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Lena Dunham and animal shelter disagree on if her dog was abused

Lena Dunham is hitting back after an animal shelter claimed the "Girls" star fabricated the backstory about her dog Lamby, who she says was abused. 

BARC, the no-kill shelter from which Dunham adopted her dog Lamby, told Yahoo Celebrity that there was no record of abuse or misbehavior, and on Thursday night, Dunham defended herself and said on Instagram, "[BARC and I] 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."

The back-and-forth started after Dunham revealed on Instagram that she sent Lamby to a clinic in March 2016 after he allegedly showed aggression over an extended period of time. 

She said it was "heartbreaking" to talk about and said, "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." 

A lot of you have been asking where Lamby is these days since he's always been the star of my gram and I've been posting pics of my poodle girls. Well, you know honesty is my jam but this one has been really heartbreaking to talk about. 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 @matt_thezendog where an awesome person named @therealdanishay (who is educated in a rescue dog's specific trauma) loves him so hard. 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. Jack and I will miss him forever but sometimes when you love something you have to let it go (especially when it requires tetanus shots and stitches.) Someday I'll really write about the pain and relief of letting Lamby go off and really be Lamby, biting and peeing in his own mouth and all. There were so many lessons in it, about forgiving myself and loving with an open palm and giving in to a larger plan. Shout out to @jennikonner for listening to endless hours of Lamby pain, and especially my partner @jackantonoff for loving him even when he ruined floors and couches and our life. Jack knows what Lamby means to me and he let me come to the decision in my own time even when it made his days challenging. Susan & Karen will never be my first loves, but they are fuzzy and hilarious stuffing for the hole Lamby left and we cherish them deeply ❤️#lamby #thefirstcutisthedeepest #foreverlamb PS If you have a similar situation, please know its possible to responsibly re-home your rescue rather than sending them back into the shelter system. It can require patience, diligence and often a financial contribution but there are solutions that leave everyone happy and safe. You will always have been your dog's first stop outside shelter life and that's beautiful.

A post shared by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on

BARC spokesperson Robert Vazquez told Yahoo Celebrity that when Dunham adopted the dog, it did not have behavioral issues.

"If Lamby had a bad past or was abused, do you think BARC would have adopted him to Lena knowing she's a new star and put her  — or the dog — in that situation? We would have told her if the dog had issues. We are a no-kill shelter. We don't lie about the dogs' histories because that gets them returned — and mentally it's not good for dogs."

"We checked the records for Lamby," Vazquez told Yahoo Celebrity. "He was 'owner surrendered, not enough time,' so we do not know where she got 'multiple owners that abused the dog.'"

Dunham said in her most recent post, "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 d**n much."

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