Kaley Cuoco is facing backlash after she recalled the “excruciating decision” she made to rehome her beloved pet dog.
On Monday, Cuoco took to social media to explain her reasoning behind rehoming her pet while announcing her dog’s death.
“Most of you know I had [Shirley] for many, many, many years,” Cuoco began in a video uploaded to Instagram.
“All of a sudden, you kind of stopped seeing her, and I started to get a lot of questions as to where she was, because it’s very unlike me to just stop posting about a dog that I’ve had since she was 6 weeks old,” she continued.
Cuoco explained that Shirley’s “mega fights” with her fiance Tom Pelphrey’s dog ultimately led to the rehoming.
“Long story short, she’s a very special dog to me, as you all know. And when the love of my life came into my life, Tom, who is also a mega dog lover, moved across the country with his beautiful German Shepherd, Blue.
“A couple years ago, unfortunately, Blue and Shirley started getting into some mega fights,” Cuoco continued.
The Big Bang Theory star explained that Shirley was “determined to kill” Blue and that things kept getting worse.
“I loved her so much, but I was really scared. I didn’t want something really bad to happen or possibly a person accidentally be there and get hurt,” she said. Cuoco rehomed the dog with her pet handler, Tony and his wife Angie, who were helping take care of Shirley for her.
“They have loved her so so much, and it was an excruciating decision,” she explained.
The actress then shared that Shirley recently passed away from “a very aggressive bone cancer.”
“She was almost 14 years old, which is an unbelievable life for a dog,” Cuoco said while crying. “And I just wanted to share her story and what we had to do.”
Following her confession, Cuoco began facing backlash from fans on social media who were unhappy with her decision.
“If your boyfriend brought his kid into your home, would you give away his kid or yours if they didn’t get along?” wrote one. “There’s not a shot in hell I would give away my dog for any bf. Poor Shirley was never considered family; she was just a disposable animal!”
A second ranted: “One day he’ll be out her life and she’s going to regret that she made that choice”
“She is a victim for throwing her DOG AWAY? GET LOST,” commented another, whole a fourth hit out: “Really? No, re-home his selfish a**!”
“There’s no way I would give up my dog for some new dude and his dog. Dumps dog for new guy and his dog.” wrote another. “Why didn’t the boyfriend give up his dog? Why didn’t they put both dogs through a training/behavioral program?”
