Ellen DeGeneres Gives Away Dog to Hairdresser

Ellen Degeneres

Ellen DeGeneres is in the doghouse with a pet rescue agency after giving a pooch away to her hairdresser because it didn’t get along with her cats.

The talk show hostess and her partner Portia de Rossi adopted Iggy, a Brussels Griffon mix, on Sept. 20. But when things didn’t work out, DeGeneres gave the dog to her hairdresser.

In doing so, DeGeneres violated an agreement with the Mutts and Moms dog rescue agency by not informing them of the hand-off.

When the agency called DeGeneres to ask about Iggy, she said she found another home for the dog. The agency sent a representative to the hairdresser’s home Sunday and took the dog away.

DeGeneres went public about the situation Monday while taping an episode of her show to air Tuesday (today!). She admitted she didn’t read all the paperwork involving the adoption.

DeGeneres said she spent $3,000 having the dog neutered and trained to be with her cats. But the dog had too much energy and was too rambunctious, she told her television audience.

I guess I signed a piece of paper that says if I can’t keep Iggy, it goes back to the rescue organization, which is not someone’s home, which is not a family. I thought I did a good thing. I tried to find a loving home for the dog because I couldn’t keep it.”

DeGeneres said her hairdresser’s daughters, ages 11 and 12, had bonded with Iggy and were heartbroken when the dog was taken away.

A sobbing DeGeneres said on her show:

Because I did it wrong, those people went and took that dog out of their home, and took it away from those kids. I feel totally responsible for it and I’m so sorry. I’m begging them to give that dog back to that family. It’s not their fault. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have given the dog away. Just please give the dog back to those little girls.”

Mutts and Moms, a volunteer nonprofit organization in Pasadena, does not have a listed phone number and didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail request for comment.

More from Celebrity Dog Watcher:   14 Dogs Too Many for Paris Hilton

What’s your take on the situation? Should Mutts and Moms give the dog back to the hairdresser and how wrong (or right) was Ellen in giving the dog to a friend instead of taking it back to the agency?

Update: Watch the video of Ellen talking about the puppy mishap!

Updates:

Sign the petition to free Iggy!

-Mutts and Moms site appears to be taken down. Will this be temporarily until the heat dies down or permanently?

– Mutts and Moms receiving death threats – read it HERE

-Iggy is given to a new home – read it HERE

-LA Times weighs in on “Iggygate” – read it HERE

-New allegations against Mutts and Moms comes to light – read it HERE