Ellen Degeneres' Dog Taken Away
By pyewacket
@pyewacket (43903)
United States
October 16, 2007 3:50pm CST
I came across this news that famous talk show host Ellen Degeneres, and of how she had adopted a dog Iggy, a Brussels Griffon mix, on Sept. 20 from the Mutts and Moms dog rescue agency. Now she is a die hard animal lover, and already had some pets.
According to the article and the accompanying video that one can watch:
..."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."
So she gave the dog to her hairdresser, a person she sees everyday, and of whom has two children who already bonded with the dog
Then the pet agency called Ms. Degeneres to find out how the dog was, and she was honest and told them that she wasn't able to keep the dog, but managed to find a new loving home with responsible people.
Well apparently this violated the "contract" that Degeneres signed...that if a person can't keep a dog it has to be returned to the shelter, so the dog was taken away from the new "adopted" family.
Now how stupid is this?...Yes maybe she "violated" the agreement, but it wasn't as if she just dumped the dog out into the streets...she found the dog a new loving home with responsible people that she knows very well and weren't complete strangers
You can read the whole article here...but please watch the video where she makes an open plea to the pet shelter to return the dog to the family....have some tissues ready
http://tv.yahoo.com/contributor/33469/news/urn:newsml:tv.ap.org:20071016:people_degeneres__ER
So even though she broke the rules...do you think this was right for the pet shelter to take the dog back, even though Ms. Degeneres found the dog a good loving new home?
15 people like this
42 responses
@emeraldisle (13139)
• United States
17 Oct 07
I've seen similar things in contracts, including the local SPCA near me (I won't go into the rant here on them but they have trouble getting anyone to take a pet). Personally I think it's silly. Ellen found the pet a good home, the agency should be happy about it.
Now what it could be is the agency did this on purpose. Bad publicity is after all better then none. Maybe they are hoping to get people to notice them by doing this. Who knows but the dog and the family are suffering. They were wrong to do that to them.
3 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
17 Oct 07
That actually would be great publicity for the shelter to create more people to adopt pets...but somehow I think it would be in the negative
1 person likes this
@mlhuff12 (797)
• United States
16 Oct 07
This is the most rediculous thing I've ever heard. An animal shelter is there to help animals, and to help them find homes. The core purpose of a shelter is to find a home for the animals. In this case the dog has found a loving family and a new home...I think there might have been other reasons for this. Maybe because it involved a celebrity, Ellen.
3 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
16 Oct 07
Well whatever reason they did that...it still doesn't make sense considering that she went out of her way to find a good new home for the dogs...I hope the shelter gets a lot of calls from people protesting their actions
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
16 Oct 07
I managed to find the dog sheleter Mutts And Moms (in Pasadena, CA) and I emailed them...a "nice" letter..I'm not rude, but I hope they are ennudated with other emails and phone calls to them
2 people like this
@sarahruthbeth22 (43143)
• United States
16 Oct 07
I don't usually see Ellen but I was flipping channels and came to her show and saw her crying and apologizing for not being her normal cheerful self.I stayed to see what happen and I heard to whole story. I was glad she had Drew Carey and the sextuplets on to cheer her up. After the show I wanted to see if there was a petition or something I could do to get the shelter to return the dog.I found nothing. Okay, what can we do to help?What I would like to do is picket the shelter and broadcast their name all over until they return the puppy.
2 people like this
@sarahruthbeth22 (43143)
• United States
18 Oct 07
Thanks for the link. I sent my email too. I feel better. I rant therefore I am. Thanks.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
17 Oct 07
I actually was able to find the listing of Mutts and Moms shelter..its in Pasadena, CA...here is the listing of all shelters in CA...scroll down and you'll see it..it gives the name address and phone number, and even email...I did email them voicing my opinion--maybe if they get enough angry emails and phone calls they'll reconsider giving the dog back
http://www.pet-ark.com/orgs.pl
2 people like this
@kitchenwitchoftupper (2290)
• United States
18 Oct 07
Right now it is late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning and I have just finished watching an online video of Ellen talking about the dog and apologizing. I missed her that day. To all of you wonderful women who are sending emails, I am urging to to stop. It seems that they have obtained a lawyer and are very angry. They have been getting quite a bit of hate mail and some of it is actually threatening. I don't like what they did any more than the rest of you; regardless, now that it has gone this far, perhaps it is time to back off and let Ellen and her legal team deal with it. If we feel the need (and I can say that I do), we can go to Ellen's site and send a note of support. If you think I am a total bat and still want to write to the shelter women, that is totally up to you, but I think in the end harsh words will ultimately harm Ellen more than anything else.~D
3 people like this
@PurpleTeddyBear (6685)
• Canada
19 Oct 07
Hi pye,
That is UNREAL! You would think the shelter would over-look the fact that she breached some kind of contract and focused on the main issue being that she found a suitable, loving home for the dog. Instead they'd rather bring it back to the shelter, make it take a spot that another animal could have for possible adoption, and/or face the possibility of euthanization just because of some stupid contract?
Love & Hugzz, Your Friend, PurpleTeddyBear!
@PurpleTeddyBear (6685)
• Canada
19 Oct 07
She must be completely insane. I think she is in the wrong line of work especially if she puts the "rules" ahead of an animals well being. Have a good day hun!
Love & Hugzz, Your Friend, PurpleTeddyBear!
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
19 Oct 07
I was reading discussions at the Petfinder.com forums...and they all think the owner of Mutts & Moms is a bit looney...She supposedly yanked away another dog from a family too...geez..what's wrong with this woman??
2 people like this
@artemis432 (7474)
• Abernathy, Texas
16 Oct 07
Hi pye. I saw that and actually immediately thought of you. I've signed these stupid agreements and its like the pet is not really yours. If something happened to me healhwise or something, I would want to know I can give my pet to someone who will love it - like a family member. Instead of giving a pet back to a place where he won't have a home but be surrounded by cats again.
Thank you for sharing this.
3 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
16 Oct 07
It wasn't like she did a real "crime" here..she found the dog a good loving substitute home..doesn't that count for something??
2 people like this
@magikrose (5429)
• United States
17 Oct 07
That is so sad. I would understand giving the dog back to the shelter if she didnt have a home for it to go to but since she found a loving home for the dog I dont see a problem. you would think that the shelter would be eternally gratefull to Ellen for finding a home for the dog instead of taking it back and then them having to house it again.
Who cares if she broke the contract the fact still remains that the animal had a loving home and children to play with.
1 person likes this
@magikrose (5429)
• United States
18 Oct 07
I wouldent be surprised if they were after some kind of publicity but I think that was the wrong kind. Attacking Ellen because she gave the dog to a loving family makes the shelter look like they are not looking out for the animals best intrest at all.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Oct 07
I don't see a problem with it either..the dog wound up in a good home when she couldn't keep it...do you think the shelter was just after some kind of publicity?
@sweetgirl_k1 (3972)
• United States
16 Oct 07
That's crazy. I do not believe they should have taken that dog from the new "adopted" family. At least she didn't just leave the dog out on the street or something bad like that. She found it a loving home where the family would take good care of it. I think that's wrong and they should give the dog back to that family.
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
16 Oct 07
I know it is insane..the new family she gave it too were responsible people, not just anyone, and like you said she didn't just dump it in the streets...I hope the rescue place gets a lot of phone calls from angry folks
2 people like this
@hoghoney (3747)
• United States
17 Oct 07
I agree that it is really stupid on the shelters part. I believe that if she found a good home for the dog then they should be happy for the dog and that it didnt have to spend more time at a shelter. I would think that would mess the dog up and confuse the poor thing. I would back Ellen up on this one.
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
17 Oct 07
I hope they get a lot of irrate phone calls and email to the shelter to pressure them to give the dog back to the family
1 person likes this
@xParanoiax (6987)
• United States
21 Oct 07
That is very stupid. Sounds like they threw that in there to earn more money to me. Maybe not recently, but somewhere back in that shelter's history...I'll bet you they added that to their contracts with people in order to get themselves more money. No shelter that cares about their animals knows that it's better to find the animal a home rather than to get it back in the shelter. They kill too many animals as it is because they run out of room!
After all, who gains from this? Not the dog, certainly...but people will PAY the shelter to adopt the dog, so the shelter benefits. They couldn't care less about the dog, obviously.
Broke the rules...I don't care if that's legal. PETA and animal activists should be all over this case! That's just plain wrong.
1 person likes this
@xParanoiax (6987)
• United States
22 Oct 07
Yay for people who really care about animals.
Euthanized? Poor Iggy. I hope they can save him.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
22 Oct 07
It is plain wrong...from what I understand, "Iggy" was going to be euthanized as he wasn't adoptable--well, like duh? So here you have someone that wanted to adopt him and okay it didn't work out, but Ellen gave it to a family that did want him--so like what is the problem here? Yes both ASPCA and PETA are after this shelter
@Schnorrawaggle (688)
• Austria
18 Oct 07
With all the pets that are killed in shelters each year, I think that these people could find other dogs to place in homes and stop worrying about this one, which already found a home. I doubt Ellen would have given the dog to the family if she hand't thought they were good with pets. Are these people so obsessed with finding the 'perfect' home that a 'good' home is not adequate?? I've known people who work at shelters and sometimes they are on such a high horse and think they are the only ones capable of caring for animals, that they treat the rest of us like we are all animal abusers.
Just so wrong, very sad for the kids and sad for the dog.
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
19 Oct 07
It is a well known fact that Ellen is a pet/animal advocate and would do anything for animals...she thought it was better to place the dog with a family she knew and could trust rather than have it shoved back in a shelter again
1 person likes this
@Schnorrawaggle (688)
• Austria
17 Oct 07
With all the real animal abuse going on each and every single day... cute wonderful dogs being tortured in research labs why the heck make a stink about a dog you found a home. It's completely hypocritical to make this big fuss about this one dog when every single day millions of animals suffer in farm factories, dairies, research labs and puppy mills.
But caring about all those animals just might inconveniece someone's life, heck they might have to change their eating habits, how they shop or what companies they buy from. Look into what goes on with dogs every single day at Huntingdon Life Sciences and it would become very clear that this one dog shouldn't even be mentioned in the news.
@Schnorrawaggle (688)
• Austria
17 Oct 07
myspace is great for finding out info, here are a few of my friend's pages, and they have more firends who have more friends who have all kinds of info posted on the page and in their blogs. It's a great platform for networking and finding/spreading information.
http://www.myspace.com/stopthetesting
http://www.myspace.com/shac7
http://www.myspace.com/veganthis
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
17 Oct 07
Thank you ever so much for the heads up on Huntingdon Life Sciences--I looked them up as I have to confess I never heard of them before..at first I saw their official website...oh, gee, how sweet, how nice how they are researching into and for miracles cures...then I went to the other sites about protesting against them...crap...I'm all too well aware of the cruel methods of testing/experimentation on animals but I never was able to pinpoint exact labs...so thanks ever for this info....I did another discussion about all the companies that still test on animals..the biggest offenders are Colgate-Palmolive and Proctor & Gamble...I've already been making the switch of what products I buy as I won't support any company that still tests on animals
I'm hoping to hear an up-date if that family Degeneres gave that puppy to gets it back...I'll be listening with wide open ears..believe me
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Oct 07
Thanks ever for those links ...I've bookmarked them so I can read them all better later. I'm thinking of doing my own website as soon as possible as well, that will have a lot of info of it...
@brendakaya (2332)
• United States
18 Oct 07
I don't believe for one minute, that, Ellen would have given the dog to those people if she hadn't have known they would be good pet owners. I think it's wrong that the lady took the dog from them. It was happy and the children were happy, and so she upset them all. I don't care about that contract, I think that woman was wrong, and I saw her on the one of the evening news mags, tonight, and I thought she proved herself to be a smart alec. She said there's no way she's letting them have the dog back, after the way she's been treated. She found it another home. I'm wondering if she took the dog back, and got it another home, just because she got money out of it, that way. She just didn't seem like a very nice person, to me, and didn't seem to have the dogs' best interest in mind.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
19 Oct 07
I'm glad you feel this way, since you are a pet rescuer too...I emailed a pet rescuer friend of mine and she said granted Ellen did "violate" the contract, but the way the woman handled everything was SO wrong..even to have a police escort help her take the dog back..the pet rescuer thought the woman was a real a$$ how she handled it and could backlash at other shelters...everyone is going to be afraid now to adopt pets
1 person likes this
@brendakaya (2332)
• United States
19 Oct 07
I think you're right. I do think that this will cause some people to be afraid about adopting pets. It's not only going to hurt her, which she probably deserves, but other shelters too. She should be ashamed of herself, but didn't seem to have a conscience to me.
@Amberina (1541)
• United States
17 Oct 07
I think they are singling her out cause she is a star I'm sure other people have gotten a dog and then couldn't take care of and found it a good home. i think she is wonderful for taking the time to find a good hom for it, at least it has a home now it's doesn't it's back at the shelter were the shelter can now make another chunk of money off of it adopting it to another family. The family who Ellen found for it should go down and adopt it lol.-Amber
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Oct 07
From what I understand the two children of the woman that Ellen Degeneres weren't exactly babies, but much older...but heck...when my mother and father and I all lived in CA...I was born there...my father came from pet people as well...there's actually a picture of me about no more than a year old..I'm sitting on the floor next to the gigantic dog...LOL...that took a lot of trust on my folks part that I wouldn't "disturb" the dog to make it bite me..and trust in the dog as well...We look like two chums..LOL
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
17 Oct 07
From what I gather though, another part of the "agreement" was that a dog from the shelter can't go to a home with children..how stupid--those kids had already bonded with Iggy
@Amberina (1541)
• United States
17 Oct 07
I know i think they just want to make more money off the dog having someone else adopt it. I can't remember the show but it's on Animal Planet channel and they rescue dogs and get them to a shelter to adopt them out. One of the things I don't agree with on what they do with the dogs to see if they are adoptable is if they are protective of thier food they will put them down instead of adopting them out. Well the problem with that is yes I understand that a small baby might go and play with the dog while it's eating and if the dog is protective then it might bite the baby, but what gets me is that most dogs are protective of thier food it's like dogs chasing cats it's just part of being a dog. Secondly when I was growing up I was taught never to bother an animal when it is eating because it will bite you. It thinks your another dog who is going to take away it's dinner and it will snap at you. I don't think they should put them down because they are protective they should still adopt them out but put in thier records that they can't go to families with small children because they might bite if the baby gets near it's food. I think it's inhumane of them to kill the dog for protecting it's food. Children need to be taught not to mess with a dog when it's eating anything. -Amber
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
22 Oct 07
The new family WAS trying to adopt the dog..the owner of Mutts and Moms came over under false pretenses to look over the family but instead siezed the dog..and she was operating on a suspended license...she wasn't in the position to adopt dogs out anyway...think she was just in it for the money rather than the dog's welfare
@TerryZ (22076)
• United States
19 Oct 07
I think its so sad especially for that poor dog. Geez I guess these people mean what they say. I dont agree with the shelter as long as she found a good home for the dog thats all that should matter. But they dont see it that way. Its so sad!
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
31 Oct 07
I haven't heard any up-dates about this story lately..have you?? Still hope Iggy goes back to the family
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
21 Oct 07
I read the article Pye but I couldn't find a link to watch the video. Am I blind or stoopid or both....help required please.
Sounds like the agency is being a bit high handed and I'm sure their energies and rescources could be spent better...doing good nrather than seeking celebrity which is how I see their actions. They are not acting for the good of the dog in question but looking to make themselves important. B@st@rds!!
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
31 Oct 07
I hope the dog does go back to that family...they were willing to give it a good home..haven't heard anything new about this
@jolenegreen (1209)
• United States
30 Oct 07
Yeah I thought that it was very stupid for the dog shelter to take the dog from the children. I could see if he wasnt in a good home. But to take a dog away from a loving family? I mean dont we adopt theese dogs for a certain reason, to give them a good home?
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
31 Oct 07
And it wasn't like Ellen was giving the dog just to any joe schmoe either, but to a caring family that wanted the dog
@skrader (8)
• United States
18 Oct 07
what i don't understandf is why they are wasting time "rescuing" a dog that is already rescued from a loving family home when they should be rescuing dogs that actually need to be rescued. this just proves that they don't really care about the dogs needs and are just on a power trip. the fact that their lawyer said that the family will never get that dog back "never, never, never,never" yes he felt the need to say it four times is a stupid remark on his part. They are probably going to loss their whole business because of this because no one is goning to want to do business with a company like that and i think they deserve evrything they get.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
19 Oct 07
Well whatever happens..I sure hope that dog goes back to the family again
1 person likes this
