After an unsuccessful yet valiant fight, Ellen DeGeneres is going to let sleeping dogs—and stringent dog agencies—lie.

On Thursday's episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the beleaguered talk-show host says she will no longer mention the plight of Iggy the puppy in public, at least until the rescued pooch's story has a happy ending.

"I think this is the last time I'm talking about this," she said on the show, which was taped Wednesday. "Unless I'm lucky enough to say one day to you, Iggy has returned. That's the last time I'll talk about it. As of today, as I'm talking to you, Iggy has not been returned, and in fact, I think we were told it was given to another home."

The distraught DeGeneres canceled tapings for Thursday and Friday. "It's been a rough week and Ellen is taking a long weekend. She will be back at work on Monday," said a rep for Telepictures, the show's producer. The next new show will air on Tuesday.

DeGeneres' dogfight kicked off on Sunday, when representatives from Mutts and Moms, the  rescue from which she and partner Portia de Rossi adopted the Brussels Griffon mix,   confiscated the dog from the home of DeGeneres' hairdresser, Cheryl Marks, along with a police escort. The couple had given Iggy to the hairdresser's family after the dog failed to mesh with their cats.

Now the host, who first tearfully took to the airwaves Tuesday to tell the story, is making what she vows are her last comments on the doggy dilemma.

"Let me just say this, it's gotten out of hand," she said, adding that as supportive as the public reaction she has received has been, some of it has also been potentially illegal.

"The people that have Iggy, or had Iggy, I don't know, are receiving death threats, I am told. That is not okay. And I know that people are passionate about this, and people have strong feelings. I want nothing, nothing more than that dog returned to that family. But you don't resort to violence.

"So anybody out there, please stop that. Please don't threaten or do whatever. I've had that happen to me in my life, and it doesn't feel good. So, anyway, it's really all about the dog. That's what everybody's lost track of. We just want the dog back in its home."

DeGeneres' pleas came after one of the owners of the rescue filed a police report, claiming she was being harassed by DeGeneres fans who want the dog given back to Marks and her 11- and 12-year-old daughters.

There has also been an Internet-spawned grassroots campaign calling for a boycott of Mutts and Moms. 

DeGeneres and de Rossi made a $600 donation to the Pasadena-based canine rescue on Sept. 20 and subsequently spent $3,000 getting the dog neutered and obedience trained. Nonetheless, the pup had too much energy for the household, so the couple gave Iggy to Marks, who had been looking to augment her family pet quotient.

When Mutts and Moms contacted DeGeneres to check up on Iggy, the comedian said she had presented the pooch to another loving home—which turned out to be a breach of her adoption contract.

At that point, all doggy hell broke loose.

Under the false pretense of running a check on the new household, reps for the agency appeared at Marks' home Sunday night. But the Mutts and Moms posse also included animal-control officials and police officers, who aided the rescue in repossessing Iggy, as Marks and her daughters watched in anguish.

DeGeneres said she went public with the story after, she claims, the agency threatened to report DeGeneres' misdeed to the media.

Mutts and Moms has since reportedly placed the dog in another home, to the chagrin of DeGeneres and the Marks family.

"I've worked with a lot of agencies, and breeders I know have offered dogs to the family. They have called and said I have a dog that looks similar to Iggy and sent pictures and said we'll send the dog right out to you...And unfortunately, Ruby, the little girl, doesn't want another dog, she wants Iggy.

"It's not a toy that's broken that you can replace. It's a dog...But I have to say, I thank all of the amount of letters and emails and calls from everybody. Thank you so much for offering help."