Lena Dunham used to have a rescue dog named Lamby, and for a while he was the star of her Instagram. He was always getting into some kind of panty-chewing trouble and general canine urine mischief. Then Lamby got into some real trouble a couple years ago when he bit Lena in the ass and drew blood. Lamby wasn’t on Lena’s Instagram that much after that. That was over three years ago, and Lena came clean about where Lamby went. She claims Lamby was a very abused puppy and she just couldn’t handle his special needs. Except according to the Brooklyn dog rescue where she got Lamby, she’s lying.
This all started because Lena has spent the past few months Instagramming two new brown poodles, which caused some of her followers to ask where her Lamby was. She explained that she was forced to surrender him to a dog trainer in Los Angeles and that he was abused as a puppy.
Robert Vazquez – a rep from BARC, the no-kill shelter where Lamby was rescued – spoke to Yahoo! Celebrity with their side of the story. Robert, who says he’s been in charge of the dogs at BARC for the last 14 to 15 years, side-eyes Lena’s claims that Lamby suffered “terrible abuse” as a puppy. Lena also claimed in a New Yorker article shortly after she adopted Lamby that he had “three other homes” before she adopted him. Robert doubts that claim too.
“We checked the records for Lamby. He was ‘owner surrendered, not enough time,’ so we do not know where she got ‘multiple owners that abused the dog.”
At the time of his adoption by the star, the dog was just 1 “nearing 2-years-old” – and he didn’t have a history of being aggressive. 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’ in the pages of Vogue.”
Robert adds that he was present during the four times Lena came to visit Lamby before she adopted him. He says they never would have sent him home with her if they thought he was aggressive, and that they don’t lie about the dogs’ histories.
Lena didn’t take too kindly to Robbie calling her out. She says BARC didn’t know what his behavior was like after he was adopted. But she didn’t have much to say about Lamby’s alleged abusive past.
Lamby’s new trainer has also chimed in with their thoughts. They say many people have been “violently blindsided” by a sweet dog, and that you can’t really judge a person for re-homing their pet.
I can’t speak on re-homing a dog (I’m a fish person), but Robert really shouldn’t have been surprised that Lena would (allegedly) get creative with Lamby’s origin story. In fact, I can’t believe she actually said she got him from a rescue and not made up something about finding Lamby wandering through the streets of Bushwick with a little hobo bindle, offering to slobber-shine people’s shoes for a Milk Bone.
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