Jennifer Lawrence drew the ire of many dog lovers when she joked that she wanted to “obliterate every dog” after an incident regarding her son. Last week, during a Q&A, she revealed that having kids made her distrust the entire species and led to her decision to rehome Princess Pippi Longstocking.
Jennifer Lawrence kind of hates dogs now
The star of the 2025 psychodrama Die My Love was on stage on Jan. 7, 2025, to answer questions after a screening when the topic of her former pet came up. Lawrence explained that she decided to give Ms. Longstocking to her parents after she had children.
“After I had a kid, dogs became so scary,” she said.
“It’s almost like I don’t recognize dogs right now. I just see them as a threat.”
This fear made a lot more sense when she explained that a dog did once bite her three-year-old son.
“One of them bit my son and that just made me want to obliterate every dog ever,” she hesitantly confessed. “I was just like, ‘I’m gonna take out you and your f*cking family, and your f*cking friends.”
This kind of mama bear reaction isn’t uncommon after a biting incident. A 2019 study found an average of 337,103 emergency department visits for dog bites each year, with a significant portion of resulting hospital admissions representing kids under the age of five.
With 70 percent of those bites happening within the home, Lawrence’s decision to relinquish her dog is understandable. Her intense emotional reaction extending to all dogs, however, didn’t elicit understanding among her online audience.
“Jen did not pass the vibe test”
The actress may have screwed the pooch with this one. Few admissions attract more online hate than those involving a fear or dislike for dogs. The exaggerated jokes Lawrence made about her reaction, while pretty standard for the actress, only made things worse in the Instagram comments.
“Ufff Jen did not pass the vibe test,” said @thekarlamontalvan. “Poor dog.”
“Wow. This is beyond disturbing,” @rebeccacorry remarked.
“She should never own any dogs or pets if she thinks like that,” @katwhyart declared.
While some understood her parental instincts, they also wished she hadn’t said what she did to such a massive audience, worrying that her new attitudes toward dogs will spread.
“This is very unfortunate and very disappointing,” wrote @theasherhouse. “I wish she would have thought how much this will hurt the crisis that dogs and animal rescuers are facing all over the world.”
“What’s especially concerning is using a massive platform not only to normalize giving up a dog after a preventable incident, but to publicly speak so flippantly about obliterating dogs,” said @n0em1x.
“No I don’t think she meant she would actually ever hurt a dog, but that language minimizes their lives, fuels fear and has real world consequences for animals who already pay the price for human failure.”
Adoption rates may already be suffering as skyrocketing vet bills turn pet ownership into a luxury.
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