There's been a lot of controversy surrounding Lena Dunham's decision to re-home her rescue dog, Lamby. Now, the dog trainer who spent a year working with Lamby in Los Angeles is chiming in.

Matt Beisner, who runs The Zen Dog, spent a year working with Dunham and her dog when his behavioral issues started getting out of control. In a statement to People, Beisner defended Dunham's "painful decision" to give the dog up.

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 Jun 20, 2017 at 9:33pm PDT

An Instagram post by Dunham announcing her decision to re-home Lamby sparked controversy when a spokesman for BARC, the Brooklyn-based animal rescue the dog was adopted from, disputed Dunham's claims that the dog had been abused and had exhibited aggressive behaviors.

Beisner says Lamby's change in behavior isn't all that uncommon.

"The dog that we see in the shelter is often not 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. It’s so predictable that I can almost put it on the calendar. When someone tells me they adopted a dog, I’m waiting for them to call."

Beisner said that Lamby was already "really aggressive" when Dunham reached out to him last year after she had already tried six other trainers. Beisner said Dunham "was at her wit's end."

you took my heart and my keys and my patience

A post shared by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on Mar 2, 2016 at 8:09am PST

Beisner went on to describe Lamby's unwillingness to be touched or handled.

"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," he recalled.

Beisner told People that Dunham, who he described as a "really proactive, diligent" pet owner, initially didn't consider re-homing Lamby an option. Eventually, though, she changed her mind, and one of Beisner's staff members adopted the dog in March.

back by popular demand

A post shared by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on Jan 15, 2016 at 4:32pm PST

Beisner said he had almost forgotten about the incident until Dunham emailed him in June, saying she was going to "break the silence" on Lamby. He feels the controversy that erupted after Dunham's Instagram post was ultimately unproductive.

"I think if we spent less time and energy attacking this individual owner — who I get it, is a lightning rod — and more energy talking about how we could help dogs," he told People, "we would have made a big difference in the past week."

Lena Dunham's dog trainer defends her decision to give Lamby up.