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Ellen's Rescue Agency: No Doggone Return Policy

Tue., Oct. 16, 2007 7:58 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

Rules are rules.

So says the rescue agency that Ellen DeGeneres adopted a puppy from, only to have it confiscated after she and partner Portia de Rossi handed it over to a pooch-less family.

A spokesman for Mutts and Moms, the Pasadena-based organization that has been the target of death and arson threats and calls for a boycott since DeGeneres' emotional retelling of the doggy dilemma on her talk show Tuesday, said that his client has no plans to return the four-month-old Brussels Griffon terrier mix to DeGeneres' hairdresser and her two young daughters.

Owner Marina Batkis "is not going to give them the dog," said attorney Keith A. Fink, who's not representing the shelter but is speaking on Batkis and co-owner Vanessa Chekroun's behalf. The women run the nonprofit Mutts and Moms out of their store Paws Boutique.

"[Batkis] doesn't think this is the type of family that should have the dog," Fink told the Associated Press. "She is adamant that she is not going to be bullied around by the Ellen DeGenereses of the world…They are using their power, position and wealth to try to get what it is they want."

The attorney explained that Mutts and Moms has a policy of not allowing families with children younger than 14 to adopt small dogs. The stylist's kids are 11 and 12.

Although DeGeneres said on TV that she was the one who erred by signing an agreement that prohibited her from sending the dog—christened Iggy—to another home without first notifying Mutts and Moms, Fink said that de Rossi was the one who signed the form.

DeGeneres' publicist, Kelly Bush, confirmed that account.

"She was wrong by not reading the agreement," Bush told the AP. "She thought she was doing a good thing. She's notorious for rescuing animals and finding them good homes. She found the dog a wonderful, wonderful home."

DeGeneres said that she and de Rossi had spent $3,000 to neuter and train Iggy to get along with cats, the latter taking place at the Los Angeles pet store UrbanTails.

Nevertheless, Mutts and Moms removed Iggy from the hairstylist's house on Sunday evening after learning that the pup had changed hands without permission.

"It's very upsetting to hear that someone is getting those kind of calls," Bush said when asked about the threats of violence leveled at the rescue agency. "Ellen just wants the dog reunited with the family."

"I thought I did a good thing," a tearful DeGeneres said Tuesday during Ellen. "I tried to find a loving home for the dog because I couldn't keep it…

"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."

But apparently the kids are going to have to wait a few years if they want to do business with Mutts and Moms.