Lena Dunham's Dog Trainer Defends Her Decision to Give Up Lamby

Girls creator had sent him to a canine rehabilitation center, saying he was aggressive and was abused as a pup

The Lena Dunham dog drama continues.

The Girls creator stirred controversy in June and was accused by many of abandoning her dog Lamby after four years when she announced that she had months ago placed the pet at Zen Dog, a canine rehabilitation center. She said Lamby had showcased "four years of challenging behavior and aggression that could not be treated with training or medication or consistent loving dog ownership."

Matt Beisner, owner of the Zen Dog, told People magazine in comments posted Sunday that the actress was a "really proactive, diligent" pet owner" and that she reached out to him for help with Lamby last year after working with six other trainers. He said she was "at her wit's end," adding that the dog was "really aggressive" at the time.

"He didn't want to be touched and he didn't want to be handled," Beisner said. "When he came to us, there were days where we had to carry his crate out to the yard and open it to let him come out because we couldn't safely put our hands near him to get a leash on him to walk him."

 

A source close to Dunham told People that she had taken Lamby to at least six different vets and several of them thought that the dog had suffered from "past abuse," and may have even had brain damage. 

Dunham had said Lamby had "suffered terrible abuse as a pup that made having him in a typical home environment dangerous to him and others." A spokesperson for a no-killer animal shelter where Dunham had adopted Lamby later said the dog was not "crazy" at their facility and expressed skepticism about him having been abused, adding, "We would have told her if the dog had issues."

"The dog that we see in the shelter is often not that the dog that we see in the home," Beisner told People. "And often the dog in the home on day one is different than the dog that we see at the six-month mark."

Beisner told People that a trainer first suggested Dunham re-home Lamby and that she was initially unable to consider the idea. One of Zen Dog's staff members ended up adopting him. Beisner said that months later, in June, Dunham emailed him to tell him she was going to "break the silence" on Lamby.

Dunham's boyfriend Jack Antonoff has also spoken out in her defense amid the controversy.

"Nobody on earth cares for or loved lamby more than lena, he tweeted. "After her bit her father and her twice we found a trainer who deals with aggressive dogs who he now lives happily with. was a deeply hard decision."

He continued, "Shoutout to everyone who has an opinion on this and didn't live with us the past 4 years!"