.

Wishing Lamby the Best

There are certainly two sides to this Lamby saga. It’s important to remember that not every dog is a right fit for every owner and their lifestyle, no matter how hard they want it to work.

We hope that Lamby is living his best life with his new owner and that Dunham continues to care for her new pets the best way she can.

For more celebrity dog news, check out the rest of our blog!