Lily Allen Sparks Controversy After Admitting to Returning Adopted Dog

Pop star Lily Allen is coming under heavy fire from critics after she revealed that her family rehomed a puppy they adopted during the pandemic. The singer shared the surprising news while appearing on a podcast, shocking fans with the tale of how she gave the puppy back after she got into some of her important documents, including her family's passports.

Allen's fans aren't holding back about her decision to return the adopted dog, and they're blasting her choice all over social media. You can learn more about the story, including what Allen considered the last straw for her so-called misbehaving puppy, below.

Fans found out about the puppy when Allen appeared on the Miss Me? podcast. She casually dropped the news when her co-host Steve Jones asked her if she and husband David Harbour's relationship was ready for the next level after Allen shared that they were planning to adopt a puppy together.

Allen and Harbour were married in 2021, and while the duo share a house and co-parent Allen's two children from her previous marriage, the pair haven't added anymore children to their newly blended family.

Allen shocked listeners by explaining that they had already taken that step once before in the past, a decision that turned disastrous for both the family and the puppy named Mary that they adopted early in 2021.

The cute pooch initially received the celebrity dog treatment, and Allen and Harbour immediately set up an Instagram account for her — but it seems like that's where the good times stopped.

Allen told listeners that they returned the dog to the place where they adopted her after she ate the family's passports and visas, including those of her two children.

This was the final straw for Allen, who claimed the ordeal ruined her life as she was forced to pay a premium to have the passports reissued so that her children would be able to travel back and forth from New York to England, where their father Sam Cooper resides.

Allen said the stress of the ordeal left her unable to even look at the dog without feeling resentful, so she took Mary back to the animal rescue where she'd come from.

While Allen claimed that the travel documents were just the tip of the iceberg — she said that while she tried her best to train the "badly behaved dog" — fans are calling the mother of two out for her actions.

Mary's Instagram account is full of angry comments from critics who say Allen didn't do enough to make the situation work, blasting her for not keeping the important documents in a safe place to being with, and reminding her that this is how all puppies behave in those early days.

Rehoming a dog, especially one who was a rescue, can have seriously negative effects on the pooch, including separation anxiety and trouble forming bonds. Not only that, but it can make it harder for them to find their forever homes, as rescues and shelters become overrun with dogs that have been returned after they proved to be too much work for their new pet parents.

While there may be situations where a pet partnership truly doesn't work — like in an environment where it would be dangerous for the dog or the humans they call family — it seems like many believe that in this instance Allen's decision was one of convenience and totally off the mark. That said, we'll never know the full story, and we just hope that Mary has found a loving forever home with another family.